A NEW HOME

So for most of the summer, I’ve been faced with the prospect of not knowing where I’ll be living in September. At St. John’s College, they give you two years to complete a Masters. After that, they boot you out even if you’re not done. Well, I’m at the end of my two years and I’ll need a little bit more time to finish up.

You can apply for an extension, but the whole process is murky and a bit shady. Rarely are extensions given, and when they are, no one really knows why or how they got it. I could write a whole book about the mysterious workings of the SJC administrative staff.

Anyways, yours truly applied for an extension and I didn’t get it. For the last several weeks I’ve been wondering what the hell to do. I was wait-listed at a few UBC residences but I wasn’t getting in anytime soon. As of last week, I was number 13 for a one-bedroom apartment at Thunderbird, but there was no guarantee when I’d get that.

I was fully prepared to live at home for the beginning of the school year while I figured out what to do. Mentally, I began to prepare to eat with my parents for dinner again and maybe even let my Mom tuck me in.

Yesterday though, I received an e-mail from Thunderbird Housing. They had reached my position on the wait list. They were offering me a one-bedroom apartment on campus. My problem had been solved.

Today, I went to the housing office to accept my assignment. The lady there gave me some choices: there two apartments available on the 16th of this month or one apartment on the 20th of September. I didn’t want to pay rent for two places at once, so I chose the latter date. Also, that apartment was closer to SJC than the other two. I also know it’s a split-level apartment. I have the address and I’ll probably go look at it this week… from the outside at least.

I’ve never lived in a one-bedroom apartment before. I also don’t have any furniture. I’ll need a bed, desk, and a chair. I’ve determined those are the minimum items I need to procure for my place. I’ve already got my kitchen and bathroom stuff from SJC. My living room will be barren. Everyone is invited to come on over, but you might need to bring a chair. It’d be crazy for me to start buying stuff since I’m poor and I’m only going to be there for seven months.

So, the only complication is that I’ll need to move out to my parents’ place for about three weeks. Two of those weeks will be school weeks, so it won’t be that bad… I hope. My goal is to leave a bit of stuff with my friends here at SJC. What a pain it would be to move all my crap to Port Moody and then move it back just three weeks later.

I’ve got half a glorious month left at SJC and I’m going to make the best of it.

EATEN ALIVE

I must have been bitten at least five times by mosquitos last night as I sat in my room. Where the hell did these little bastards come from? I haven’t had many problems with skeeters all summer. My left leg is patchy red in several places and it itches like a sonuvabitch.

In other news, there’s a summer advisory about the West Nile virus at UBC.

WINDOWS XP

I have decided to upgrade to Windows XP. I probably should have done this a long time ago but I hesitated. Anyways, this will be no small undertaking. I’ll have to backup all my data just in case something weird happens during installation. I’ll also have to re-install all my applications again. What a pain in the ass.

The backup will probably take several days. I can see this all going to hell at the critical hour. If you don’t hear from me for several days, it will be because of the upgrade.

BAD HAIR

I officially have bad hair. With my work schedule it’s been difficult to get out to where I get my hair cut.

My hair is straight outta the early 80s now. It’s got no style to it. It just exists. Somehow, I grew this huge wall of hair out front. I can’t control it. It alone decides where to go on my head. My hair is also getting kinda long in the back. It’s still not mullet length but it’s damn close.

I bet you’re wondering why I haven’t taken a picture of my hair and posted it here. Well for one, I’m not really sure this is something I’d like to save for posterity, and two, it’s getting late.

I really, really need to get my hair cut this week.

HAROLD AND KUMAR

Tonight I went and saw Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. The TV commercials may look kinda stupid, but as far as comedies go, it’s a pretty good movie. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments. It’s also got Neil Patrick Harris in it. You can bet any movie with NPH in it will be a good one.

I also enjoyed the movie because, for a change, the two male leads weren’t your typical “Hollywood” actors. When was the last time you saw a Korean and Indian guy carry a movie? The movie touched upon the reality of being a visible minority in North America, but in a very funny and entertaining way.

And for the record, Phil and I went to get some fast food after the movie. Extreme!