Back to School

Today marks the first September in 16 years where I won’t head out the door with a backpack on, ready to learn.

16 years, four schools. Elementary, middle, secondary, post-secondary. It’s all finished and I sit here with a Bachelor’s Degree hanging on my wall while millions of students in Canada start their first day of classes (or last/next week, I don’t know about other provinces). I’ve posted before about finishing up my education (like this post or this post), but there’s something about today that is hitting me unexpectedly hard.

Announcement! Steam Summer Sale Series

Try saying that five times fast.

Awful alliteration aside, I’ve got a series of reviews coming your way as I play through all of my Steam Summer Sale impulse buys (that I made very responsibly by limiting myself to a $100 CAD budget).

On our roster (so far) we have, in no particular order:

1. Influent*
   
2. Aviary Attorney
3. VA-11 HALL-A
4. Forgotten, Not Lost – A Kinetic Novel
5. A Little Lily Princess
6. Season of 12 Colors
7. Learn Japanese To Survive! Hiragana Battle

*I’m playing the Korean language-learning version, as I wanted to refresh my knowledge and learn new words.

I’m very excited to finally have more games in my library that I will get around to playing whenever I can/feel up to it. I know that this selection is pretty much half visual novel, half language learning, but I’m pretty stoked to play all of these and share my thoughts with you!

I’d love to hear about the games you’ve recently bought in the sale or are planning to pick up. Leave a comment!

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On a more personal note, life has been hectic lately. I know I say that a lot, but this time it really is.

Right now, we’re dealing with a broken water heater that was leaking and flooding the basement (we opted to shut off the water altogether and have had to walk to McDonalds to use the bathroom for *ahem* no. 2s), a house guest arriving this weekend, as well as an upcoming move to an apartment! That doesn’t even include the other stuff going on for my co-dictator of the universe involving college preparations.

After we’re set up in the apartment, looking for work will be my top priority. So, I’ll likely opt to play the smaller games/VNs for stress relief. Thankfully, I’m well-stocked in that department now.

In a fit of excited graduation feelings, I decided to take advantage of the post-graduation credit offered to me by the university. Alumni get a sum of money to put towards any School of Continuing Studies course they wish, provided the money covers the cost of the course. Since I am a language nerd, I’ve decided that I’m going to take a course in beginner Dutch, starting in October.

When it comes to stress levels and having too many things on my plate, as with dessert buffets, my eyes are bigger than my stomach. Let’s see how all of this goes. Wish me luck!

 

Well, I’m Here. Now What?

On Wednesday (June 15th, 2016), I stood in a line, received a card with the number 142 on it, and waited for my chance to walk up the steps to the stage of Convocation Hall, where I would shake hands with several important members of my university (and college) faculty as well as hold the hands of our convocation address-giver, who brought me to tears during the end of her speech.

I would descend after posing for a quick picture taken by my father, who was in one of the galleries, and proceed to receive my degree in the hallway and pose for pictures taken by university-hired professionals. I then returned to my seat and watched the hundreds of other New College graduates do the exact same thing. I’m sure all of us were feeling the exact same feelings: relief, a bit of anxiety, and excitement at finally being able to say that WE DID IT.

Photo cred: John Meadows

 

Well, now that all of the festivities are done … now what?

Recently Played: A Blind Legend

This is definitely one of the more difficult games I’ve ever played.

When A Blind Legend (link to game’s website) came up in my Steam store queue, I was immediately intrigued.

“In “A Blind Legend”, your eyes will be of no help.

So close them, sharpen your hearing and your blade…

and embark on an epic, perilous rite of passage.”

— from the website’s “About” page.

Graduation Limbo

As of last Friday, I’ve officially finished all assignments and exams related to my undergraduate degree. Huzzah! Despite being done, I’m not really “done”, so to speak. I’m in this awkward grey area between finishing everything and convocation—watching my final marks trickle in, hoping that everything checks out and I’m free to walk that stage to grab a diploma while wearing a very fancy graduation gown come June. I’m 99.9% sure that I’ve passed everything, but this weird liminal space is where lingering doubts start to spread.

Literary Throwback: Grade 12 Writer’s Craft (November & December)

Third month in, let’s see if things get weirder. I’ve noticed that my handwriting has shifted to exclusively cursive at this point. This makes it somewhat harder to read, but I’ll do my best to decipher everything.

It seems that this folder only contains journals from September to December (and only one entry from the latter at that), so this marks the last post of the very short series of literary throwbacks as I am 99% sure that the rest of the journals were recycled the day after school ended.

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The (In)Comprehensive List of Jobs I Can’t Have

If there’s one thing that Sims taught me, it’s that every field is always hiring and that you can be anything you want despite only having a high school diploma. Google searches like “Do entry level jobs exist anymore” pepper our search engines as everyone becomes more and more despairing at the existing job market.

Real life isn’t as kind.

The Tiny Joys of (My) Life

A while back, I wrote a post about finding excitement in the relatively boring or insignificant things in life. Since I’m in a period of relative chaos with several major things happening all at once, I thought it was time to come back to this realm of thought and think about the boring things that make me happy.

I’m only procrastinating a little bit, I promise.

My Degree isn’t Useless

I promise that this post isn’t coming from a place of preemptive angst as I count down the hours until my first class of the term tomorrow. At least, not entirely.

While I was fretting over returning to classes today, a chat I had with my co-dictator of the planet (a.k.a. my significant other) a few weeks back popped up in my mind. I’ve been told (directly or indirectly) from various sources that I am studying things that aren’t practical or valuable in the grand scheme of life. My boyfriend pointed out that it’s not what I’m studying specifically that is the valuable thing–it’s the fact that I’m completing it. Four years ago I left high school with an idea of where I wanted to go for university and what I would study there. Four years later, I’m nearing the end of my time at the school I had hoped to be in, University of Toronto, finishing up my undergraduate degree in the major and two minors I signed up for at the end of my first year. Sure, there were some bumps in the road along the way. Had I anticipated having to do three summer terms of courses to make up for the failed credits during the year? Of course not. Here I am, about to embark on a term with the maximum course load allowed for one semester. Every course is crucial. So, as you might have guessed, this term is easily the most difficult and scary one out of all eleven I will have done by the time I graduate. It hasn’t even started yet.

Reflections from the Past Few Weeks

I’ve been busy. Like, really busy. Just last week, I finished up my first term of my last year of university. Insert a huge breath of relief here. Today, I came home from a week out of town, where I was helping out my boyfriend’s family with some renovations. Finally, I’m back in front of my computer, sitting in my desk chair (which is falling apart), staring at my blog page.

I haven’t written anything since November 27th. Unacceptable.

Before I go off and play The Long Dark for some relaxation (and because it’s the closest thing to a white Christmas I might get this year), I thought I’d throw some reflections from my past few weeks.