Backpack to school
Hah! Thus read the slogan on the side of the window in Roots as I headed down Robson in a rush tonight. Last minute, and just in the nick of time. So I am in everything that I do. I wasn't ready to wrap up with work. I was kinda on work and vacation all this summer. When I wasn't working I was wanting to be really relaxing. I started off staying on top of things. Like really staying on top of things. But that was starting to make me a little too involved in work and a little too crazy. After awhile I toned it down about and actually took my days off. But then that dropped me behind a bit in co-op. Alas, the tradeoffs. And now I'm NOT on top of things. I tried to apply for some jobs to get on my way for this term, but in the end it's just easier to return to school for the term. Cause gosh, applying for jobs really is like having another full time course on your hands. Too dizzying.
ANYHOO,
Following up a Kat's post, I feel like mentioning how I finally like university students. I think we've stopped pretending to be whoever we are not. Started dropping the fronts. Stopped acting like a bunch of asses. And snobs. I mean most people are living on student budgets and are not some stuck up rich turds. Or well the rich people are sensitive enough now not to act all superior around you. Well, at least some of them. And the people who know what it is like to live on a budget are like, "you got a problem with that." Which I totally endorse! Having college friends is the best because they tell you when to shut your mouth (always in a good-natured way of course). Especially when you accidentally mention anything uni-wise they can't relate to. I think there really is no difference. It's all relative. One institute of education versus the other. Tuition versus tuition. Trade school versus academia. There's no reason to see one as better than the other. When you go out to work, you're really as good as the next Joe Schmo who can do the job well.
There's something nice about having friends who are totally straight up. For instance, I think I like it when people admit to something like being hard up and they're not at all embarrassed or sorry about it. Like: It's just a stage in life. And I'm going to be OK. Anyhow, there's something kinda noble about not being apologetic for what's God given.
Now I kind of remember something these Australian tourists were telling me when they hurriedly tried to explain away their choice for taking public transit around the city as opposed to an some expensive bus tour. "That's the best way to see what the city's really like, from a locals perspective, right? Instead of taking a bus tour with other tourists and seeing what all the other tourists are like?" Now it seems to me something straight out of Frommer. I just don't think I'd want an American male out of the early 20th century to tell me how to travel, (even though I agree with him on that this one time. ooh, I can't wait to travel on no money at all)...but then books and everything else try to tell us how to think about everything anyway. So there I deviate again, but I digress...
skip to...STORY ABOUT MY DISCMAN
I'm actually going to admit that I broke my fruity CD player a while back. I stupidly dropped the thing. The fm/am player was still in working condition. But when I tried to put a CD in it wouldn't run. I didn't give it much thought at first, I kind of just gave up on it. Went: Oh, it can't play CD's this is too complicated for me. I can't fix it. What do I know about electronics?
But four months later I'm totally frustrated with not having portable music. To the thought of getting an MP3 player, or *gasp* another discman. I don't want to get a plastic piece of crap, but I can't afford the good stuff. And suddenly, I run it through my mind again. What is really wrong with my discman...
In a last act of desperation, I convince myself to think that I can fix my discman. So I take the screws out and try see what is wrong. But i'm an idiot. What do I know about fixing discmans. Psh. So I'm glad that I give up on complicated tasks easily, and also that I have the sense to be gentle. Cause after a few prods I realize I'm not getting anywhere, so i stop. Geez, I mean, in math don't they always tell you to try to solve a problem with the fewest steps? Saves time, don't it? ANd then I figure, y'know what? The motor is not dead. It still spins the spinny thing, it's just that piece of plastic that keeps sticking up and scratching the CD's so they don't play. So I think of how I might get that piece of plastic down. Thusly, in a stroke of sheer brilliance *dripping with sarcasm* I decide to tape it down. But what to use? Clear plastic tape will eventually get yellow, dammed ugly, and annoying. So I need electrical tape.
******
Me: Where's the electrical tape?
Dad: ?
Sister: ?
Mom: What do you mean electrical tape?
Me: Dad, do you know where the electrical tape is?
Sister: Why?
Mom: There is no such thing as electrical tape!
Dad: ?
Sister: Why? What do you need it for? ....It's in the toolbox...
[2 minutes later I dash upstairs and am found rummaging through the toolbox]
Voila. Now i've produced the blue electrical tape and fixed my CD player the poorman's way. Straps of blue electrical tape are visible from the side. Tres tacky, but necessary to hold that dammed plastic thing down. Someday I'll find a sticker to cover it.
Somehow I'm reminded of something hilarious I saw a while back about men. "What do men do when the couch is broken..." There's nothing a little duct tape won't fix. [A couch is shown held together with patches of silvery duct tape.] What an ugly couch. But it's true. At least you can sit on it. Hey, it gets the job done.
ANYHOO,
Following up a Kat's post, I feel like mentioning how I finally like university students. I think we've stopped pretending to be whoever we are not. Started dropping the fronts. Stopped acting like a bunch of asses. And snobs. I mean most people are living on student budgets and are not some stuck up rich turds. Or well the rich people are sensitive enough now not to act all superior around you. Well, at least some of them. And the people who know what it is like to live on a budget are like, "you got a problem with that." Which I totally endorse! Having college friends is the best because they tell you when to shut your mouth (always in a good-natured way of course). Especially when you accidentally mention anything uni-wise they can't relate to. I think there really is no difference. It's all relative. One institute of education versus the other. Tuition versus tuition. Trade school versus academia. There's no reason to see one as better than the other. When you go out to work, you're really as good as the next Joe Schmo who can do the job well.
There's something nice about having friends who are totally straight up. For instance, I think I like it when people admit to something like being hard up and they're not at all embarrassed or sorry about it. Like: It's just a stage in life. And I'm going to be OK. Anyhow, there's something kinda noble about not being apologetic for what's God given.
Now I kind of remember something these Australian tourists were telling me when they hurriedly tried to explain away their choice for taking public transit around the city as opposed to an some expensive bus tour. "That's the best way to see what the city's really like, from a locals perspective, right? Instead of taking a bus tour with other tourists and seeing what all the other tourists are like?" Now it seems to me something straight out of Frommer. I just don't think I'd want an American male out of the early 20th century to tell me how to travel, (even though I agree with him on that this one time. ooh, I can't wait to travel on no money at all)...but then books and everything else try to tell us how to think about everything anyway. So there I deviate again, but I digress...
skip to...STORY ABOUT MY DISCMAN
I'm actually going to admit that I broke my fruity CD player a while back. I stupidly dropped the thing. The fm/am player was still in working condition. But when I tried to put a CD in it wouldn't run. I didn't give it much thought at first, I kind of just gave up on it. Went: Oh, it can't play CD's this is too complicated for me. I can't fix it. What do I know about electronics?
But four months later I'm totally frustrated with not having portable music. To the thought of getting an MP3 player, or *gasp* another discman. I don't want to get a plastic piece of crap, but I can't afford the good stuff. And suddenly, I run it through my mind again. What is really wrong with my discman...
In a last act of desperation, I convince myself to think that I can fix my discman. So I take the screws out and try see what is wrong. But i'm an idiot. What do I know about fixing discmans. Psh. So I'm glad that I give up on complicated tasks easily, and also that I have the sense to be gentle. Cause after a few prods I realize I'm not getting anywhere, so i stop. Geez, I mean, in math don't they always tell you to try to solve a problem with the fewest steps? Saves time, don't it? ANd then I figure, y'know what? The motor is not dead. It still spins the spinny thing, it's just that piece of plastic that keeps sticking up and scratching the CD's so they don't play. So I think of how I might get that piece of plastic down. Thusly, in a stroke of sheer brilliance *dripping with sarcasm* I decide to tape it down. But what to use? Clear plastic tape will eventually get yellow, dammed ugly, and annoying. So I need electrical tape.
******
Me: Where's the electrical tape?
Dad: ?
Sister: ?
Mom: What do you mean electrical tape?
Me: Dad, do you know where the electrical tape is?
Sister: Why?
Mom: There is no such thing as electrical tape!
Dad: ?
Sister: Why? What do you need it for? ....It's in the toolbox...
[2 minutes later I dash upstairs and am found rummaging through the toolbox]
Voila. Now i've produced the blue electrical tape and fixed my CD player the poorman's way. Straps of blue electrical tape are visible from the side. Tres tacky, but necessary to hold that dammed plastic thing down. Someday I'll find a sticker to cover it.
Somehow I'm reminded of something hilarious I saw a while back about men. "What do men do when the couch is broken..." There's nothing a little duct tape won't fix. [A couch is shown held together with patches of silvery duct tape.] What an ugly couch. But it's true. At least you can sit on it. Hey, it gets the job done.