3A (September - December 2018)
The turning point.
The reason I said 2B is only likely and not definitely the lowest point in my degree is because it’s a toss up with the first month of 3A. Long story short, I got dumped and it really devastated me. There are a few factors that made it particularly hard, the biggest two being how sudden it was and also that it was my first major long term relationship. Many people go through a similar experience but when it happens to you, it feels like the end of the world and I was soon reverting to my isolated self from 2B. Fortunately, after a positive summer and first few days of school, this didn’t last long and I took on a much healthier approach to facing difficult times. I leaned on the friends I had, reconnected with old ones I had neglected, and felt inspired to make new friends too. Looking back, I am still deeply grateful for the support from people around me. One friend cooked me dinner and then walked with me around town late into the night so that when we got back to my house, I was tired enough to just pass out, avoiding the swirling storms of negative thought that were plaguing my nights at the time. A long time elementary school friend who went to school in a different city would drive over and we would play board games at this one cafe so regularly, we joked that we might as well have worked there.
I’ve mentioned before that fall semesters were always my favourite and this semester solidified that, with so many clubs and activities just starting up, it was perfect timing for me to cope with everything going on in my life by breaking out of my comfort zone and trying new things. Improv club, Toastmasters, Chinese Student Association, Deception Board Games club, you name it, I tried to become an unconditional yes man. Not every experience was necessarily life changing but on an overwhelming majority, the good outweighed the bad. This was a legitimate paradigm shift for me and I learned that when you reach out to life, it usually reciprocates back and all of a sudden, life becomes a lot more exciting and colourful. To this day, I try to remember this optimism in my daily approach to living. Most personal development happens gradually over time but this semester is a discrete border where I entered September a sharply different person than I came out as in December.
As life would have it, this theme of new beginnings also extended into running with a new coach and training group. I already knew the other guys in our new small group of five but over the course of this semester, we got much closer and they soon became some of my best friends. Running in turn became a lot more enjoyable and success soon followed with me finally earning my roster spot on the team. Between the perfect mix of personalities we had on the team, the blissful sensation of a good jog, being in the headspace of increased openness to experience, and the uplifting feeling of becoming a better version of yourself, I was finding more fulfilment through running than ever and it became a more substantial part of my life. There was a strong correlation with these fun times and the growth out of the bleak semester start. I owe a lot to running in general but especially so this semester.
Music also acted as an additional “escape” for me this semester. I am hesitant to use the word escape since it wasn’t a way for me to avoid the negative parts of my life but a medium in which I could gain perspective and make sense of my thoughts and feelings. In addition to the solo pieces I was working on with my private instructor, I also was part of a string quartet with a fantastic group and this became yet another pleasure I looked forward to in my daily life.
The advanced math study group formed in 1A had its final class together this semester with PMATH351, Real Analysis. I knew at this point that going forward, I didn’t want to continue taking Pure Math classes since it was too hard and not even my major. I’m not particularly good at math and had truthfully only made it this far by getting carried by my group so in all honesty, I was looking forward to be finished but still recognized the ending of an era. I didn’t closely know everybody in the advanced math cohort, but at this point, most were at least a very familiar face. Some were in the same boat as me and I would see them time to time again in future CS classes but thinking back, PMATH351 was definitely the last class I had with that kind of wide familiarity among classmates. I limped my way through the course but it was worth it for the time spent with the study group. In the evening before the final exam, we were doing a typical last minute crunch session, this time in the Physics building instead of the STC basement. Pretty quickly, we stopped doing work and decided to spend the valuable last hours instead playing Brawlhalla and watching LongBeachGriffy videos on Youtube. It was a nice way for the advanced math journey (for me) to end.
I’m not sure what constitutes a “favourite” semester, is it the one that is the most fun, successful, or easiest? I think it’s the sum of its parts which compels me to pick 3A as the favourite. The intensity of emotion with very low valleys and high peaks maybe isn’t something a doctor would recommend for healthy living but I think that’s when life is at its most fulfilling. Without rain, there is no shine and while I definitely didn’t want to hear that in September, I am extremely grateful for the whole rollercoaster that the semester went on and the opportunity I had to overcome struggle and rise above it. It was messy, eventful, and lots of mistakes were made but I came to understand that as a core part of true personal growth. I came out of the semester with a greater appreciation for the eventful and “opportunity at every corner” nature of the university experience and although I was only just past halfway through my degree, I pledged myself to make the most of every day I had remaining. Four months had never felt so long before and if I could make every semester feel like this, by graduation, I would have written myself a worthwhile university saga.
(This semester also marks when I started note keeping and writing this very story you’re reading right now)
Scattered memories:
- Avalon Club and board game nights
- Marathoning info sessions for the free food
- Sunset practices by CIF, so incredibly cinematic
- Waterloo Fall Classic
- Post time trial Patent Social
- That one fall workout at Res
- Watching OUA XC in the pouring rain
- Birthday dinner at Captain’s Boil and reeking of shrimp at practice
- Making the glass clinking video for 341
- Midnight McDonald hangouts
- Pickup badminton at CIF
- Treating myself and weekly pasta cooking adventure
- Constant wtf moments in 251
- Haunted House on the Hill on Halloween
- A&W Beyond Meat Burgers hype
- Goodbye Mikey’s Eatery meal
- Snowgate
- Remembrance Day Service
- Late night cello duets with Ron
- Chamber Music Salon evening
- Sunny morning quartet rehearsals and banter
- Co-op search excitement
Classes took:
- PMATH351 w/ Brian Forrest
- Brian Forrest was the best Math prof I ever had
- CS241 w/ Kevin Lanctot
- CS251 w/ Rosina Kharal
- Knew nothing that was going on this class, somehow the number of valence electrons Silicon has came up in the first lecture??
- CS341 w/ Jeffrey Shallit
- One guy during class solved an unsolved CS problem, published a paper with the professor and promptly got 100 in the course
- Music Studio instructed by Lance Oullette
Songs:
- Happier - Marshmello ft. Bastille
- Solo - Clean Bandit ft. Demi Lovato
- Better Now - Post Malone
- Anything Could Happen - Ellie Goulding
- Specifically this piano cover, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR5fQHhSWQ0&ab_channel=FomorgK
- Bruch Violin Concerto mvt 1
- On + Off - Maggie Rogers
- Mardy Bum - Arctic Monkeys
- In My Mind - Dynoro
- Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Yesteryear - urbanation
- Sea of Love - Cat Power