Wednesday, April 25, 2007

There comes a point in the course of studying for any exam wherein one finds that one is fully saturated with knowledge and should proceed no further, lest he disrupt the delicate balance within his brain. I am at that point now. I could study more; I could memorize every little fact on the class handouts (each class in this course came complete with a fill-in-the-blanks handout) and be completely prepared. But that would make me crazy. Crazier.

The midterm in this course, although not daunting, threw me off somewhat. The prof asked all sorts of really obscure things from the notes, and I wasn't really ready for them. This time, I know that there will be questions like that, which makes me want to study all the obscure details. But then I'll have too many facts in my head and I'll probably end up confusing them. It's a tough line.

Suffice it to say that I know enough to do well, and I'm comfortable with knowing that getting 100% is nigh impossible (am I a perfectionist? You bet). Thus I will shoot for the A and be happy with the result.

Unfortunately, the test is at 8:00 tomorrow morning. I'm a big fan of the morning exam; I process things so much slower in the afternoon, and, as you know from previous conversations on this very blog, I'm a get-things-over-with-right-away kind of guy anyway. Waiting until the afternoon just makes me pace the floor and generally be annoying. No, git 'er done, as they say.

After the exam, my undergraduate studies officially come to an end. That's pretty neat. I've been in this mode for this whole week, though, so I think that I probably won't feel any different. It's like being asked on the day of your birthday if you feel any different (funny, but I never do). Things take time to set in and become reality, and I feel that this accomplishment may take a few weeks to actually be enjoyed.

Other than preparing for a major milestone, the day was particularly ordinary. One thing we're going to miss about being here is the pace of life. An ordinary day like today feels free and easy in a town like this; there are no pressures bearing down on you, nothing constantly nagging at you to be done, no TV to watch, no distractions to pull you away from simply enjoying life. I like that. We've grown really used to it. And now it's time to go.

But it's all a state of mind, isn't it? Don't you know someone who hasn't really bought into this whole busyness mentality that we love and cherish? Don't they seem more centred somehow (note to self: Firefox doesn't like Canadian spelling)? I think it's all about the choices you make. For example, I've chosen this semester to be more optimistic in my outlook on life. I had to consciously make the decision, and it's been good for me (although you, the blog-consuming public, may not have seen it, but my wife has). In the same way, when we go back home, we're going to have to make the conscious decision to relax and not be satisfied with the pace the world is throwing at us. Sometimes you have to capitulate, but I think those times happen less than we think they do. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

Anyway. This morning the wife went off to one of her mom's groups, but left the boy with me. This is the group where the kids play in the nursery while the moms chat (don't worry--it's supervised play), but it hasn't really worked out that way this semester due to the boy's lack of affinity for the nursery setting (and who can blame him, really?). So she went by herself today, and experienced what she'd been missing for the most part. As for us boys, well, it was a fight to get the little one to have a nap today--he had a bit of a rough night last night with his teeth, and so he was already tired when he woke up this morning, which led to him being over-tired by the time the morning nap rolled around--but when he did, he was out. He slept for almost two hours, which allowed me to get copious studying done (which is why I feel okay not doing it now).

After lunch, it was time to go for our daily constitutional. Went off to the college to run a couple errands and check the mail, and sat on a blanket on the grass for a while. It's quite the funny juxtaposition: here we are in our shorts and T-shirts, sitting on the grass beside stubborn piles of snow that haven't quite gotten the "it's-time-to-melt" memo. And with it being warm, the bugs are starting to come out. Let me just say that I think we're getting out of town right on time.

And yes, it was another brilliant day today, weather-wise. 18 degrees for an extended stretch this afternoon, and it's still 11 now (it's 9:30 as I'm typing this). Wonderful. I even got a bit of a sunburn from yesterday's walk, which was as surprising as the Canucks' win last night.

Dinner tonight was hosted by our caretaker and his wife. Quite a nice older couple, who like to have people into their home for dinner. They even required a guest book signing before we left.

You know, there's something about other peoples' guest books that fascinates me. Looking through it and reading the names always brings up a quick picture of that person, and reading it has the same effect as going through an old high school yearbook. It's interesting. The problem is that I'm never sure what proper guest book etiquette is, and as I was delving through the pages, I looked up to see my host giving me a certain look that seemed like I had just done the equivalent of putting my feet up on the table in the Middle East. Turns out it was okay, and he just had indigestion (okay, I'm making that last part up), but for a minute, I wasn't sure if he was going to challenge me to a duel or what. Pistols or swords? Would've been interesting.

It's also interesting when you give someone a dietary restriction, and they seem to not take it as seriously as they should. For example, wife and son (I just explained to my wife, and now I will explain to you, that when I use those terms I'm not trying to be a chauvinist, I'm just trying to avoid first names. Although I have a good idea of who's reading this blog on a regular basis through my site meter, I don't necessarily think divulging first names on a regular basis is necessarily a good idea--a methodology that's proven completely inconsistent by the fact that my blog for my son's photos is titled after his whole name, but whatever; don't catch me on the inconsistencies of my positions)...never mind. That ellipsis got so long that I'm going to have to start that sentence over.

So anyway, wife and son have a sensitivity to wheat. It's not a life-and-death allergy in the sense that they won't drop dead beside you if they eat wheat, but it's painful enough that we just try to avoid it altogether. Unfortunately, not everyone is trained as we are to read ingredient labels with a microscope, and they simply assume that things are okay. Usually, they are wrong.

For example, did you know that almost every Campbell's soup has flour in it? It's true; even things you wouldn't suspect, like tomato soup, has flour. The meal tonight was a stroganoff--which sounds like a Finnish expletive--and she made it with cream of mushroom soup. And then, she thickened it with flour. To her credit, she realized just after she put the flour in that this was a bad idea, and tried to scoop it out. Unfortunately, flour has different ideas; it does not sit idly and let itself be scooped.

Fortunately, a minimum amount of main course was consumed, and although things got pretty uncomfortable at one point, it looks like we're generally in the clear now.

There should be a sign posted on my computer: editor on board. Wife has taken to sitting beside me (I'm working on the laptop) and knitting, all the while reading over my shoulder as I type. Doesn't that sound like a small-town stereotype? Wife sitting beside husband, knitting. Anyway. She just made me take out a paragraph. It's like having fargin' Jiminy Cricket sitting here.

Man, what is it tonight? The sun comes out, and everyone in Three Hills goes nuts. Just a few minutes ago, a large gang of unruly teens ran by, hooting and hollering as teens are wont to do. Just now, some dude pulled up outside our house with his radio blasting and windows unrolled (he was going to our neighbours' place, but had to park directly outside our house due to the fact that there is already a small armada of cars outside the neighbours' place). Seriously people, sleeping infant inside. He's already woken up twice and chirped because of your loud disruptions. Gosh. I'm so old.

Now, there's some dude either racing around on his very loud racing motorcycle. That, or someone is using a chainsaw in the dark. Maybe they're carving those little chairs. Now that would be a noble pursuit, as long as they drop one off over here. Oh wait, I think it's probably some guy ripping around on his ATV. It's loud and really annoying, whatever it is.

After we got back from dinner, the neighbours were having a little marshmallow and smokie roast, so I joined in for a bit. Had a really awkward moment when I went outside though--I used the side door of the house, the one we never use, and as I pulled it shut behind me, the doorknob broke off right in my hands. I've never had that happen before. And what great timing, eh? A week before we leave, and I'm breaking things. Oh well, at least we didn't lock ourselves out of the house again. As Bullwinkle would say, "Ooh, don't know my own strength." The link, by the way, is to Wikipedia. At the top of the article, two warnings are given about how the sources aren't referenced and the lists are "unencyclopedic," whatever that means (Firefox doesn't think it's a word). You know it's bad when even Wikipedia thinks your entry isn't up to snuff.


With that, the day concludes, and so does this blog entry. Tomorrow is a busy day; after the exam, we're going to head into Calgary for one more stab at the city before we go. The plan is to hit the science centre, which should be fun. Quick Superstore stop on the way home, and then a birthday bonfire for one of the student families. And, of course, round two begins.

I'll have a full update on the test and all the other crazy (mis)adventures tomorrow. See you then.