Down at the Ol' School House

Today is the first day of classes for many students, young and old, who are embarking on a new chapter of their education (including my sister!  Good Luck A-B!). I am not one of them, yet I still see the Tuesday after Labour Day as the beginning of something new. For me this date, much more than January 1st, signals the promise of a new day and of new possibilities. I guess that makes sense since I have been a student for more years of my life than not, and as a student I always experienced a giddy mix of anxiety and excitement the first time I stepped foot in a high school corridor or on a university campus for the year.

In retrospect, the years within one particular institution seem to flow together with very few distinguishing features, but I suppose it was the feeling of possibility that made the first week or so very intoxicating and exciting. I remember even in my 6th year of university walking into every new lecture hoping for some new and entirely different experience. Unfortunately, the more lectures one attends, the more one realizes they are all pretty much clones of each other. Yes, there are good profs and bad profs who make the subject matter exciting or dull, but at the end of the day the same schema is being observed—2% excitement over a new idea or interesting presentation, otherwise a fairly dull 98% of note-taking, and, on my part anyway, crossword-solving.

And yet, I miss it. At least I was learning. Perhaps that is what the excitement was all about for me…because even though it is a rare 2%, sometimes my mind was challenged in ways that still linger with me years later. Sometimes the instructor or a fellow student can make things that you knew for sure seem like mere conjecture in a span of minutes. I suppose that is what I miss the most. Although the experience could occur on the last day of school – it was the first week of school that possessed the anticipation of such events to a palatable degree. The 9-5 experience has no such excitement for me…no such promise of a challenge to my world view or the possibility of a new idea taking root in my mind that will blossom into something that changes me as a person over the months to come. Yep, university, and even the rare high school class was that profound for me.

So, on this first day that signals the beginning of a new chapter for so many students across Canada I can’t help but feel jealous. It makes me sad that for many, this time is one of dread and loathing, when for me (at least in hindsight) it was one of great development and self-exploration. I am hoping that I can harness the residual excitement of that first week of school that I am experiencing today and use it to search out some new ideas or make some lofty goals based on my optimism of what the next few months can bring. And, as anyone who has ever been a student and can share my optimism about the near future knows, I need to get this going ASAP because those midterm ‘blahs’ set in pretty quickly.

She is so purdddy!

This is pretty amazing!  Video of rotating Earth as seen from the International Space Station.

Voting Tea Party? Say it with a shirt!

Just found these...some of my faves:

Hodgepodge - somethin' for everybody!

It is only a matter of time

Don't you hate it when people ask you silly questions they could have easily answered themselves?  This is a great solution to your frustration!  I have been waiting for a stupid question at work so I could bust this one out.  Google - even your grandma could use it

This one requires some dedication of time but well worth it - the results of a two year investigation by the Washington Post into what they call Top Secret America.  Illuminating and frightening - much like Sex Ed in highschool.

Time to build an arc!  The water is now this deep!  How cutearrific!

To the person who stole my credit card information...

Thank-you for providing me a full 20 minutes of head shaking and giggling as I looked over the purchases you chose to make:

- Dallas Guns

- Online Buddies Inc (an online dating service)

- Terrific Pet (by the amount of money you tried to spend here I am guessing you either have some sort of small horse to feed or you are trying to spoil your numerous cats by getting them personal cat condos)

- Other colorfully named gun-related websites

I would also lilke to thank-you on behalf of my bank's representative who had a good chuckle himself as we went through the charges figuring out which were legit.

Lastly, I would like to apologize for keeping my credit card balance hovering around the "maxed out" point thereby making all of your attempted purchases impossible.

Interesting Facts of the Day...dum dum daaaaah!

1) Garlic pills = less mosquito bites


The summer I spent working at a summer camp one of my fellow co-workers let me in on this little secret. Having the “sweet sweet blood” myself that mosquitoes are irresistibly drawn to (true story: when I was 11 I was hauled into town from the summer camp I was staying at to be inspected by a doctor since the counselors were convinced I had come down with a case of the chicken pox), I have wanted to test this theory myself for a number of years.

At the beginning of the summer I found out I would have a chance to participate in a camping trip into Algonquin Park in mid-August and figured that early June would be a good time to start swallowing garlic pills daily. My hope was to stink up my skin so much that by the time I entered the park I would not only remain bite-free myself, but would also shield all of the outdoor enthusiasts around me within a 5 kilometer radius. (I have since learned that the smell of garlic does not drive these little blood-suckers away, but rather it acts as a cloaking device that makes you hard for the mosquitoes to find). So the garlic pill swallowing continued religiously for a few months and then the moment of truth – camping in the woods for 4 days.

The Results: I left the park with about 5 bites which for me is pretty incredible since similar trips have left me more within the it-is-easier-to-approximate-how-much-of-my-skin-surface-has-NOT-been-bitten ballpark than vice versa. However, I was also told that because the timing of our trip coincided with the natural decline in mosquito populations, a direct correlation seemed impossible to make.

Until this weekend that it is, wherein having been garlic-free for approximately one week I sat on a patio for the span of 4 hours and got bitten at least 7 times! Hallelujah!...kind of. My current itchiness is comparable to a ride through the Burlap Sack Tunnel (real ride: look it up), but I believe I was able to partially prove that the garlic pills do some good. Needless to say I am back on the garlic wagon and will be until first frost. It also helps that one of my camping mates had a very similar experience.

yep.

2) The elusive truth about eye-patches revealed.

If you wake up in the middle of the night and need to turn the light on to do something – cover one of your eyes prior to turning the light on and keep it covered until you turn the light off again. The covered eye will maintain its “settings” for darkness and you will therefore be able to get back to bed without stumbling around in the dark and knocking over that priceless grandfather antique clock at the foot of your bed. Isn’t that neat?! This is the real reason that a lot of pirates wore eye patches – this would enable them to go from the deck (sunlight) to the low light level below deck and not have to spend a period of time adjusting to the light. Genius!

I have resisted looking this one on Snopes.com because I so want to believe this to be true…the eye patch part…the stumbling in the darkness business would suit me fine. I secretly despise that antique clock…

HOLLA!  Even in death pirates understand the importance of unimpaired vision in changing light conditions

Gogol-iffic

Folks,

Let me say this.  If there is one thing you do today it should be to discover Gogol Bordello.  They are a fantastic band out of NYC that blends gypsy folk music, punk and dub.  I would provide the link but I think your Googling skills require a brush up.

A little less conversation, a little more Gogol Bordello