October 2007 Archives

It is perhaps no coincidence that after 2 and a half years of faithful swimming, my last feeder goldfish passed away overnight. He had developed some sort of odd disease or infection, and so I knew he wasn't doing well, but had no idea how to treat him. I suspect that even had I possessed definitive knowledge on its treatment, it would have been to late by the time I noticed how badly he was doing. In any case, it was probably past time for me to get on with building a real aquarium capable of capturing imagination, rather than an over sized home for a lonely carp.
Of course, I have no time to address that concern at the present moment, for the present circumstances restrict my attentions to concerns of a more... academic quality. I have yet to really decide on a question to answer for my term paper, much less put together an adequate list of sources to address said question. This list, of course, is due on Friday morning. Next week is my second set of midterms, a set I am definitely not ready for in any reasonable sense. It all feels like its coming on a bit too fast. I am hoping to use the next few days to effectively get fully caught up on the relevant material. But with fall hitting me hard, I am far more inclined to go for a 15 hour nap.

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Tags: fall, death, goldfish, pets

Surprising enough, even to myself, is that I am still running at this time of the year. It's been a struggle to be sure, but thus far I have managed to keep up with the discipline. And I have to say, one of the reasons that I appreciate it is that when you head out in this city with a pair of sneakers, it's almost always an interesting experience. On a run a week or two ago I was running in the downtown area and briefly stopped to take a picture of the university area where I live across the river. I think the picture really captures part of enjoyment in running here. Especially at that time when there were still leaves on trees. That and perhaps the sense of hope that running seems to allow for, that feeling of a peace with the world.

I have been inordinately busy lately as I try to keep in stride the demands of two jobs, my studies, church, personal time, and long term planning, and this doesn't include chores! As my week works out now, I have carefully and methodically scheduled everything to land in the first six days of the week, while being fairly methodical about keeping Sundays free. The trouble is that with this much on my plate, I find that Sunday's are only where I attempt to catch up. Which is a situation I am not comfortable, for more reasons than just being legalistic about the Sabbath. I think that the Sabbath is there for a reason: namely, without that day of rest I find myself feeling quite drained going into the week. That's never good.

For my English class this term, about 60% of the credit for the class is in a midterm and a final that we write. The remainder is tied up in a rather colossal term paper that seem to be commonplace in the Arts and Humanities. In an almost perverse way, I am almost looking forward to writing it. The paper's focus is on class and ideology, and there are a set of questions that we can go about answering that range in scope from the literary to the philosophical. I feel a paper on the tip of my tongue and I think I'll enjoy moving a thesis on paper for once. I have engaged a lot of these concepts in conversation and thought for the past few years, but a paper should push me to formalize them a bit. We'll see how it goes.

Most of the leaves are now down on the ground leaving Edmonton in its current distressing gray tone. It seems appropriate somehow that this new washed out appearance should arrive just in time for Thanksgiving. A Thanksgiving which I plan on celebrating with some sort of soup or stew while hunkered over a textbook. And ponder, of course, over what I am giving thanks for. It's been an interesting year, and as all of them, bittersweet. But it must be said that I have made it for 5 years up here in this frozen wasteland, so what's another winter?

I am actively dreading my two midterms scheduled for late next week. Both advanced organic chemistry and environmental promise to be quite difficult, and I certainly do not look forward to writing them, though it will be nice to have them completely out of the way (at least until the second ones). Over the years I have come to the important realization that the first midterms really set the tone fo rthe whole semester. It may not be impossible to recover from a lousy first set, but you're faced with playing the wrong game until finals. That is, namely, trying to learn and get a nice A or B versus trying to figure out enough so that you don't fail the course. The former is far more pleasant...

In any case, we'll see how it all turns out. I have not done very well motivating myself into getting these vital tasks done so far, so I am really hoping to get back on top of matters as the week progresses.