ENGL
All children, except one, grow up
Suffice it to say, today was a great deal more invigorating than I had expected. After a late start to the day (breakfast — or brunch, more appropriately), I headed off to the theatre to watch Despicable Me with L and A. Having bought our tickets (and then vacillating whether or not we wanted to sit in a dark, empty theatre so as to save the best seats), we headed in and claimed our Real 3D glasses.
I’m having a bad, bad day
If you take it personal, that’s okay
Watch, this is so fun to see
Huh, despicable me.
– Pharrell, “Despicable Me”
The movie, by all means, was great. The story was fun, the humour well-timed and (gosh darn it!) the orphan girls were so sweet! This makes me think that everyone ought to be forced to care for the young. Perhaps we’d have less villains that way? Behind our seats, a whole row was reserved for (what we assumed) was a birthday party. Hearing the children giggle with glee behind us wasn’t as annoying as I might have imagined — it was quite fun to have them behind us! (Too bad L was thwapped on the head by an overzealous child…)
After a rather long journey to procure a screen protector for A’s (new!) BlackBerry Bold 9700, we wandered over to Chapters where we discovered, much to our mutual pleasure, that we could have dinner together. We ate at The Boss (where I learned that I don’t actually know how to order beef in Cantonese…how do you indicate how well-cooked you want the meat?!).
Once full, we left the restaurant to a rapidly closing mall. We wandered over to a water fountain outside to wonder what we could do. I suggested we take a stroll in Central Park (despite my great fears of creepers running amok in the wooded areas). Off we went.
After dodging incoming golf balls from the pitch-and-putt and trekking through the verdant trees, we sat on a bench and noticed two people apparently shouting at one another. Perplexed, we gazed on to notice a man in a blue cape yelling to some people further away. Nosily, we inched closer and closer until…we noticed that it was a production! Outside! In the park! For free!
Enthralled, we found ourselves sitting on the grass (and swatting away the copious amounts of vampiric mosquitoes) and trying to unravel the storyline. As it turns out, it was a production of Neverland: Beginnings by Rainforest Theatre, a small local company. We watched with glee as Peter Pan was nearly wedded to the daughter of the pirate king and as we learned how Captain Hook gained (lost?) his eponymous appendage. With subtle amusement, we gazed on as one overexcited child-spectator inched closer and closer to the actors until he was actually sitting within the action, gazing upward and asking, “Can I see that?!”
I found it so magical that serendipity (and, admittedly, a reluctance to return home to do readings for ENGL 468) led us to a theatrical production in the ancient pulse of germ and birth. I thought I had encountered something out of Midsummer Night’s Dream! (But of course not. My appointment to see Henry V is this Friday.)
It is some indication of my great love for the theatre but I adored the way the actors interacted with the audience and with their surroundings. With little more than some light costuming, they created a world into which their children-spectators could be drawn by sheer charisma. And what is a more natural setting for a theatrical production than the forest?
The play finished and everyone dispersed. We headed over to P’s house to play poker briefly before I was summoned home with great displeasure at my waywardness.
And I could wish my days to be bound each to each with such wonder, joy and serendipity.
Even when there’s no one sitting there
I typically try to avoid double-posting but after reading through the first chapter of Anne of Green Gables, I had to comment. My disclaimer, of course, is that I have hardly made it through the book in any demonstrable way but I had to comment on this with a wry smirk. I risk the ire of fans around the world (I am led to believe that there must be some following as the back of the book describes the book as having never been out of print since its initial publication in 1908) but I had to get this off my chest.
Let me be frank. Anne of Green Gables begins simply with a nosy, old woman, staring out of her window with her hawkish eyes. And but of course, she spies one neighbour’s husband plodding along for some inexplicable reason. She makes the laborious (not really) trip to her neighbour’s home to prod her nose into the affairs of the adjacent household. Having learned of the reason for the excursion, she gives her unsolicited and frank advice. When mildly rebuffed, she leaves with every intention of setting the neighbourhood tongues wagging by sharing her newly-gained insight.
Not altogether a promising start to what many Canadians would consider a national classic.
And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries
I really do have to say it. I’ve screwed up.
I tried to over-reach my own competency and bit off more than I can possibly chew.
My English professors this term were mostly sympathetic, wrongfully so. I thank them for their sympathy but I would have thought that they should have chastised me for not giving due attention to the literature about which they obviously care. I have done my readings a terrible disservice, a violent crime, a dishonour by scribbling “analyses” tantamount to pablum and forcing my professors to read through them, cringing and wincing in pain and embarrassment.
Mea culpa.
My science courses have hardly gone better. I’ve kept up-to-date so far as I can keep abreast of the newest course material in case of tests and quizzes. I’ve even grossly neglected by two essays for cell physiology, a course that I love and in which I have actually done quite well.
If this year has taught me anything, it’s that I’m severely, painfully, humanly limited.
There’s some comfort in that understanding, and pain too.
All I can do now is just study hard for my examinations to redeem myself, then work towards avoiding overloading myself next year. I’m only glad that the stakes are so low right now; this is a life lesson best learned early, when the consequences are merely marks, not health or money.
I can do better.
Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth
Another term has come and gone at jolly UBC and I’m surprised to find that I’m still standing. Time for another unceremonious, ad hoc course evaluation – done, of course, before my exams so that I won’t be biased by how difficult I found the courses.
ENGL 304 (Advanced Composition)
This one felt pretty touch and go for most of the way…the professor really knows her stuff (she should – she wrote the textbook after all) and there were definitely some innovative teaching methods. However, I never really felt like I ever got into the rhythm of things and when I did, it was short-lived. I’d recommend anyone to take this course if they feel that their writing is a bit on the weak side; this course should help you polish up your composition skills. However, the title of the course, “Advanced Composition” is a bit of a misnomer – most of the course is spent on persuasive essays, not expository.
ANAT 390 (Introduction to Microscopic Human Anatomy)
This one’s definitely a rite-of-passage for most and it’s reasonably tough. Because it’s a survey course, you cover a lot of ground very quickly, leaving students who haven’t taken advanced biology scratching their heads. If you are, however, a biology senior with a good number of cell biology courses under your belt, you really ought to be fine; it won’t be anything you can’t handle. It’s taught by a variety of different professors, each of whom is an expert in the material that s/he teaches – this is great because you get instructors who really are experts at what they are teaching but you never know the level of instruction you’ll get. Some are great and some not so much.
BIOL 361 (Introduction to Physiology)
I can’t say I ever really wanted to take this course – I took it because it’s mandatory for my program. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable, largely due to the efforts of my two wonderful instructors. The course material itself is accessible and not too onerous; all evaluations were open-book so it was really a test of getting enough down on paper to show that you knew what you knew. The topics are, at times, dry but I guess I can see why the course is mandatory for all biology majors. Regular study should lead to success in this course quite easily.
BIOL 304 (Fundamentals of Ecology)
Co-taught by two instructors, this course was in its first run this year after being revamped from the previous BIOL 302/303 program. Deceptively breezy in the beginning, many students learned the hard way that this course stressed critical thinking (for long-answer problems) as well as rote memorization (for definitions) on the midterm examination. The labs were fun if labour-intensive; they were generally mark-boosters. I’m sure, with time, that this course will become more refined but all I can say is that the course was still a bit rough around the edges when I took it. It was, however, interesting enough that I’m considering taking BIOL 306.
BIOL 300 (Biometrics)
Absolutely dreading this course, I walked in with the lowest expectations ever. I felt that I had been deceived – I thought that no math was required after first year if I wanted to do the Biology program! Nevertheless, the math involved is quite basic if laborious at times (ANOVA, anyone?) and the examples provided are compelling and interesting. I can see why this course is mandatory for all biology majors and I found, in spite of myself, that I enjoyed this course and saw how it would be relevant to research. The evaluation is straightforward and fair, if comprehensive. Regular study and practice should serve you well.
BIOL 360 (Cell Physiology Laboratory)
This course was a blast from beginning to end! It’s structured far more casually than those formal chemistry labs and you get to pick and choose among the experiments that interest you. There’s not a strong emphasis on the acquisition of laboratory techniques, though, aside from centrifugation and micropipetting, which was very disappointing. The TAs were helpful and the director was always open for questions, though. Marking is rigorous and more difficult than you might imagine.
BIOL 240 (Experimental Design in the Life Sciences)
This review might be moot seeing as how this was the last year that BIOL 240 will be running (for now) but I thought it was wonderful. It’s extremely time-consuming, however, and required much more attention than I had previously imagined but what you put in is what you get out. I learned a lot of valuable laboratory techniques in here, as well as figuring out that scientific research is not as romantic as I might have once imagined (I have so much pity for people who work with Neurospora crassa). Still, this course was just so rewarding and so great! I took so many pictures and they’ll always have a cherished place in my heart.
Next term is almost certainly going to be hugely different; a huge influx of ENGL courses will shake up the balance of things while BIOL 337 will either break me or make me. I’m excited!
Now, not to get ahead of myself, time to commence studying!
it is a wise father that knows his own child
I’ve set the geek-meter far into the red by posting this but…
What kind of inheritance does this pedigree show? What trait do you suppose is being depicted?
And most importantly, what does this have to do with my ENGL 304 term paper?
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