Jonathan @ Carleton: Back in O Town

Well it’s been a long while since I have posted anything substantial, but a lot has happened over the last few weeks, so I should be able to give you guys something more than a few paragraphs. I guess I’ll talk a little about my vacation back home and then focus on how I’m adjusting to University life again.

The Holidays:

A lot happened this Christmas vacation back in Calgary, and as with most other events in my life, I have forgotten the vast majority of it. The good news is that what I do remember is good.

Arriving in the Calgary airport was a bit of shock for me, not because of the dryness (though that did cause noise bleeds down the road) but due to the greeting I received… or lack there of. I don’t really know why but for some reason I expected to walk through the security gates and be greeted by everyone I have ever known waiting for me with streamers noise makers and a 4 persona band. Alas such was not the case, and although there were people waiting by the security gates, none of them were people I knew so I walked over to the escalator. ‘Of course’ I thought to myself ‘they all waited at the bottom of the escalator to avoid the crowd by the security gates.’ In anticipation I reached the bottom of the escalator to be greeted by… more people who I didn’t know. I headed over to the luggage pick up area and on the way who did I run into? My dad casually walking through the entrance to the airport. Unfortunately he didn’t have any streamers, but he did keep the car warm while I got my bag.

I may have not received the kings welcome I was delusional to expect, but I did get treated like a king when I got home. It turns out that my mom had stored up all the affection from the other four months of the year that I was gone, and decided to give it all to me while I was home for vacation. Needless to say after 2 weeks of that much affection I am still feeling good about myself.

Aside from being spoiled the whole time not all that much happened during the winter vacation. The day after I got back I went to my old school and received a… more than warm greeting from my friends from high school. That day I also had pancakes with Karen, Nichole and Libby, more people who I knew from high school (Karen is also in University and was also visiting the school.). Later that day I went to Stuart and Fraser’s house to relax and catch up on some much needed video game time.

On the 23^rd of December the family packed up and headed out to Sunshine for skiing. After my first day of less than rigorous skiing I had a good time relaxing in the lounge and having a dinner with the Kinnear’s, other Courtney’s (who were also staying at Sunshine for 3 days) and my family. The days of the 24^th and 25^th were vary similar to the 23^rd, they involved skiing, relaxing, eating some more, relaxing, eating, reading, relaxing, and then if I wasn’t too tired from all that, a little more skiing at the end.

After a difficult day on the ski hill we went home to open presents (where I received a lot off good loot) and then to the other Courtney’s house to enjoy Christmas dinner. It was here that I was introduced to the greatest video game of all time, Guitar Hero 2. For those of you that have never heard of it before, Guitar Hero 2 involves a special remote in the shape of a guitar that has a series of button on the ‘neck’ of the guitar and a button that lets you ‘strum’ on the bottom. In the game you hit these buttons in the order appearing on the screen to play the music of many different well known songs. Sufficed to say it was a really good time. Or at least it was a good time until I became very feverish and delusional at the end of the night (caused by a cold not by the game) and so I soon returned home to sleep for 15 hours.

The days between Christmas and New Years were filled with… well not that much. Most days were filled with relaxing, watching movies and catching up on the video games I left behind. When I wasn’t relaxing my time away I was usually out visiting my friends in Calgary. I didn’t get to see everyone but I did get to see Shannon, Rachel, Lewis, Kellan, Stephen, Ricky and the Kinnear’s (several times). It was really good to see everyone again; there really is no substitution for talking to people face to face.

On New Years my family went to the other Courtney’s for desert and fireworks (the fireworks were done by the Community association). For the New Years Eve party I went to Lewis’s house. It was a really good time, most of which is obscured in my memory by Crown Royal Whisky. I remember sharing more than one laugh with a bunch of people and opening Champaign when New Years finally rolled around. Eventually I found myself asleep under a pool table. All in all it was a great way to start 2007.

Due to its slow start Jan 1^st was more or less a write off to packing my bags and recovering from the night before. On Jan 2^nd I got up bright and early to ride the plane back to Ottawa. After some minor delays and a change in flights I made it safe and sound back to my residence room by 5 pm. My first cafeteria meal reminded me that a home cooked meal is a rare and beautiful thing.

After the first day back, days began to blur and I quickly lost all sense of time. Since I can’t remember on what day’s events happened I will simply list the events in attempted chronological order.

The New Years Resolution

Overall my new year’s resolution was a downward spiral (I am sure this comes as a surprise to most people who know me).

I started off really good but as I put more and more on my plate I was not able to change my old bad habits enough to reach my new expectations. I was able to go to the gym, but only 3 times a week, not 4 like I wanted. I haven’t been able to type out all my readings, and I have fallen behind 1 class in my history and PAPM readings. I originally wanted to be totally free of video games, but I allowed myself to participate in social video games, that is video games were I am playing with other people in the real world. All in all I was able to do more thus far this year (with involvement in model UN, application to be a Residence Fellow and increased academic productivity) but I fell short of the original target I set for myself.

Class in the New Year

Three of my classes are continuing from last semester, but I have new professors and material for each of my classes. My two new classes are Environmental Ethics and the Study of Development; both of these classes are really awesome. I am also in post-confederation Canadian history, Macro Economics and Intro to Public Affairs and Policy Management. Its tough to summarize the content of each class, but you know what they say, ‘when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.” So I’ll be moving on.

Piano Purchase

Christmas comes late for Jon this year; I spent some of my money that I got for Christmas from a number of people on a musical keyboard. Many of you are no doubt wondering ‘why would you spend 100$ on a key board if you don’t know how to play one?’ Well that’s a good question. Firstly it was a good deal (the normal one goes for over 150$) and I have always wanted to know how to play piano, and I figured owning keyboard would be a good start. How am I going to get this home? What am I going to do with it in the summer? Who knows, I guess I’ll figure it out later.

Residence Fellow Application

Recently a great deal of my time and energy has been directed toward applying to be a residence fellow. In order to become a residence fellow you have to get 2 references and submit a resume as well as writing an essay. I actually managed to finish everything that was required which included getting hand written recommendations from Mr. Anderson and Ms. Boers (high school teachers in Calgary). All in all I am fairly proud of myself for completing the application, even if I don’t make it past the paper cut I will be happy. If I do make it past the paper cut I will be participating in an Evaluation Day where I will be testing my compatibility with others. Anyway there is no need to worry about these things until they come up, but I will do my best to keep u guys posted.

If you want to know more about what a Residence Fellow is check out: http://www.carleton.ca/housing/reslife/apply.html

Model UN

Model UN was something I always wanted to get involved in during high school, but I was not able to because it conflicted with band. I attended a small discussion on the form of the model UN and on Saturday I participated in my first model UN as the representative from Rwanda. For those of you who don’t know what model UN is, it is basically a student run model of what the real UN does. Many students get together representing countries that are in the UN and debate a topic with the overall goal to create a resolution on the topic being discussed. The Model UN I went to was an in house which means that only Carleton students can attended and it was only one day long (the main model UN meetings last 3-5 days). The in house topic focused on poverty reduction, and I helped to draft a resolution that eventually passed. All in all it was a great learning experience and hopefully I will be able to participate in a full blown Model UN in the future.

Philosophy Lecture

Not to long ago a friend of mine named Karl told me about a philosophy lecture that was going to be happening at Ottawa U. So Karl and I both got on the O train and went to Ottawa U for the lecture. When moving through the campus to get to the lecture hall I was fascinated by the amount of French written in the titles of posters and the amount of French being spoken around me. I never realized how English dominated Carleton was until I experienced the amount of French that existed in Ottawa U. I am sure many people at Carleton know French but they don’t speak it primarily. The book that the professor had written is in French, but fortunately for me this particular presentation was in English. The Professor spoke of many interesting topics many of which I have already read/thought about before. The lecture was advertised by promising to explain why “the body does not exist”. At the beginning of his lecture the Prof. said that he was not going to explain the entirety of his argument (due to time restraints) but instead he was going to present many ideas that would stimulate minds to pursue the answer further. He presented many arguments about how the senses only represent a fraction of what is in ‘reality’. He did this very interactively and at one point he used strobe lights to make a rotating fan appear to be standing still and then rotate in the opposite direct. I felt I understood everything he was saying except for the last several minutes of the lecture where he presented many concepts I had not herd of before and I could not fully understand. The lecture itself was very interesting but the best part of it was that we were given the opportunity to sign up for discussion groups. I signed up for one and I hope I will be able to interact with other people interested about these sorts of things.

SNOW!!!!!

Finally after months of brown with the occasional snow drift it finally snowed!!! We defiantly took advantage of the first snow fall by not only playing in the snow but going on an adventure into the snow filled park across the canal (Courtney, Bronwyn, Kayla, Sloan and I were the voyagers). I defiantly felt like a kid again rolling around in the snow, and just having snow on the ground has improved my mood!

Anyway that’s more or less what has happened over the last while. I’ll do my best to keep you all updated to the events in my life, and hopefully update more often.

Pictures:

Friday night is party night: