My Undergrad in Textbooks (1st year to half of my 3rd year)

Greetings you who happened to stumble upon my blog post. It's almost official. I'm done my undergrad. The reason I say almost as I still have that pending status next to my application form. Anyway it took me 5 years, yes 5 years, to get here and if anyone hasn't picked it up, I switched from a bachelor of science to a bachelor of arts degree hence the amount of time spent there.

My first year I took the 3 core science courses (chemistry, physics, biology), calculus, and English in the fall semester and in the winter I traded biology for French.

English textbook, French text-
book, Russian textbook

The majority of my first year textbooks were sold as when I took courses the next year there were better books that came along. I also remember buying the majority of them new as the textbooks that were used that year were new editions or new course texts and in order to follow along my way of thinking was I should get the new books. One book I didn't really have to get was my first year English textbook for the fall semester as the instructor for that course only used like 2 or 3 short stories and poems out of there while the rest was from some other books he had. I pretty much kept this book for the stories and poems in case I feel like I want to read some of them one day.

My second year since I fulfilled my English requirement I decided to fill that slot with Russian. I did continue on with chemistry and French, redid a math course, and for a little while did some more physics (I eventually dropped the physics course). That year I bought two of my textbooks used from the student union run used book sale (even for used books they were not cheap as there was a commission added to the asking price of the seller plus tax) and one thing I noticed about science textbooks is the more advance the course the thicker and heavier the books become. I think I remember trying to sell my French textbook but I don't think anyone bought it (maybe there wasn't an instructor that used the book at the time I was selling it). It does have nice colourful pictures and if I want to review/expand my French I guess I could always go back to it. As for the Russian textbook, I kept that until a new textbook was required for the second half of the second year level Russian course. I remember my instructor (which I had for every Russian course I took except the film one) calling this book "crapola" at one point and saying that the book is meant for those who have some rudimentary knowledge of Russian along the lines of "enough to communicate with your Russian-speaking relative." This was also the year I took my first steps into linguistics. The course I took (introduction to phonetics and phonology) did not come with a textbook but instead a course notes package.

Linguistics textbook (on the English
language), Latin textbook, Irish-English
dictionary

My third year at university was when I switched over to linguistics. I didn't take very many linguistics courses that year since I was sort of starting anew (technically the Irish language course was offered by the department of linguistics of overall I took 3 linguistics courses, 1 Russian and 1 classics). Since arts degrees required a minor (a subject of secondary concentration) I chose Russian as I did very well in the 1st year level courses. I could've made Russian my major but linguistics seems to have more career options so I went along with that. Textbooks that were used/reused were for my Russian and two of my linguistics courses. The red textbook pictured was kind of interesting not in the terms of content but that it had pages missing. They weren't torn out but something went wrong during the printing of this particular textbook. The Latin textbook was bought new and is also a keeper because I enjoyed learning it and maybe one day might want to re-educate myself. Also the textbook has some interesting fun facts and mentions Monty Python at one point. The Irish course I only took it in the Fall semester as in the winter I'd wanted to keep the same Latin instructor and I wasn't all too interested in learning Irish (yet I ended up doing well in the course). The textbook I had for the instructor that year was just a dictionary as she provided the worksheets.

And since I've babbled too long on here, I'll post the rest of my undergrad through textbooks in another post.

Learning Devices

Yesterday this appeared on my Facebook feed and it's about the University of Ottawa considering a proposal which is a ban on electronic devices in the classroom such as laptops and smartphones and other related devices. This comes from a professor saying that it's distracting.

I have brought my laptop to class many times and from the classes I've been to I don't think any of the profs were bothered by it. Maybe some of them are but not as vocal as the prof mentioned in the news report.

Some find laptops help them learn. The advantage to having a laptop is it saves paper. If the instructor posts notes online there's no need to print them (and for some no need to attend the lecture but you should go once in a while if you're that kind of student). The laptop is also useful in taking notes.

For the phones (whether they're the newest iphones or the basic phones) they're useful if let's say someone is waiting for the doctor to call with some good or bad news, or some other emergency. There are two instances in which I remember accessing the internet through a smartphone (1 instance was technically an ipod touch) was useful in class. The most recent one was someone reading out a list of people who had to do something during the instructor's office hours when he couldn't remember who he has scheduled during that time. The other instance was someone looking up the definition of a word on his ipod touch.

But are they a distraction? They can be, but it's not something that should be banned.

From a teacher perspective they want to make sure the students are actually learning something, even though we are adults and are responsible for doing whatever assignments and showing up to class. Depending on the acoustics of the room there may be some instructors that dislike the sound of keyboards click-clacking. And yes, instructors may be able to tell when you're texting or not

From a student perspective, I have brought my laptop to class many times and I do go on Facebook and other websites. I have brought my laptop to work on other assignments for other classes. I have also seen other students with laptops in class and I remember seeing someone watch anime. If you can watch the video the comes with the article, one student mentions seeing someone watching porn on their laptop as wells as someone shoe shopping. Call these distractions yes but in my opinion students get bored. There are days when you're in class and the instructor just drags on so might as well see what your friends are doing on Facebook, watch something on YouTube, or read the latest gossip posted by a blogger.

I think there should be a compromising solution to this rather than an outright ban. If a certain instructor doesn't want technology in the classroom that's up to the instructor but it shouldn't be campus wide. It's understandable on test and exam days but on regular lesson days it shouldn't be a problem. Even if there is no net service in the classroom there are other ways to distract oneself with the laptop. 

Book Report of a Movie Review: Mirror Mirror

After my classes ended on Friday I took the opportunity to watch "Mirror Mirror". I originally wanted to watch "Wrath of the Titans" but I wasn't in the mood for a 3D flick (as much as I like to see Liam Neeson in action). I'll try not to spoil it too much but I may let a thing or two slip out so YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

So the trailer for this movie is:


The movie is directed by Tarsem Singh who has done a Pepsi commercial with Caesar Enrique,  trippy film "The Cell" which stars Jennifer Lopez, and a film I have yet to see based on Greek mythology "The Immortals". If you've seen any of these films I guess it's safe to say the cinematography is the same but "Mirror Mirror" is more of a happier flick.

So basically it's a take on the Snow White tale, featuring the titular princess played by Lily Collins left under the care of the vain and wicked stepmother (a.k.a the queen) played by Julia Roberts. The kingdom under the  queen has gone bankrupt so in order to save the kingdom from bankruptcy (and fuel her vanity) she makes it her life goal to marry someone who is rich which comes in the form of Prince Alcott played by Armie Hammer. Things do not go well for the queen as the prince takes interest in Snow White so the queen tries to kill off Snow White, only for Snow White to end up with the seven dwarves.

Now this does not follow the traditional tale where you have the damsel in distress where she has to be awaken by the kiss of a prince to be free of some spell. Snow White here actually kicks some ass (and there's a nifty montage. What film that features a character learning how to fight does not have a montage?). I'd personally put the prince in the "damsel in distress" position and from the trailer (and those who have seen it) may or may not prove my point.

As for who I recommend to see this film: everyone. There's action in the form of sword fights. There are also some things in the film that kids may not understand but will appeal to the adults (fan service maybe?). It's not" laughing by the seat of your pants funny" (though this could be due to my taste in humor) but you'll laugh (and the kids will do to as I was sitting next to a couple while watching this). Also it's an alternative take on the traditional story.

Overall I did enjoy the film. Don't forget to stay for the Bollywood number during the credits.

Now tell me who the loser is now?

So I gave in getting a twitter account. I probably still don't get the point of it but I did come across something this  morning. This news article here from my hometown.

Stuntman Stu is a local celebrity in Ottawa. He's a radio host, sports announcer/emcee at Ottawa Senators games, and has made his own wine. Now motivation speaker against bullying.

So if there is someone that's been calling you a loser and other names, or if you are that person calling others losers and doing the name calling take a moment to think about who is the real loser.

If this about fame and popularity, take a look at Stu's story in the article and where he is now. Who knows where those bullies are? Did they ever think he'd become famous?
Or take a look at someone who has committed suicide or ended up dead as the result of bullying. Chances are if you're involved the someone's death you will be recognized but not as a hero and, who knows, end up in jail. (I guess an example would the Tyler Clementi case)

Now bullying doesn't just occur in the real world. The cyber world is the new playground. In the cyber world you can hide yourself behind a fake identity and probably mask your IP address too. You have the positive outlook saying like "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me" but in fact they do if you know what these words means. Ugly is the opposite of beautiful/pretty. Loser is the opposite of winner.  With society's molasses-in-January acceptance of different gender orientations you have terms, whether they are derogatory or not, that enter people's vocabulary related to that. From there one can attack someone they  know from school or aide in attacking others that they don't know. Also what can seem like a harmless joke can be interpreted as insulting to another so take that into consideration.

Though I have not seen Stu's talks (since I no longer attend high school) the article mentions a great analogy with a piece of paper (he does this with his morning show co-host by the way). How it works is you take a clean piece of paper (by clean as in no folds or tears) and you do things like crumpling it, stomping on it, throwing it on the floor . . . pretty much abuse the hell out of this one piece of paper then try to smooth it out. Now imagine that piece of paper is a person. As much as you try to straighten out that piece of paper the creases will remain. Even if the person lives another day they will still carry the scars, physical or emotional, caused by bulling.

I do have personal stories of being bullied during my school days but they do drag on if I post them here. From those experiences I've learned (and I probably will pass on those lessons if I do decide to have kids in the future) I've learned that one needs to take action but not aggression. Take action by saying you are being bullied. If you have a friend who is in that position, act as their witness. Aggression, such as punching someone or in my case throwing a rock in a non-vital area, can and will turn the tables around. Instead of getting justice for your cause the bully will end up as the victim. If it takes place on cyberspace report the e-mail/image/group. There is a reason why keyboards have the "prt sc" or "print screen" button and sites have moderators.

As for who the winner or loser is in these situations? If you are still alive today when after being told "the world would be better without you", you've won. If you stood up to the bully (depending on the action you took), you've won. If you've been told that you'll never succeed but end up as a celebrity, you've won.

We are all equals regardless of social status, orientation, ability, skin colour or creed. We are all human beings. If only those tiny differences between us didn't seem so big . . .

On grieving . . .

So on Friday I received news that my paternal grandfather died. Was I upset? Of course! My understanding, since I'm and adult and not 4 years old, is that I knew he was going to pass away eventually but the shock and surprise is when it happens. I mean with someone as such a great man who has lived through and seen so much I just wish I had one more chance just to speak with him. The last time I saw him was during my break between fall and winter semester. I wanted to tell him about my experience in Russia but the time I visited him he was sleeping (and if anyone wants to know how it went with my grandmother I refer to you with my complaint on appearing in photos). At least I got the chance to see him during that time than waiting so many months (the period after I got back from Russia and before I started fall semester I wanted to avoid anything that could spread in a nursing home).

What I know about my grandfather is that he was born in the Bjelovar region of Croatia. He survived World War II and after that ended up in England where he met my grandmother. When my dad and his twin were about 6 the whole family which consisted of them, my grandparents, and my grandmother's mother moved to Canada and settled in Toronto where eventually the family expanded by two more offspring. For as long as I can remember my parents and I would make trips to Toronto up to the time I was in sixth grade. During those times I remember some of my grandpa's routines: eating, reading the paper, listening to the Croatian radio program on CHIN radio, watching TV (usually a tennis game), and either walking or biking to the grocery store on Lawrence Ave. He would do some or all of these activities all before 6 or 7 pm, his bedtime. When my grandparents moved to Ottawa they lived with me until their house was built. I remember during hot summer days grandpa would sit on the porch shirtless. One day I took out an atlas and he would tell me about his journeys across Europe (one of the places he's been to was Austria. I remember that after I showed him photos/told him that I was there as part of my trip to Europe in back in 2006). After they moved into their house, most of grandpa's routines continued and I would see him on occasion. It was just recent, around 2010/2011 when I remember grandpa's health starting to take a turn for the worst. He had multiple trips to the hospital, stayed there for some time, until he was transferred to the nursing home (those were not the only time he has had trips to the hospital by the way out of relevance).

As for the grieving aspect I believe I was even more upset when my paternal grandfather died than when my maternal grandfather. I was maybe 4 when the latter died and my understanding of death wasn't at the level of those around me. I've only knew my maternal grandfather for like . . . not even a year (maybe like 8-10 months). With my paternal grandfather I felt it. Not only was I on an emotional roller-coaster I was feeling the physical aspects of it as well. That night I got a headache, my sinuses were inflamed, and I was exhausted (coming from the fact that it takes more muscles to frown than smile). I took the advice of someone who told me to rest and I did. I felt refreshed and a calmed down after that (and a good cry just to clear out my sinuses). I do get teary teary-eyed at times at I type this but I'm human and I feel.

Another thing that has come to mind is something I remember saying to my aunt. The relationship between her and my dad has been strained for some time but I'm thinking whatever those were they got put aside. I remember saying "I don't want the next time everyone gets together be at a funeral" or something along those lines and ever since then I have been avoiding contact with her as much as I want to see my cousin grow up. I wanted to avoid a second situation where the unspeakable/unknown reasons for the strained relationship come up as topic. At the same time I don't want to answer questions like "do you keep in touch with so and so while you're in such place?" Anyway my curiosity is to my cousin is how he handled grandpa's death. Was he like me when I was his age (4)? I guess it's one of those things I'll eventually find out when I return. I guess I'll just have to put aside my fears and assumptions once I return home after the semester's over.

I don't know who will be reading this but if someone who has been through the same I appreciate your comments and your stories. I am aware that I put out some personal stuff on here as I am also sharing this post with family and friends whether they read this or not.

Love you and miss you grandpa.