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William Matheson's Journal
Jan. 5th, 2010
12:51 pm - Amateur ITSS: Wireless Connectivity for Ubuntu
A brochure Saint Mary’s ITSS should have: Wireless Connectivity for Ubuntu Linux!
They said it couldn’t be done! Well, not exactly, but they were hesitant to even give me the brochure, not at all confident that I'd make anything out of it. But I did! Yes, I’m on my open-source netbook, surfing the Saint Mary’s wireless interwebs.
Yes, I realize wireless internet is freely and readily available in every mom-and-pop coffee shop from here to Timbuktu. Why the university chooses to be difficult, I don’t really know. My guess is that they handle private and sensitive information here frequently and need to inhibit would-be wireless infiltrators and eavesdroppers.
But enough with the dropping eaves. Here’s what you do:
Go to your network icon, right-click, and select "Edit Connections..."
Go to the "Wireless" tab, select "Add".
Under connection name you can write whatever you want - "Saint Mary's" is pleasing and appropriate to me, but you could call it "STUPID SKOOL DAT TAKES ALL MA BORDENS" and that will be fine too as long as you remember that it's for this particular wireless network. Now under SSID - the actual identity of the network, what the network calls itself - you must write "SMU_PUBLIC". That's an underscore _ between the SMU and PUBLIC parts. Now you're finished with this tab...
Under "Security", select "WPA & WPA2 Enterprise".
Under "Authentication", select "Protected EAP (PEAP)".
Finally, put your s-number and password (exactly the same as what you log in to the workstations and SMUport with) in the lower boxes. Then click OK, wait a few tense moments, and you should be good to go!
Well, you're not quite home free. The first webpage you'll come up on is about the Acceptable Use Policy. You put in your s-number and password again, then the webpage advises you to turn off your computer for a minute and restart it. Do so. Once you're back on, you may see the webpage come up again, but if you re-register it just tells you you're already registered, so if you find you can surf the web at large you can just ignore it this time. Have fun!
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accomplishedJan. 4th, 2010
08:14 pm - well, I'm back
So I'm back home now. Had a good holiday. The drive back from PEI was pretty good considering that it's winter. I also confirmed that my account for the Confederation Bridge worked - the only gate left to try is the Saint John Harbour Bridge. Might be a while before I get down that way! I just signed up for that one and plunked $5 in it just for completion's sake. (The Confederation Bridge account bills your credit card when you go through - the others are all prepaid to varying amounts.)
Tomorrow:
08:30 - Math Recitation :: Actually there aren't usually recitations or labs the first week, but it might be worthwhile to go just to hobnob.
10:00 - Physics :: Get to see the new lecture hall in the Atrium for this. That's pretty cool.
13:00 - Calculus :: Final-frickin'-ly. I felt like such a tool being in pre-cal last semester while so many of my peers were in calculus. I'll still be a semester behind, but I'll finally be able to ditch that accursed "pre-" from the moniker. "Pre" is a pretty terrible prefix. Pre-school. Pre-university. Pre-calculus. Pre-med is probably alright, but not for me - I have no interest in blood, guts, and I'd feel terrible when I have nothing to offer but platitudes. Anyway, for this class there's going to be a pre-test (argh, again!), and I don't have to take it, but I'm going to anyway just to see how I do since they give you your mark on the spot.
14:30 - Physics Lab :: I don't know if I'm this week or the other week (the labs alternate weeks) - but in any case I switched lab instructors because I couldn't handle another term of Mister without bashing my head into something. It's bad enough to have to parse through his arrogance inaudibly in the lab manual. Anyway, I'm as prepared for the first lab as I'm ever going to be, so let's have it tomorrow and get it over with, I say. Not likely to happen, though, since I'm in the "E" section.
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excitedJan. 1st, 2010
12:45 pm - Attention fellow MATH 1210 prospectives!
A pre-course note from the professor:
"Prior to acceptance into this course each student must pass a pretest which will be administered during the first class on Tuesday. The test's purpose is to ensure sufficient mathematical background in order to tackle calculus. Experience has shown that without such background, it is difficult to keep up and the failure rate is high. The pass mark is 28 out of 40 and if you fail on the first pretest, you will be permitted a second attempt. If you have already passed a pretest in a previous semester or if you have passed Math 1190 then you are exempt from taking the test and may keep your registration in Math 1210."
But here's the dirty little secret: Nobody's manually checking the test scores against the list of students registered in the course. That would require a great deal of manual labour which neither the math department nor the registrar's office have time for.
So, based on this and the experiences I've heard from other students both in and out of 1210, I recommend taking the test, but if you score, say, 20 out of 40, instead of registering in 1190 I would suggest flouting the test and taking the course anyway. Nobody will find out. Otherwise you're kind of wasting a term and 600 bucks, like I did. I spoke to one guy in my chemistry course last semester who was like, "Yeah, I got a 26 out of 40 like you did, but I just stayed in the course and I did fairly well."
So f*** them and their stupid test, I say. Do what you will. Nobody's looking at things that closely anyway.
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aggravatedDec. 22nd, 2009
07:33 pm - Letter Grades at Saint Mary's
Okay, let's see what the letter grades here actually mean. I always get frustrated when I get really specific questions about this but can't really remember how the points and percentages line up!
So to solve this frustration, I'll return to / refer to this page when I need to answer that question. You can, too! The URL is http://snipurl.com/smugrades
So here it goes, straight from page 35 of the 2009-2010 Academic Calendar, Undergraduate Programs:
| Grades | Grade Points | Percentage Points | Rating |
| A+ | 4.30 | 90-100 | Excellent |
| A | 4.00 | 85-89 | |
| A- | 3.70 | 80-84 | |
| B+ | 3.30 | 77-79 | Good |
| B | 3.00 | 73-76 | |
| B- | 2.70 | 70-72 | |
| C+ | 2.30 | 67-69 | Satisfactory |
| C | 2.00 | 63-66 | |
| C- | 1.70 | 60-62 | |
| D | 1.00 | 50-59 | Marginal Pass |
| F | 0.00 | 0-49 | Failure |
| IP | - | - | (in progress) |
| AE | - | Pass | Aegrotat |
| W | - | - | Withdrawal |
It's also worth noting that Science majors and Honours require a C or better in all courses required in the subject. So here's hoping none of us get stuck with a C- in General Chemistry I! ;-) (Not that I want to major in chemistry, but I'd like to be able to.)
Happy Holidays,
- Will
pleasedDec. 11th, 2009
04:03 pm - chemi-emi-emistry!
OK, the worst is over! I hope!
This morning’s chem exam was a doozy and a half. There were more than 40 questions! (Chemistry is so gosh darned comprehensive. You have to know how to do 1x106 different things.) Not only that, two pages were misprinted, and having meticulously torn the erroneous ones out of the primary exam booklet, as time went on I forgot about their presence in a second handout. So even though I felt like I was running a little bit behind as the halfway point passed and I wasn’t quite half-finished, it actually turned out I was way behind and wasn’t nearly half-finished.
To my chemistry professor’s credit, she let me take a breather when we first got started – my drive into town was hellish and I was nerve-wracked from all the spinning and sliding around on the side streets, and as soon as she said we weren’t allowed to leave for the whole three hours – “no going to the washroom” – wouldn’t you know it, I felt like I had to go! Like “Zap!” – that fast. And then I couldn’t concentrate at all. She did let me out, though. I thank her for this because if she didn’t, I would have gotten maybe 1%! Or I would have fulfilled the sudden vision of having to go in a bottle in the corner. Wouldn’t it be great to be “that guy who… in my chemistry exam” for the rest of my life? It was awkward coming back in – I felt like 300 people were staring at me!
That being said, what I did I think I did well, and I could have made a marginal pass, but if not, even a 48 is better than a 0. The exam’s worth 30%, and I don’t think it’s a course where you have to pass the final to pass the course, but that might be my wishful thinking. We shall see! I really don’t want to take this course ever, ever again. It was by far the most painful and trying out of astronomy, chemistry, physics and math.
Physics was easier than chemistry! Its exam had six questions! Six! The labs met only every second week, and the assignments were all online, so that meant a few fewer last-minute rushes into town to beat some deadline or other. That being said, the chem labs were ten times easier than physics. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “Hey SMU, 1963 called – they want their physics labs back.”
I can deal. There were two instructors this semester who vexed me to no end – luckily, I have neither next semester. It especially feels good to get the chemistry monkey off my back – or at least so I think, as there’s a good reason this first course is offered again next semester!
There were people coming out of the exam knowing they failed the course – of course, they tended to be the people who were skipping labs and not doing (any of!) their assignments. That’s doubly dangerous, because to some extent (though not enough, in my opinion – there was beaucoup exam material that was neither taught nor quizzed nor assigned (though perhaps handed out and forgotten (my bad))) the assignments teach the exam! One guy was all telling me, “I will become the final!” and would have filled my mind with visions of his Zen-like weeklong chemistry-learning trance. And yea, he did work hard for a week, and slept only briefly, by his reckoning. (Unfortunately, it’s a 14-week course. ;-) What ended up happening is that he made a similar mistake with the pages that I did – and by his estimation, he needed those grades just to pass the exam, and thus to pass the course. He’s screwed – he missed so many labs that I’m sure they won’t let him reuse his probable marginal pass of a lab grade the next time he takes this course. For my part, I think I’d rather kill myself than take this course again.
There is no way I am taking this course again. I came in kind of liking chemistry and now I loathe it passionately. But I’m going to continue and take it next semester anyway since I have the books and the (expensive) online homework access for the year. And hopefully my lab partner next semester will have safety glasses so that my (very slow, ambling) train of thought doesn’t keep getting interrupted with “WHY AREN’T YOU WEARING YOUR SAFETY GLASSES?!” screamed in a Greater Commonwealth accent three inches from my ears. I kid – I enjoyed working with both instructor and partner.
Astronomy’s next, and last – tomorrow (Saturday) night! Sadly, for all my telling people I was going to study astrophysics, I’ve spent by far the least of my time this semester on astronomy. (It won’t surprise you to hear that chemistry was by far the most egregious time-devourer. Not that I don’t think time spent on assignments and studying isn’t time splendidly spent – the assignments for chemistry just happened to be super hard, super frequent, yet worth super little. Most vexing!)
Now I’m just going to chill out. That 900-pound gorilla has finally stopped hammering me into the ground and now I can breathe again. I exaggerate, and part of my problem with school this semester is that I have the work ethic of Paris Hilton cleaning manure from a pig barn. My wiser cousin Bud will probably vouch for chilling out tonight, though.
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drainedDec. 3rd, 2009
09:50 pm - once in a while...
Once in a great while, I "discover" something amazing. This is my energy-drink fuelled gushing to the MasteringPhysics people about a homework question involving tap-taps and spring constants:
This was like the BEST QUESTION EVER!
Not only did the Hatian tap-tap aspect broaden our cultural horizons a little, but I've personally experienced crowded Ukrainian marshrutkas - these must be like Cadillacs compared to these tap-taps.
Also, now I know why my car has a rougher ride when it's packed full of stuff for a road trip! I always suspected something was different, and now I know exactly what was going on!
And a spring constant of nearly 30,000N/m?!?! Holy **** that is some kinda restorative force if you could compress that one like the spring in your ball-point pen!
And the chickens and bananas and the goats - so sublime! Like the famous St. Ives riddle, but with physics! LOVED this question.
OK, I have had an energy drink, which is why I might be slightly over-enthused, but this was a pretty sweet question.
I would link to the question set, but you kinda have to be a member of the class to get at them. Anyway, now I know maybe not to load up my car so much next road trip, or maybe take it super easy on the bumps!
jubilantNov. 18th, 2009
01:28 pm - well, on second thought...
I've been thinking (dangerous prospect, I know): I really need to stick with my program and finish out this year, even if it's a super struggle and I only manage straight Cs. Why? Because, if I finish, I will be set up to declare a major / honours in any of these (taking courses from my last degree into account):
Astrophysics
Mathematics
Computer Science
Geography (as a science)
Chemistry
Physics
I mean, holy heck, talk about your options. If instead I just take math and, say, astronomy next semester, I'll royally screw everything up. Now one complicating factor is that I am already about 500 clams short for next semester and I haven't heard anything from SMU student services or my father's industry scholarship people yet. I'll be even more short, because I'm taking my car in for its scheduled maintenance on Friday. But I'll find a way. If I have to shortchange SMU accounts receivable next semester, so be it. I'll be able to pay them eventually.
Now what I want to do next year is actually live on campus. I am going to try to take out the necessary loan and get it done. I should be able to get a senior suite even though I will technically not be an upper-year in a major, just someone doing a second degree... I can say I'm a "GRADUATEd STUDENT" perhaps, and swallow the "d"?
Invariably, I always feel better about this stuff when I'm actually on campus. Everything seems so much more doable than when I'm stuck upstairs in my room, or than the mornings where I have to get up at 5:30am if I want to indulge in such decadencies as having a shower. Ugh. I know why it has to be that way, and I'm not complaining about that, but I really gotta get out. There's really no space for me anymore. I'm not a priority, nor should I be. And living here, I can very easily get the help I may need at any given time, and I can also help others more effectively.
Parking my car here would be expensive, though. It's $500 to park your car under Loyola. I fired off an e-mail to Metro Self-Storage to see if they can give me a quote - I wouldn't be needing the car even so often as every week if I lived here. Sure, I'd have to walk my groceries up from the Queen Street Sobeys, but I need my exercise anyway. I may even sell my car, but I'm already rather attached to it. [OK, forget storage. Their admirably curt reply quotes $216.00 every four weeks, so assuming a 28 week academic year that would be seven times $216... ouch, more than $1500!]
We shall see! I should probably see if anyone I know in the physics department is holding office hours today. It's past time for a serious chat.
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hopefulNov. 17th, 2009
10:50 pm - a new whim every day
As a benefit of being enrolled in chemistry this semester, I've been invited to come in for a 20-minute consultation appointment. I'd say this is long overdue for me - I've always been stubborn enough to figure that only I know what's best for me, which is partially true, but the reality is that I am, at most any given time, incompletely informed. So garbage in, garbage out, as they say, and now I'm 27 with no career and no clear prospects.
I think I can rule out becoming a world-famous astrophysicist within the next five to ten years. The problem with my courses is that I'm merely surviving and only sometimes thriving. They're not much fun, and it's my so-called study skills, rather than my "natural" aptitudes, that are saving me from outright mediocrity. So I dunno. I don't want to be known as "Will the Quitter" or "Will Who Quits as Soon as Things Get Hard". And I didn't want to end up being a high school teacher - I wanted to go big (Honours or double Honours) or go home. So why don't I want to be a high school teacher? Let me put it this way: For a university professor, everybody in the school is fair game. ;-)
Here's the thing. I can do this stuff, but I need a lot of time, and I can only really think about one thing at a time. Or, to put it glibly, I'm slow. I have a precocious vocabulary and a serviceable memory for a few little things, but I'm the kind of person that needs to have things explained to them about five or six times. When things do sink in (they usually do, eventually), I'm good at sharing the knowledge with others, mostly because I had the experience of going through all the work to attain it, and I vividly remember what worked for me on any particular point. This talent has no bearing on my being a good English-language teacher, which is a relief, because I wasn't one. :) Not only was I never formally trained as such, but as a native speaker I don't have the benefit of having learned how to learn English, if you catch my drift. I suspect the whole "native speaker" thing is actually overrated - I think it's a cheap substitute for the best kind of teacher, someone who had to learn the target language and is so accomplished as to be immaculate in execution. I have a lot of respect for such folk, although obviously you can't go expecting even a quarter percent of ESL speakers to get to be anything like that good, so it's not like I look down my nose at people without such admirable fluency.
I'm thinking I'd like to take out a loan and go to Sainte-Anne for the '10-'11 academic year and get my French. But this done, what would I do? I'd like to be a university professor someday because university is the place to be - in no other place are people so energetic, vibrant, smart, and beautiful. And it's a great cultural meeting place, too: in the physics help room today, I was the only Canadian white male until the last few minutes of the session. And of course I got the help I needed, but educated people know that this is a function of the interactions among individuals as individuals, and has next to nothing to do with race. I guess a few years from now I won't even notice such a thing.
At any rate, people have come from all over the world to be at Saint Mary's, and the same can be said for many other fine universities, such as Mount Saint Vincent, NSCAD, and... um... I'm forgetting the other good one that's near here... oh, that's right, Nova Scotia Agricultural College. And if you think I'm kidding, compare the Teletech floor with Saint Mary's. Working there is like taking the off-ramp from the highway of personal progress. I should know, because I worked there myself! ;-) Oh, I did see quite a few "Dal Poli-Sci" and "Dal Psych" shirts when I was there.
Where was I?
So what I'm thinking of doing is dropping a few courses next semester and focusing on math, keeping only one other course so as to maintain full-time status for the year. But the more I think about that, the less I like it. I'd actually kind of miss the chemistry labs, and we have a really cool prof teaching general university physics. But my weak math background is killing me, especially in physics. Chemistry is a bit more qualitative, so I sometimes have a bit of room to breathe. But this won't last. Next semester, they're going to be cranking things up big time. It's a pity, because being a chemist sounds cool - a lot sexier than being a writer! And, if it isn't glaringly obvious to everyone yet, I have little hope of becoming a writer because I really don't write very often. And as it goes in the plethora of other things I've attempted, as soon as the fun stops, I stop. (In casual post-chem-lab conversation today, somebody asked me why I wasn't a writer or a journalist, and then why I didn't apply to other journalism schools besides King's. Well, the reality was that I wasn't really all that interested in journalism. I like writing about things that interest me as opposed to writing about things I'm told to write about.)
And if I'm just going to do math for a while, well, why don't I just major in math? I know it's just pre-cal review, but I was pretty pleased to get 79.5/80 on the midterm. But maybe math will be like everything else - beyond a certain level, too much for me to take. Man. This bugs me, because up until now I felt like anybody could do anything, if only, if only, if only. Now I'm not so sure. But I'm sure of one thing: I definitely don't like being stuck on the outside of such a fence!
Any thoughts, world? This appointment can't come soon enough - I wish the Astronomy and Physics Department had mandated such - out of sheer embarrassment, I never did have the temerity to walk into any of their offices and state that I was interested in majoring in astrophysics. Almost as soon as I got here (getting turfed from calculus was a particularly significant moment), I knew there was an "it" I didn't have. Namely: three years of dedicated, focused high school math and science. A summer prep course at Dal might bring you up to speed in one weak subject, but trying to do three from scratch like I did is something I cannot recommend. I don't know what alternative I could suggest, though.
"In the future, those who do not understand mathematics will serve hamburgers to those who do." - Paul Lutus
Like I could see making a go of things if I had the math, but I just don't. I could be mistaken, but I feel like what I need is a prolonged, sustained drilling in all things mathematical. And later, when I'm finally comfortable in it, I can come back and pick up some other things, provided that I'm not a) by then a mathematician or b) otherwise occupied.
Bah.
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disappointedSep. 14th, 2009
09:03 pm - Pre-Pre-Pre-Pre-Cal
This week has been nuts. Saint Mary’s is a sea of humanity. Sometimes it’s instructive just to watch the people stream by. Most folks are young and hyper-conscious about appearances and fitting in. People rarely speak up in my classes. I miss this summer’s dynamic of learning when a large percentage of the classes were other adults.
One of the courses I took this summer was Pre-Calculus Plus at Dalhousie. Perhaps our instructor was too kind to us – I performed unevenly, but I still managed to eke out an 83. I sat down last week at SMU to take the calculus entry test and scored 20 out of 40. I needed 26. I bought a review booklet and studied all weekend. I took the test again. I scored 23. “Sorry, William,” the professor said.
Before I launch into this, let me tell you something about the current state of math education: It’s somewhere between confusing and abysmal.
I mean when I was in high school, there was university prep math, open math, and, er, the euphemistically named “leaving high school math,” which was known as “trucker math.” And that was just for Grade 10. In Grade 11, the university prep branch branched further into “science math” and “academic math” (known as “arts math”). Same for Grade 12, but in Grade 12 you could also take calculus, though you could and can get into a B.Sc. program with plain old Grade 12 science math.
So let’s see… that’s three years of high school, with twelve different math courses. What a mess!
At Dal this summer I had three choices:
- Pre-Calculus, essentially a quick skim through G11 and 12 science math, yet for people who have G11 and 12 “math” (presumably academic)
- Pre-Calculus Plus, the same but spread over twice the time for students that have been out of math for a few years (this is what I took)
- Academic Math, a run through G11 and 12 “arts” or academic math, which requires G10 math.
This was confusing to me at first because my high school ran science and academic math in parallel, not in sequence. Anyway, a lot of people switched down to Academic Math, and I almost did, but I’d taken “arts math” in high school.
Ah, but there were things that are in Academic Math today that weren’t in the arts math stream in high school, and now I hear that even the “science math” and “arts math” terms are obsolete! So now I don’t even know what I have or how what I might have relates to anything.
Also, I never passed Grade 10 math. (Much to my chagrin, my first G10 math teacher was among the invigilators of these entry tests.) I failed it three times (16, 8, 25 – I’ll admit I wasn’t really trying) and was given the aforementioned “trucker math” credit, given because the guidance counsellors figured the folks in that class would eat me alive. I took a returning grad year of high school, and went into “arts math” because I feared that I couldn’t handle the science math after hearing from friends that were failing it. I did super: I got a 93 in the Grade 11 and an 80-something in the 12 (including a midterm grade of exactly 100 – I slacked off a bit after that and made Artifact).
Now what I should have done after that is taken science math in a summer course or something, but safe within the intellectual confines of a Saint Mary’s B.A. program, I disavowed math and majored in English, which offered the opportunity to be creative in a way that didn’t rely on math. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize at the time that math makes things more interesting, not less.
So I finally came back and did Pre-Calculus Plus but this course wasn’t the science parallel to “arts math” I was expecting – it built on G10 concepts I’d slept through and G11 and 12 concepts not taught or forgotten. But I still fought my way through it, somehow…
Only to find that there’s yet another tier of math. Calculus? No. OK, Pre-Cal? Nope. No, it’s “Pre-Calculus Review.” Based on the number of people being turned away from Calculus, I’d say it’s the de facto collection point for people who did not take calculus in high school. It purports to cover many topics “in greater depth than in Grade 12 mathematics courses.” Say again? Are the school boards and universities in cahoots and covering up a necessary tier of math education?
I believe so. “Pre-Calculus” should really be called “Pre-University Math,” (you get into university with it) and “Pre-Calculus Review” should then be called “Pre-Calculus,” (which you then use to get into calculus) because that’s the long and the short of the situation. There were a number of things on the entry test that I’d never seen before – so much so that I found myself wishing to see things that I knew I’d studied but didn’t fully understand. All my Rumsfeldian logic failed me, though, and I failed the test, and now I’m registered in “Pre-Calculus Review.”
To be fair, many science majors these days never set foot inside a calculus classroom. A lot of folks can escape with statistics and/or pre-cal. Calculus isn’t everyone’s first year math, but I’d gone in this year thinking that it could and should be mine, if only because I took an extended, expensive course called Pre-Calculus. It really should have been Pre-Pre-Calculus. Actually, I joked about not being prepared for Pre-Calculus, so in my ideal world there’d be a Pre-Pre-Pre-Calculus course on offer as well.
If you’re reading this and are still in junior high, do me a favour and study math from this moment forward as if your life depended on it. Take advanced placement and honours everything. At least let my tribulations send a message! ;-)
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complacentJul. 23rd, 2009
12:41 pm - SMU, car?
At SMU. Right now they're going digging for my high school transcript, which is reportedly on microfilm. Oh, man, this could potentially be embarassing. They're looking for one more science - I have my Biology 12 from Mr. Burke's class in 1999, but I don't think I exactly shot the lights out. I'm pretty sure the score was sub-70. But if I were to take it today, I would do better, and I hope my 93 / 83 chemistry / precal grades reflect this. I suppose the worst that could happen is that I won't be able to get "in" for another two weeks, when my phsyics mark will be ready. And yay I got a 94 on the second assignment - I'm on my way to posting a good score here. I'm just hoping not to embarass myself too much this fall when my buddy Elie will probably be marking my labs.
I can just see that girl from admissions now. "How on Earth could somebody get an eight in Math 10?"
Got a call from the guy selling the 1999 Acura EL. $3,000, but I don't yet know how many kms are on it. Going to see it sometime this afternoon. I'd like to at least take it to a mechanic I know and give it a once-over. If it checks out, I want this car - it's a good value, well-appointed, gets good gas-mileage, and doesn't cost a fortune to insure (something like $7-900 bucks a year for me).
One thing though is that this guy wants to sell this car quickly. (Alarm bells.) He says the reason is that he's getting a new Acura straight away. I guess he figured he'd do better selling himself than passing it off to the dealer - I hear that a lot of people do, unless we're talking absolute junkers, in which case the oft-promulgated "push, pull, or drag it in" would work out in the new-car-buyer's favor. But if he pressures me to do something today, I think that'll have to kill the potential deal. Any reasonable seller would allow me to have another set of eyes check the rig out before I buy it. I hope that I'm worrying too much, but with stuff like this you really can't be too careful! Hopefully he'll understand that it's my first car purchase, and he'll be patient with me.
Update: She did warn me that she'd be going for lunch from 1-2, which is fine, unfortunately the guy filling in for her during this time is useless. He's basically like, "Well, gee, sorry, I can't help you." Well, if I've waited this long, I can wait another 40 minutes. It just cheezes me that this guy was completely clueless and had no idea how or if he could pick up where she left off.
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nervousJul. 13th, 2009
11:09 pm - Progress Report
Chemistry - 93
Pre-Calculus - 83
Physics - ? but 92% on the first assignment
And the beard's coming back.
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determinedJul. 9th, 2009
01:09 pm - Flashback
I was up until 2 last night working on my physics assignment - it's not so much that it was hard, more that I had yet to solidify a lot of the concepts involved in the questions. I'm on my way to becoming a sixth-rate mathematician, but physics is helped along so greatly by an intuitive grasp of math, and this combined with the lightning speed of this particular session makes me feel like I'm only half-awake. Also, the classes are long. Ninety minutes of physics instruction per day is enough for me, thanks. When we're coming around to the 2 hour mark (out of three), I feel like getting up and leaving. Today I wasn't the only one - I think we were all a little spent after the assignment.
Today the teacher was talking about stupid math mistakes, like making sure that you multiply to undo division, as in how:
10 - 8 = (1/2)(v)^2
becomes:
2(10 - 8) = v^2
20 - 16 = v^2
4 = v^2
2 = v
and then he started laughing and asked the class, "Did anyone here go through CPA?"
I alone raise my hand half-heartedly.
"Anyone have Mr. Lyne?"
"Yes," I groaned. "I failed his class - I got a 16!"
He went on to talk about how Mr. Lyne had a coin jar that everybody paid into when they'd make a silly math mistake. The teacher joked that his own son probably singlehandedly funded the term-end pizza party.
You couldn't have said the same thing about me - I wasn't even doing the math, therefore I wasn't making mistakes. ;-) I was terrible - I started out relatively eager and OK, but suddenly things got away from me. It was a combination of my PEI elementary education, two years in a Seventh-Day Adventist school with abysmal math and science, and my own personal hatred of school borne from the daily strife and harassment I faced there - all that thrust upon a teenager is, in retrospect, a pretty good recipe for failure. Toss me in Mr. Lyne's no-nonsense, no-sailing math class, and I instantly crumbled. I ended up failing Math 10 three times with three different teachers: 16, 8, 25... and then the school gave me a "Trucker Math" 10 credit that I graduated with. I came back and got my Grade 11 and 12 Academic and I did pre-calculus this summer, but that year continues to haunt me. About the only pleasant thing I remember is Mr. Lyne's bread.
These days I know how to use my deficiencies to my advantage and make lemons out of lemonade, but in those days I didn't, and I wish someone had tried to show me - can't blame them, though, because I was busy pushing people away.
I was so throughly rejected by everyone that I started preemptively rejecting others - people would say hello to me in the corridors, and I'd coldly ignore them. I really became my own worst enemy, probably in order to avoid the pain of straight-up rejection, but ironically it brought much more pain than just accepting the inevitable rejections we all receive would have been.
I just can't believe how much I've learned this summer. Apparently, for me, the best way to learn about myself and about other people is to take a bunch of math and science courses!
* * *
It was good for me to admit my failure in Mr. Lyne's Grade 10 math to everyone, even though it was thirteen years ago. Earlier in today's class I think I ruffled some feathers when we were talking about how you have to use fundamental units when using Newton's laws to find an orbital radius, while with Kepler's 3rd law, you can use whatever you want, as it's just Radius^3 / Period^2 of your unknown object compared to known values Radius^3 / Period ^2 of another (such as Earth's, if you're talking about the Solar System). (Note that the Kepler shortcut only works in situations where we know the properties of one other orbiting body. Kepler described the situation, but it took Newton to explain it.) So I suggested that for Rearth, just write 1AU.
Since Rjupiter = Rearth (Pjupiter / Pearth)^(2/3)
12 years / 1 year = 12 [years cancel]
12^(2/3) = 5.24 * 1AU = 5.24AU = Rjupiter.
Isn't that fun? Quick and dirty, but over these distances, who really cares?
* * *
A buddy of mine dropped in here and asked me about my plans for the fall. A lot of people are asking me how long it will take me to get my B.Sc. I guess the B.Sc. is really just a signpost - it's just a symbol for an achievement, not the achievement itself. Accordingly, I'm not really fussed about when it comes. I really just want to be on track towards getting somewhere, and I don't really care where the road goes. For so long I was just going nowhere, save for temporal bliss in places like Poland and Sainte-Anne. (My buddy asked me if I'd take courses during the summers to speed things up on the science end. Perhaps, but I'll probably be trying to get more Explore bursaries if I can!) Now, now I'm going somewhere, and it's so mystifying to strangers that I really do have to say things like, "Well, I'm going to do astrophysics, because I always wanted to be a star!"
gratefulJul. 8th, 2009
04:20 pm - I say libraries...
I'm taking a break from my physics assignment. I'll tell you why in a minute.
I had to pack up all of my things and come downstairs to write this. All the "recent-thefts" warnings discouraged me from leaving my things where they were. It's annoying when you just want to grab a snack or drink or look something up.
I don't own a netbook computer yet, and since laptops are too heavy to carry around every day, I just have my DSi. And it would be perfect for checking e-mail or making quick little factchecks, except for one thing: it lacks WPA2-PEAP support. Basically I can specify a "key," but not a separate username and password. I'm effectively locked out of the SMU wi-fi network until 1) Nintendo releases a system update or 2) I get a netbook computer. I suppose I could also get an iPhone or Blackberry - they'd theoretically be able to connect, but I'd really rather have the netbook. I'm waiting until Dell releases the 2GB version of the Mini 10 or 10v (both later this summer, I'm hearing), and then I'll be all over it. (Neither 2GB unit will have XP - only Vista or Linux. This is because of Microsoft's galling requirement that XP only be sold preinstalled on computers that ship with 1GB of RAM or less.)
Now, one could get the Mini 9 with Linux and 2GB, but its keyboard was just ever-so-slightly too small, and it's a moot point now because it's been discontinued. I could purchase a Mini 10 with Linux now, take apart the system and substitute a 2GB wafer for the existing 1GB, but that requires a deft hand and throwing out a perfectly good 1GB wafer. Since I should be able to buy the system the way I want it, I'm going to wait!
Anyway, I suppose it's a "good thing" I had to come down and use a workstation, because a post like this would be extremely tedious on a DSi. On the other hand, I would have had nothing to complain about, and I'd have cut directly to the joke:
* * *
I met a buddy of mine at Dal today to give him a game I purchased on his behalf:
- I'll be by campus shortly after 12 noon. Thanks again!
- Can i trouble vou to meet me at dal?
- Sure. Time?
- Library 1215?
So I'm standing in front of the library, and I get a phone call! Where am I at? Well, the library of cour-
Ha-ha! Turns out, because he was a law student, his natural inclination was to go to the Law Library, not the more widely known Killam Library. You know, where we lowly undergrads go for our library needs. ;-)
Since I'm reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I've had the actual P&P on the brain, and just now I was thinking about how Mr. Collins would behave if he were a denizen of Saint Mary's:
"Yes, we have a fine Library, though it is nothing to the Libraries at Dalhousie - I say Libraries, for they have several - each fine in its own way, though my favorite is the Sexton Design & Technology Library..."
chipperJun. 25th, 2009
03:43 pm - BSc admission / advisement
Dear Ms [],
I was speaking to Messrs [] and [] in Admissions today about applying for entry to the BSc program here at Saint Mary's. I have already a BA and Cert. Hons. (English) from this university.
I have been studying at Dalhousie this summer in order to obtain the prerequisites. I believe I specified for the records to be sent to SMU as they are made available, but I will confirm this after my pre-calculus course is complete (I write the final examination on Monday). I have completed chemistry with a final grade of 93. I'm anticipating a good or very good grade from pre-cal, and I start physics on July 2nd and finish on the 30th.
Messrs [] and [] indicated a willingness to admit me without waiting for the physics mark to come in, but they gave me your card and suggested that I contact you and solicit your input. Specifically, I'm wondering what the requirements for a BSc will be after taking into account my BA + Hons. Cert. and the courses taken therein. My student number is [], my science courses so far include AST 215/216 (can count as a general elective, but not a lab science), CSC 226/227 (counts as a lab science, IIRC)... I also have GPY 206 (Computers & GIS), GPY 203 (Physical Geography), AST 217 (Life in the Universe), and PSYC 1200, but I don't know if they'll impact much, if at all. You'll probably notice as you look at my transcript that I was only nominally interested in some aspects of English, especially literary criticism.
Looking at the lay of the land, I think it would be best for me to take:
- Calculus (needed for everything) (6 c. hours)
- Physics (needed for astrophysics) (9 c. hours)
- Chemistry (suggested for astrophysics) (6 c. hours)
- Astronomy 205/206 (6 c. hours)
for a total of 27 c. hours / 4.5 credits in my first year.
This way I can try out astronomy and see if I can hack it, while still having an opening for chemistry, or perhaps do both or something else entirely. An important consideration is employment - I understand there is a co-op program for chemistry, but understandably not for astrophysics... ;-) I'm setting a goal for myself to be out on my own next summer by hook or by crook and am looking for sensible ways to achieve this. One potential problem I have is that I do not yet speak French - I can communicate at a bare-bones barely-conversational level, but I will need to take courses - I may take French courses along with everything else if I can fit it in.
If there are any gotchas, any things I haven't anticipated / planned for, please let me know. Thank you for the time you've invested in reading this sight unseen. I look forward to meeting with you in the near future (perhaps after my final grade from pre-cal has been sent down from Dalhousie).
Sincerely Yours,
- William Matheson
excitedJun. 24th, 2009
02:33 pm - Burninating
I totally rocked my math test this morning. I also had the rare experience of actually understanding and having a comfort level with everything that was presented in the second half of the class (after the test). I can do this! Never let yourself be told that you can't do math - if lazy and impatient people like me can do it, you can too!
So it's the same old story - out kicking butt and taking names. Better make some time to practise my duets or C. will kill me and it'll shake poor S. off her rhythm. I'm thinking a lot - the mornings are the hardest for me: my brain is groggy and slow and it leaves me with too much room to worry. The rest of the time is not so bad, though! Things make sense in a way that they never did before - my life is rich and vibrant and filled with possibilities in a way it never seemed to be before.
The troubles are these:
1) I have a hard time focusing on one thing - there is a Japanese proverb that says 多芸は無芸 (たげい は むげい - tagei wa mugei), "Too many accomplishments make no accomplishment." A book I have shows a picture of a guy playing four instruments at once while the townsfolk look on, wincing and covering their ears. A friend recently said to me, "You're so good at everything you try - I'm so jealous!" I'm clearly not good at humility, though - don't test me there. ;-) She also hasn't seen me bowl. (For what it's worth, I used to fake humility and that was worse. If you're lucky enough to be in a position to receive compliments, accept them graciously and with a smile!)
2) Despite my epiphany of last week, I sense that I'm yet putting some people off. Much like anybody else, I'm still learning the ropes - being a newcomer to the real game of life, I make plenty of mistakes, but I pick up on them on my own and learn from them on my own. I've got a tougher hide now, and I imagine people will call me insensitive (especially those who knew me before).
This is kind of a joke, though, because I never was a sensitive person, excepting as regards myself (and yes, it was as odious as it sounds - I thank my friends for having called me on it when the chips were down). I could / can be considerate, but trying extra hard to be a "gentle, caring soul" was a little ridiculous. I mean, I care - I just have a funny way of expressing it. I do a lot of things my own way, and I have far less shame about it - that's the basic way I roll, which may not suit everyone, though it's certainly a place to build from.
Still, it's a much better set of problems than what I had before! And I got a 93 in chemistry. WOOT
excitedJun. 10th, 2009
04:16 pm - the missing review sheet, deity
I may have to go back on my promise to score a 70 on that test! I lost my review sheet with all of the questions I was going to complete!! What a waste of an afternoon! I got my homework finished, but the material covered in today's class (and tonight's homework) isn't on the test.
I just have to chill out and remind myself that all I REALLY have to do is score a 70% or higher on the final and I'm safe. But really, who'd want to have to rely on that? I was really hoping that I'd perform this time, and I was going to pull out all the stops. I'll still be able to go through my notes, but it won't be quite the same thing and not nearly so good practice as doing all the review questions would have been. I could just cry, really.
I could fire her off an e-mail and see if she has a digital copy? I doubt it, though - the review looked like it was put together on a copier and it has a lot of handwriting. I'll ask anyway. And I'll do the assignment that would ordinarily be due on Tuesday tonight, since some of the concepts from it will surely be on the test.
* * *
So earlier this afternoon I'm doing my homework in the Chase and someone from the class asks me where he can get a Tim's coffee. He later comes back and chats casually and asks if he can sort of watch me work. Well, alright... People say that I seem smart, but I'm probably just astute and stubborn. I don't have the background in math to be particularly smart about it. My eraser has been my erstwhile friend this whole term.
He watches me work in silence.
"Do you believe in God?"
Oh, no. I knew from the frequent eye contact that something was up.
I suppose it's a fair question, but you always get the impression that someone is at least wishing to convert you to their religious beliefs. Still, a dose of discomfort every once in a while is a good thing for me - I'll tread more and more carefully should there again be call for me to state my eschewal of such beliefs.
The worst is when people cite a "plan" that "works in mysterious ways." As if we can wrap up yesterday's rain, missing the bus, 9/11, the Eastern Front, and the girl who smiled at you last week all into "God's plan." Please. It's far, far easier to believe there is no plan - and if there is a God, he doesn't matter.
Well, off to my voice lesson...
He also asked me if my parents were church-goers. Well, yes. Hell, my uncle and stepmother are ordained ministers - which my father has mentioned my becoming on more than one occasion, because I don't need math. It's a very interesting concept - it leads me to think that math and religion are inverse functions of each other. I'm sure there are a few religious folks who have found math, but I think there are fewer mathematicians who have "found" religion.
Update, 06/17: I scored a big honking 82%! Not only did my guarantee come through, but I also feel like I'm starting to get this stuff. Sure, my factoring and fraction skills are still fair, but I'm scrambling my way up to the top of this stuff! No lifetime of serving hamburgers for me! ;-) (To see what I mean by this, click here and read the bottom section on "Mathematics.")
anxiousApr. 17th, 2009
01:55 am
So I had a pretty good outing with JuJu tonight. He helped me realize that, in actuality, despite the fact that I add online "friends" with insatiable voracity, I'm really kind of a "shy" person. (At least at first.)
All these years I've been beating myself up over it, thinking it was some sort of selfish defect. If only I'd put myself out there and all that. Well, I mean, I should still put myself "out there," but only as much as I feel comfortable doing. For the last number of years I've tried to push myself beyond the point with the aim of coming across as a non-shy, non-selfish, non-awkward, got-my-crap-together, well-adjusted person. But really, though I may have my crap together and be on my way to being well-adjusted, that wasn't actually who I was. I've been trying to be someone I'm not for years now.
I even remember in ninth grade there was this pseudo-scientific personality test going around - thanks to our Bible teacher, of all people - and for some reason I kept thinking I was the "Popular" type, the one that was funny and the life of the party, that sort of thing. But my classmates kept saying to me, "Will, you're not funny." Only now is that starting to sink in! They knew me better than I did. For the most part, they didn't like me, but neither did I at the time.
Oddly enough, I enjoy public speaking and acting, though I'm nervous as all get out when those things come up. I force myself through those things anyway, and generally I do pretty well. But that's performing. Socializing and small talk - those aren't performance things. Even if I performed perfectly for a time, how long could I sustain it?
When I was in grade school, I was lonely to the point of absurdity. I was willing to do or say almost anything for the sake of attention. I think I got into being this character that I really wasn't. I'd always try to say the weird thing or make the awkward joke. It's gotten so perverted now that I actually like making awkward, off-putting jokes and references. It's time to wean myself off of that.
One thing that I know that I like? Chemistry! Why didn't I take this before? But many people caution that second-year in any given subject is much different than first-year / high school. I hear psychology mentioned in this way a lot, and I enjoyed its first-year introductory course and snatched an easy A+. So it's really still up in the air whether or not I have a future in sciences or not. But I know for sure that I most definitely do not have a future in literary criticism - well, I've known that for some time now. I tried teaching, but discovered that I don't have the heart to wrangle people the way they need to be. Honestly, my Japanese cooperating teachers deserve most of the credit for holding my classes down. When they left, it was bedlam. And I wanted to be anyplace else but there.
I also need to be doing more things. Even if I'm not working (and I don't want to at the moment, because I don't have to), I really need to be doing something constructive. All I've been making lately are excuses. I mean, I'm either reading my chemistry text, answering a zillion questions in it, practising my singing, or taking Paul someplace on any given day, but maybe that's not enough? I do waste a lot of hours sitting around. I did choose to buy that DSi. (This may pay off, though. There's a girl who takes my bus who hauled out one, and I never would have thought. When I see her next week, I can ask what games she's playing or whatever. It's ridiculously facile, but easy things sometimes work.)
I don't mean to burden random readers or even my friends with lame, trite woe-is-me bullcrap, but I have had pathologically low self-esteem since a certain point in my childhood. (Paradoxically, it's the kind of twistedness that lends itself to surefire turnoffs such as false modesty.) Basically what happened was that the guidance counsellors suddenly told me that I was special. Instead of demurring like John Locke, I took the message wholeheartedly, and the next thing I knew they were telling me that there was such a thing as "too special."
There was this book they kept showing me called "The Mouse, The Monster, and Me," and I felt like, no matter what I did, I was always the mouse or the monster, but never me. There was nothing I could do or say to please them. Or, I should say, nothing that was in my capacity at the time. I'm sure if I shut my mouth and did everything obediently, they would have said I was perfectly well-adjusted and closed my file. I probably should have also considered actually reading the book. After the "Wait for William" debacle in first grade (I was just as slow as its protagonist, but also cursed with a (misplaced?) pride that could be injured), I was categorically turned off by anything they shoved under my nose. Also, I think it would have been good if they tried to meet me halfway. Like if someone had watched a Star Wars movie once, that would have been helpful.
So yeah, close Dundas. ;-) I have no fondness for it. Let the kids go to Cardigan or Souris, where they'll make more friends. The extra ten minutes on the bus will be well worth it.
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thoughtfulFeb. 7th, 2009
05:36 pm - little sisters + knowing things
We had the girls over here last night. They were quite a handful! Ila's a little bit unhinged, and Rae gets scared and upset about the slightest things. But they're nine and seven respectively, so I suppose it's to be expected. Probably what really gets me is when I see in them behaviour that I used to exhibit as a child. Seeing what other people probably saw in me mortifies me to no end.
I visited J. and L. down in Dundas today, after dropping off the girls and their boatload of belongings (including two sacks for superfluous stuffed animals - one or two critters I could understand, but two whole bags full?). J. and I were talking about various things, and she suggested that I become registered as a substitute teacher. In PEI, as it is in New Brunswick but not in Nova Scotia, one can substitute with only a university degree, and maybe not even that, as the form for PEI suggests sending proof of 30 credit hours / 1 year of "post-secondary education." My stars.
So my problem isn't so much that I'm not certified. I could be teaching right now if I wanted to. Unfortunately, a larger problem is that I don't know anything. There is exactly one subject that I have a background in: English. The form for the Eastern School District alone has room for six subject preferences and three subject specialities. Somehow, I don't think writing "English" and "English" is going to make me look like a hot prospect. Now, this hasn't stopped a lot of people from teaching anyway. But it may stop me, for now.
In going to Dal this summer for continuing ed courses, I'm basically turning back the clock to Grade 11. I may well end up going to my 10-year high school reunion and saying yeah I've got Mr. MacDonald for chemistry. Well, that's if I can hack it and don't drop out on the first day. =) Ha-ha. No, I'm going in full throttle. I'm sick of being a simpleton.
hungryDec. 24th, 2008
09:32 pm - Leaving Japan, Never Easy (Part 1)
Written on Christmas Eve in Osaka
I stepped out wearing my indoor shoes. I’d be pitching my old beat-up shoes, and I wouldn’t need a separate pair of indoor shoes anymore. I wasn’t coming back. Alone, I walked out of the genkan and out onto the driveway.
I saw S. and spoke to him. “You’re done? That’s it? Must feel good!”
“Yeah, but I feel like there’s more I could have done, but I guess I have to blow the whistle somewhere.”
I got back to the apartments to find the ball players washing and scrubbing the steps. I guiltily picked my way through them and into my apartment.
K. hadn’t returned my bicycle key and wasn’t home, so … I had to go back to the school again to get the other key from F. I hiked up the steps in my sock feet.
More teachers were in the staff room now than when I’d “left” - this was a good thing, because I’d said goodbye but as it turned out most of the Japanese teachers didn’t realize it was the final goodbye.
My first cooperating homeroom teacher was solemn and stoic. The vice-principal thanked me for putting in so much extra time lately (but it still wasn’t enough – my desk looks acceptable at first glance but it is quite messy on the inside; I wrote a brief apologia for this at the beginning of the 14 pages of notes I’d prepared for my successor). The other teachers said simple goodbyes with varying degrees of warmth and sincerity. I know that some of the teachers weren’t quite satisfied with the job I’d been doing, so it was an awkward experience all around.
I went outside again. I saw my third-grade homeroom class playing on the driveway by the gymnasium. I said goodbye and was prepared to walk away – I didn’t want to drag it out – but three or four of the girls came running to where I was and surrounded me. One nuzzled my mitt with her cheek and said “I am Canada!” (meaning that she intends to come and visit me if she gets her druthers).
I was overwhelmed. First there was the book the kids prepared on Saturday (when I naturally wasn’t there, so it was the perfect opportunity), and now this show of affection – it felt like love. Maybe it was. I certainly loved them. I’m not a professional, but if I were I’d hope that they forget about me, because I won’t be back except to visit.
Going home is a melancholy experience at best. Even finishing up at S.G. is like “winning” a war. I can’t complain, but that’s because I no longer have the energy to do so. That was the better part of the real reason I stopped writing – I couldn’t sustain the pace. I also felt guilty, as if Japan didn’t want to be exposed to my scrutiny and was punishing me for it. Now I realize that Japan wasn’t the problem – it was my job. To put it candidly, my former employer is spiritually bankrupt and can’t afford the slightest candor. (My new favourite anecdote is how the boss’ daughter and our translator were tearing the ¥700 price tags off of some junior high English books so that they could turn around and charge the parents ¥1500 for them.)
So I said goodbye again – I wished for a moment that I could stay… I doubt that very many of their many future teachers will be as obsessed about writing as I am, and the students felt that they had gotten a lot from me (I was even complimented about the science classes, which surprised me). I was giving more than I could sustain, though. As I write this, my right wrist is still kind of wonky because of the thousands of hours of corrections and suggestions and responses written in their journal books. Teaching demands sacrifice – sometimes unsustainable sacrifice.
I said goodbye again and got on my bike and drove to Awa Bank in the drizzle, whistling “Why Don’t You Write Me?”
I got to the bank and was thoroughly nonplussed by the service procedure – I expected there to be a machine to take numbers from but what was really happening was this: you’d give your passbook to the teller at kiosk #1 and tell her what you were there for, and the teller at kiosk #2 would call you back up to collect your passbook and your paperwork, money, or whatever. It’s not really analogous to a Canadian bank. Furthermore, the hours are ridiculous – the branch closes at 3pm, and ATMs have limited hours as well. Awa is not the worst - JPBank is now advertising that their ATMs will be closed entirely on the first, second, and third of January. (“Why?!” I exclaim incredulously at the TV. “Why do you hold your customers in such contempt? You should be advertising that you’re opening (certain?) ATMs 24/7!”)
So yes, you have to take time off work to get your in-person banking done. In this case, I had to transfer my hard-saved yen via furikomi to GoLloyds, who would then remit the funds to my Canadian bank account minus a handling fee. The rate is quite favourable right now, and in any case the direct remittance rate is always better than the cash rate.
The procedure was straightforward, and I could even sort of follow along with what was going on as the teller keyed her way through it on the ATM, but it would have been hopeless trying to do it myself, as the interface was unilingual Japanese. (Awa Bank is local to Tokushima Prefecture.) At the end of it, the machine spit out a new card that I could use for future transfers to the same account.
I transferred the entire contents of my account, minus a ¥420 transfer fee. You get nickeled and dimed everywhere; CIBC also extracts a $10 fee as they handle the inbound remittances. Still, with large amounts, it’s far safer and somewhat cheaper than exchanging cash (though that was my original plan – just what I’d need: even more things to worry about while travelling!).
And lastly, I hope GoLloyds isn’t taking me for a ride.
Downtown, I treated myself to lunch at my favourite place in the whole world – CoCoICHI curry! I took the pork cutlets, an extra 100g of rice, and ate at level 2. They give you a personal pitcher of ice water. At level 3, I’ve had to drink it and then some.
I went to the Awa Odori kaikan for gifts for Mom and Masae, then I went home. I still had to clean. I didn’t get much done before we left for the secret party we primary school foreign teachers had in lieu of the one we would have had (as the primary school teachers entire) were it not for Mr. O’s passing. I’ll write more about this later; suffice it to say that Japanese custom has it that social gatherings and observances shut down completely for a month after someone dies. Of course, in Western culture, going out for a few drinks in someone’s honour is a good thing. My homeroom cooperating teacher understood this perspective, but here such an outing is too necessarily celebratory and would therefore be inappropriate.
I also had to speak to Mk. again that afternoon, as I wasn’t able to contact NTT through their English help line. I’m not the only one having problems with it; it’s almost always busy. Anyway, Mk. called the Japanese line and at one point I was required to say, “William Matheson,” and “Yes, I would.” in reply to “What is your name?” and “Would you like to cancel your NTT phone line?” The call took fifteen minutes, but that wasn’t as bad as the Yahoo!BB internet cancellation call that took the better part of thirty. Japan: Life in the Fast Lane!
Another awkward goodbye: “Thank you for doing good job!” Meanwhile, I’d spotted contract extension papers in her arms that two of my co-workers presumably signed minutes earlier.
We went to an Italian restaurant – I ordered a terrific calzone; it took more than thirty minutes to get it, but it was worth it! The only down side is that most of the others were finished their meals by the time I dug into mine. They don’t follow our practice of holding all the dishes in the kitchen until they’re all ready, and then bringing them all out at once.
Singing at Casanova, F. discovered that the karaoke remote had a tone adjustment control. I’d been trying to sing the songs the way I thought they should be while the backing was flat – I sing by ear, so it was a disaster. But once we figured out the tone adjustment, it was like getting a new lease on life! It was then that I also realized the karaoke music here is entirely synthesized. Back home, most karaoke is CD+G based, meaning that the backing track is regular CD audio and is probably recorded in a studio – even though it’s almost never by the original artist, it still means a better and truer karaoke experience. It’s the one Japanese thing that I think we’ve improved upon. (There are hundreds of our things that they’ve improved on… =) The downside is that our system usually requires a karaoke operator to handle the discs. In Japan, you key in the songs on your own, and there are wireless remotes with which to do this – some even have a touch-screen on them so you can pick a song without looking through a book. Still, I prefer our system.
Anyway, I can’t explain how happy I was to find that there was a tone adjustment. Sometimes I’d sing and I’d be completely out of whack and I had to pause and think, “Gee, maybe I just suck.” Blaming the machine just sounded like a childlike, narcissistic way to avoid reality. But in these cases the machine may really have been to blame! Even though C1 said that I was the “Karaoke King,” I’ve had as many misses here as hits, and I’m chagrined to be discovering a possible reason why just as I’m leaving.
After we went our separate ways, I went to Komputa Taxi to catch a discounted cab. The cabbie didn’t know where S.G. was! We got into Ojin-cho and took a roundabout way to get there – I directed him, and I think I learned the Japanese word for “straight” – since he knew of “left” in English, we were OK. Even as we approached the school the incredulity in his voice was saying that he didn’t believe S.G. was where it was!
He may also have wondered why I was going there, so I volunteered: “Watashi wa ego no kyoshi deshta. Suiobi wa Canada e dekakemas.” (I think I was saying, “I was an English teacher. I’m going to Canada on Wednesday.”)
Anyway, it was a very comical end to the cab ride – “I’m sorry!” he stated and bowed repeatedly. Under the influence of good-humoured laughter I was in my apartment just ten minutes after midnight.
The next day: cleaning.
Drain cleaning was ick. And after I’d finished cleaning out the kitchen and the fridge, I discovered that I still had to clean the fan, the A/C filters, and wash the windows! My string of panicked exclamations is best left to your imagination. S. was coming to get us at 4 – it’s a good thing he was late, as I was still scrubbing under my fridge at 4 when I discovered that vacuuming just wouldn’t do.
S. was mercifully about fifteen minutes late and wasn’t in a hurry – he had a dryer and was willing to dry a few of my wet clothes, so I threw them in a trash bag and ran out the door. We all piled into the car and set off. He was hosting K. and I and other interested parties for a farewell, and K. and I would be crashing there as he lives near the Matsushige bus stop.
At S.’s we drank, ate, bitched, watched funny YouTube videos, the whole shebang. He’s got a great place; his washer is also a dryer, and it even weighed my clothes and estimated how long they would take to dry and acted accordingly. I am getting one of those. His fridge door also opens on both sides – you kind of have to see it to believe it; there are latches to hold it up on both ends, and they come out seamlessly when you tug on their particular end. You can close the door with the left handle and as soon as it clicks you can open it again with the right. I may have to get one of these too when the time comes. He and his wife were justly proud of their appliances and had brought them down from their previous house in Sapporo!
I was feeling a little bit sickly later on in the evening, and I was starting to wonder when the children would take themselves to bed. (answer: never =) I enjoyed playing with them, or rather, they enjoyed playing with me – they seemed to latch onto me for some reason. I was coughing, too – perhaps I’m coming down with something, and in any case I was definitely reacting to all the dust I’d stirred up cleaning. Mostly because of this and my fatigue / exhaustion, I didn’t have as much patience for them as I would have liked, but I tried my best to humour them with the energy that I had.
Oh, I should mention that S.’s older son had seen my Idol appearance! S. warned me that he might be singing “I Am A Rock,” and sure enough, he was. Gracious. I can’t go anywhere… =)
In the end, S.’s and his wife’s hospitality did a lot to ease my worries – I wanted to be home, but I didn’t want to go home, if you gather me. Now that I’m underway I’m feeling fine. (Although I wonder what will happen when Mk. discovers I didn’t clean my microwave… since the bulb in it is out it’s not really an aesthetic concern and I barely used it anyway. K. and I also put all our garbage out for collection even though this morning was only for non-burnables.)
S. took K. and later me to the bus stop – good thing, too, because he was able to look at my ticket and tell me that I had to get off at my bus’ penultimate stop. Itami Airport is north of Osaka, so going all the way down to Namba station would eat up time and yen unnecessarily.
In Umeda, I had a nasty bout with Osaka signage and got quite turned around and lost. Fortunately, there was an English-friendly information desk inside Osaka Station to put me back in the right general direction. I was very glad that I was only carrying handbaggage (my suitcases left Sunday by courier), and even that was onerously heavy. I would have been spitting blood had I been wandering around with my suitcases.
And now I’m on the departures concourse at Itami! It seems like a small airport – I don’t think it’s any bigger than Stanfield. Sadly there is no free internet (although there are coin-operated kiosks and non-free wifi), but I do have the chance to plug myself in electrically and type. In my search for a power outlet, I pushed on a button by the window marked “PUSH” and suddenly there’s this clicking and grinding and I’m wondering if an alarm is going to go off and I’ll be hauled to security and sent to a Japanese jail (etc..) but then I look up and discover that all I did was open a window.
Speaking of security, if you bring something sharp through security here (especially knives, even the Swiss-army kind), you could very well be fined, to the tune of half a million yen. Ouch. I guess they figure that the time for simple confiscation is over and it’s time to put in a serious deterrent! So, as always, pack carefully.
OK, time for a bathroom break and a snack and then it’ll be time to board! It’s still a long trip yet – there’ll be another bus trip between the Haneda and Narita airports in Greater Tokyo, and I will be staying overnight at a seedy motel in Queens. See you soon!
Oct. 30th, 2008
08:47 pm - Social Studies Activity: Canadian Maritime Provinces
I found this Word document left open by a coworker and decided, in a fit of inspiration, to fill it out myself and save the copy in a new file.
1) What is the capital of Nova Scotia?
Halifog
2) What is the capital of New Brunswick?
Something about Fred and Eric being big fat tubs of lard
3) What is the capital of Prince Edward Island?
Tater Town
4) Which province has the Worlds Longest Covered Bridge?
New Brunswick, but you can’t drive on it anymore
5) List 2 towns in
A) Nova Scotia
Halifog
Sid’s Knee
B) Prince Edward Island
Tater Town
[end of list]
C) New Brunswick
Street John’s
Moncton, but it’s only a shopping mall
6) Which town has a big Town Clock?
Halifog has one but tourists still ask what time the noon gun goes off
7) What is the name of the big sailing ship?
Bluenose, named after the ship that’s on the dime
8) What Bay is between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick?
The Bay of Federal Funding
9) Which province is an island?
Cape Breton
10) What instrument is the man next to the apple tree playing?
Gutbucket
11) Where is the house of Anne of Green Gables?
At the tourist information center in Tokyo
12) How far away is L.A.?
Too far to hitchhike
13) What is the big animal at the top of New Brunswick?
An angry Quebecer
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