End of Days

Well, this semester rather, but I felt a bit dramatic. It's certainly been a surprising one. Among many other coincidences, somehow I ended up taking four extremely interesting courses this semester, three of which were also exceedingly fun, and pretty inspiring and motivational. My theater prof, Stephen Drover, had a brilliant and fun approach to teaching, and really helped me think about theater on a new level. And my developmental psychology profs, Jeremy Frimer and Lawrence Walker, introduced me to a new and exciting framework for thinking about humanity. So many of my feelings about people and their nature have been given voice, a scientific context, and a view of the passion that others have for the same topics. Whether because he is from a closer generation, younger, or something else, Jeremy's lectures connected with me in particular. His teaching style was dynamic, obviously interested, motivated, effective, informative, personal highly relevant, and well paced. In short, it was a joy to learn under his guidance, and I think he has become a bit of a role model for me.

So that's my little blast of enthusiasm out there. I'm just about to fall asleep, as I stayed up late to pound out my last paper. Until next time.. *yawn*

Hope

It seems like lately I've been finding out more and more about amazing, progressive, dynamic forces of change, review, and critical thought. It's very, very exciting.

Whistler!

*written last night*

I feel like a more superfluous blog entry this time. This morning I could have taken the 6am bus direct from UBC to Whistler. On 4 ½ hours sleep. Consulting with B, my dearest, led me to realise this wasn’t the greatest idea. So we went back to sleep and woke up refreshed at 8:30, and had a nice slow morning with coffee and a delicious breakfast: a ham/egg/tomato sandwich; and a fresh-made waffle topped with mango, strawberry, raspberry and whipped-cream. After some final packing and preparation we were on our way to Whistler.

One (typically) late greyhound later, we checked into our comfy hotel and had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory*. The server was super nice (especially for his second day on the job) and oh man, it was so yummy, and pretty cheap for a ski resort town! $40 got the two of us enough food for two meals (i.e. our takeout containers still had enough for a second dinner each), including sides, coffee, and dessert. And tax.  Next up, we explored the beautiful, beautiful village in the thick, slowly falling snow. I’ll let the pictures do the talking (will edit them in once I’ve had the time to uploaded them. i.e. when not near awesome snow). 

-Pics-to-come -

I wanted some new shoes since my nice Clarks were straining to remain waterproof with all the slush I’d accidentally splashed through, so we explored some shops. I ended up deciding to wait and get a cheaper (i.e. <$80) pair of waterproof snow boots than the expensive $100+ stuff at Whistler. However we found a wicked shop called Excess Backcountry where they had my favourite thermal gear: IceBreaker! I’m all stocked up but B got a pair of thermal leg underwear and boarding socks. This adds to her brand spankin’ new board, boots, and bindings, all of which I think she’ll greatly enjoy tomorrow on our first day on the slopes of Whistler / this season. With luck, it will be our first powder day too!! 

And now we’re off to soak in the hot tubs for a while, maybe have a little swim in the pool... relaxin :) So all in all, it’s been a great day and I’m super stoked for tomorrow!

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*written just now*

Wow. Powder is awesome. You can sink and float in it and it doesn't hurt to fall at all! We did BlackComb all day and while it was a bleepin' trial to get our season passes, it was worth it. So much fun! And barely sore :D love my gear.

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~J

*I make no apologies in sharing some of my experiences—both good and bad—with brands, so others may avoid my mistakes and enjoy my good fortune.

FreakAngels

... is a pretty wicked webcomic! Ye gods, were I a FA... I shudder to think :D

Anyway, if you're keen I highly recommend you start at page 1. It will explain itself. Themes include psychics, post-apocalyptic worlds, mortality, different versions of bildungsromans, (in)sanity, imagination, philosophy, sexuality, some infrequent nudity, and graphic violence.

ALSO note that each "episode" has multiple pages to go through, so don't just skip from one episode to the next if you want to actually read it ;)

What Wonderful Twists We Find

Who would have thought that a music production company called Two Steps From Hell could produce such inspirational, uplifting music! Also, I just found my old blog, and with it, yet another author to add to my reading list (Robert Sheckley). Egad.

Listening to: Promise, from Nemesis II

Ends and Beginnings

I am now a retired summoner. In other words, I recently uninstalled the last video game I played on a regular basis, due to the sheer volume of other things I want to do (which I've not spent enough time and energy on at this time). Books, movies, snowboarding, activities, work, socialising, and--most importantly--exploration. I want to explore more of the important things in life, and by that I mean such topics as covered in the links from the last post.

Funny thing, actually: today in my DevPsyc lecture we watched a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson (SKR) (one of the speakers from the links in my last post). Not only was it inspiring, but the coincidence struck a chord with me, and I noticed that SKR has a book out called The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. Top of my to-read list, now! So thank you, Jeremy Frimer, for yet another awesome lecture, which connected to me especially personally this time.

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life" - Confucius

A Starting Note

This is my second personal blog. I haven't kept one in years, but decided I might want to start for the purpose of having some record of the more interesting thoughts and reflections I have on my life. Who knows, maybe one day my kids will want to read it. What a nice thought. I wonder if I'd like that for my own ego, their benefit, or both?

And now, having watched an excellent pair of videos on reforming the education system and the powers of time, I'm going to return to the term papers demanding my attention presently, so I can go back to looking toward the future at a later date. Hilarious, huh?