Thursday, May 06, 2004
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Ambition
Yesterday I received an email from UBC's
Distance Education & Technology asking if I wanted to take an online course this Summer. So I perused the course catalogue and found
An Introduction to Musical Theory. Now I have a Grade 8 Musical Theory cert....so I signed up for the course. It's not as cheap a move as it looks, I got my Grade 8 a long time ago and I hardly remember anything. I would love a little refresher course in Musical Theory and an average boost like that is too much to pass up. This and my participation in the UBC Choral Union is what is keeping my B+ average +. It also justifies my buying the computer, because this is an online course and I need it to be able to study at home.
Today I also got an email from my Linguistics prof who is letting me sit in on her classes that I may complete my outstanding course and coursework. I'm absolutely thrilled at this opportunity. It essentially means that I no longer have the burden of having to revise this course independently and it also guarantees that my grade change will be made before I have to register for this fall's classes. Finally, my transcript is going to look like it should. Everything is falling into place. Not to mention that
BCSAP Online is going to start accepting student loan applications for the 2004/2005 school year on May 17th. I have a solid plan surrounding my student loan. I just read stats on student debt and it's not pretty. Due to the current state of the economy, grads are finding it harder to get jobs within their first year of graduation (or indeed their second). The problem here is not just that the average debt is higher than before due to the rise in tuition costs, but also that the grad has to start making payments 6 months after graduation. This usually results in the grad taking a loan from a financial instituition and then working to pay that off, with the ensuing interest from both loans weighing on the wallet.
Scary stuff, but I have a good plan, not to mention the fact that I've been speaking with one of the Arts Advisors who is going to give me quite a large amount of support for the remainder of my education. She is the one that I went to see with regards to getting the "Standing Deferred"s as well as withdrawing from several courses. It's comforting to know that there are people who are willing to work with you toward your eventual goal, and it certainly makes the journey less arduous.
We spent a good 4 hours last night cleaning up the apartment. It was something that desperately needed to be done. Now it looks and feels so much better. I'm very impressed with our current state of affairs, in that we have done pretty awesome for ourselves on a relatively tight budget. The new refridgerator arrived yesterday. Apparently the one in our unit was 25 years old and is also the last one to be replaced in the building. This one is bigger (we had to alter the cupboard above it so it would fit) and seems to be working better. The old one froze everything regardless of which section in the fridge you stashed it in. Frozen apple cider vinegar is not in the least useful. Still I can't help but be impressed, I don't think any appliances made today can last 25 years. They just don't make things like that anymore. That was exactly what the building manager was lamenting about too when he carted away the old fridge.
We're going to get internet at home tonight too. Jim's just bouncing off the walls with excitement. Poor baby's gone without the internet for a good month now. The main thing about it is that he d/ls music to burn into his minidisc player to listen to at work so that he doesn't have to be included in inane and potentially brain damaging conversations. He's been listening to the same selection of music for so long though that he's stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea at work. Indulge in perverse conversation or listen to Adam Sandler's goat song another time? I'm just really paranoid about viruses. It's a brand new computer, money came right out of my own pocket...this is my baby! I don't want it getting blasted (pun intended) by some random virus! We have a 90 day free trial of Norton Anti-Virus though which gives me a good three months to find someone who would lend me their version! I can't believe how expensive anti-viral software is. I think that everyone should have access to the protection of their property. I have no use for a computer rendered useless by a nasty virus. Rendering my computer useless is tantamount to stealing $1500 from me.
When I carted home all of Jim's presents last night his eyes just popped! There were four beautifully wrapped packages (I used the same wrapping paper throughout) and a giant card. He started shaking and squeezing all of them trying to guess what was within. He dwelt for a while on the leather wallet package and I told him that if he could guess what it was he could open it. I started to feel bad for him a ways into the guessing process because I could see that it was killing him, not knowing what was inside. He finally got it when I told him that it's made out of something edible. The wallet is going over very well indeed. He's finding all sorts of reasons to whip it out and show it off. He's wanted a leather wallet for a long time, just because his old canvas one is just that. The only reason why he hasn't bought it is because he was waiting for the canvas one to give out. Let's be realistic here. He's had that wallet since he was 16 and not even a stich is loose. Give it another 50 years and I doubt even the seam that is stressed the most often would give out. Well constructed, but not cool. This new one is Danier, genuine leather. I'm glad it went over so well, I just hope that the other presents can measure up. Oh well, I'm pretty sure that the electric razor will be a hit too.
Tomorrow's Friday and I'm estatic about the weekend. We're going to have people over and the Survivor finale is this Sunday (which is why we're going to try and move the shindig to Saturday, so we can watch the finale with Jim's Dad). It's been a long week, and next week I will be starting both my Music 103 and my Linguistics 200 classes. Still, I will survive!
posted by Joie! at
3:17 p.m.
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