Well I’ve finally arrived (for good) this afternoon and it seems like I have moved from one mess (my old room in boxes) to another mess (my current room in boxes). I’m totally unmotivated to unpack since I know that I’ll be packing up again in less than a week. Sigh.

So, rather than doing productive stuff, I’ll write stuff here! Now that I am back in Toronto, it really feels that the term is over. And what a wild ride! Marks are starting to come out and the three that I have right now are (according to my expectations) kinda mixed; two are great and one was surprisingly lower than what I thought I would get. It’s not my style to go and make a fuss about it to the prof, but I am really displeased about what the mark meant about my performance on the final… so maybe I’ll shoot him… an email.

Looking back, there were a bunch of people that made this term really great for me. In no particular order, they are as follows:

• John! Cooking and frequent lunch buddy, he made living far away from lots of people much more bearable. He also introduced me to 24 (which will proceed to own a great deal of my life henceforward).
• Donna! Classmates for CS432 and STAT371, she let me into her group (and, consequently, saved me from the risk of ending up in a horrible group) for the big CS project and we totally smoked it! She was also a huge asset for other coursework as we double-checked assignments with each other and helped each other with exam prep.
• Dom! He really allowed me to see new perspectives of Christianity and the church. Through the book discussion, the co-ordinators’ meetings, and just the casual meetings, he’s opened up my eyes and my mind about the Embassy, the mission of the church, and ministry.
• Bre! I’m just starting to hang out with her again (summers are really nice for that) and I’m really glad that things have been working themselves out (despite mutual indecisiveness)!
• Kat! I was half-expecting to not really see or talk to her all that much after we both moved out of Willow Wood, but that turned out to be a poor assumption; we’ve had plenty of service and chillin time this summer. She’s also doing some monkey work on my behalf in Waterloo, so I owe her huge!
• Sandy! She’s the one that offered me as position at Bloomberg and, with that decision, she totally flipped my expectations for the fall upside-down! I hope to make her proud next term.

And, speaking of next term, I am getting sooo pumped!

At last, I can sit down for a little bit without having to think too much about what I have to do!!

You might have gotten the picture that the last couple of weeks (and especially the last few days) have been really crazy for me and, if you have, you’d be spot on; after my last exam on Saturday, I went out for lunch with a classmate (who was my SoftEng frosh leader and then switched out of SoftEng like me!!), then went to rent a car for the weekend.

After jumping through some hoops and getting a little bit peeved at the rental company (and allowing some anger to get out when I was talking on the phone with my Dad — sorry, Dad!), I was able to drive off and get on with my weekend.

It was Bre’s birthday, and her family was also putting on their annual crazy gihumunanormous pig roast so I committed to driving to her place. I also promised to make a card for her birthday, which proved much more challenging than I had anticipated.

You see, I graduated from Grade 1 a long time ago, and all of those arts and craft skills sorta got replaced with computer programming and problem solving skills. Nevertheless, I was obliged to try so I went over to Michael’s to get some supplies. Never in my life did I think that I would be buying glitter. Ever. (Bre, I hope you’re happy with yourself!! 😀 )

I spent a couple of hours figuring out what I was going to do and actually doing it. During the course of the card-making, I realized that it was a lot like cooking: creativity reaps big rewards, preparation is important, and (regardless of how much preparation is done) execution is paramount.

As I was getting close to finishing the card, I realized that I was really running out of time; it was 6pm and I said that I’d get there for 7, and I knew that it’d take a bit over an hour to drive. In a panic, I rushed to finish the card and, regrettably, made some poor judgement calls. Thus, with my relative lack of practice, the card never made it to the Grade 1 potential that I had set for myself. I don’t think it was bad, but I see room for improvement 😛 That said, that will probably be the first and last card that I make in my adult life so, maybe I won’t have to worry about making good on that!

The pig roast itself was quite an experience. Imagine hundreds of people in the front yard with an Elvis impersonator, a clown, a band, volleyball, basketball, pinatas, a dance contest, a barn full of food, and a pig on a spit… that’s some of what was going on that night!

I’m really glad that I went. Despite not knowing the vast majority of the people there, I was able to spend some good time with Bre and Jazz and Todd and Kristy and a few other people that I knew. And since I don’t know when I will see any of them next, it was really worthwhile for me to go (and I hope they found it similarly worthwhile).

I think I got to sleep some time shortly after 3:15am, but I am certain that I was rudely awoken at 6:30am by a rooster doing his thing. Grrr. I’ll forgive him this time since I did have to get back to Waterloo in the morning. The plan was to go to Cameron’s for delicious food with friends from res that I also will probably not see for a long time 🙁

While at Cameron’s, I saw a sweet Land Rover pull in. A white-headed man and his Asian wife and their two children walked in. It was this guy. So I had a chance to dine with him (sorta) with him sitting some 10 feet away from me! I dunno about you, but I think that’s kinda cool.

What was not cool, however, is getting painfully stuffed at lunch. Nobody pulls their freaking weight anymore and they all expect me to be some sort of food vacuum. I don’t know about you, but the only food vacuum I know of is Laura (who is also affectionately called “Whale Who Inhales Food”). Ugh.

On an over-full stomach, I was charged with the task of packing up all of my stuff, dropping stuff off at friends’ places (thanks so much, Kat and John!!), and driving to Toronto and back. Believe me, it was probably as long of a day as it sounds. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?

I had a most excellent sleep last night and I’m really looking forward to relaxing for a little bit now. Most of the prepartion for New York is done, so I can actually not think for a while. The long days of sitting in front of the TV watching 24 will be sweeeeeeeeet.

That all begins on Tuesday, when I head back to Toronto for good. There is a slight chance that I will come back to Waterloo one more time before I leave, but that’s still up in the air. And this weekend, I realized that I’m really going to miss the people that live and are near here. So so much. 🙁

Boy, do I ever dislike moving. After logging some 600km over the past day and a half, I am completely exhausted (and hungry). And lonely 🙁

First thing’s first though… I need to get some sleep. More lengthy post tomorrow.