What a good morning!

Ahhh, what a wonderful morning. Well, it wasn't really all that wonderful I guess, but it was one of the first mornings since I've been at school that I haven't woken up and been ridiculously tired/exhausted/incapable of getting out of bed. Maybe its my new air freshener... or maybe my big comfy cushion... or maybe my new bamboo rug! Orrrrr, maybe it's the fact that I had one of the most relaxing and lazy weekends in a very long time.

Remembrance Day weekend is a bit of an odd one: it's a solemn occasion, meant to remember our veterans and soldiers, but also one that translates into a much needed rest for most university students. The majority of people go home with the intention of getting tons of work done - catching up on mountains of reading or writing a paper (or at least trying to start one). But again, the majority of people... get nothing done. And you know what, that's okay, even good, in fact! Because man, I, like I'm sure most other students here, have been running on high since... oh... September, and a rest was most definitely in the cards for me this weekend. I did get some reading done, which was very good, but it was relaxed, pressure free and at my leisure. And hey, one morning, I even woke up and stayed in bed to read something that was, heaven forbid, non-academic. No offense to my professors, but reading about suicide terrorism, power politics, the security dilemma and the hopelessness of the developing world alllll the time can get a little bit depressing. Now fiction, there's some good weekend reading! And I didn't even have to take detailed notes - nice!

And apart from the reading, I did lots of other useless things - things like watching trash TV with my Mom until the early hours of the morning, roasting marshmallows over a fire in the basement, snuggling with my cat, Fluffy (who hates being snuggled, might I add), cooking supper, going bargain hunting at Rossy and lazing in my bed with my best friend Sacha (who, upon returning home, was pulled over by the cops for speeding as she tried to make it home to see her Mom before she left for work. What are the odds?) Useless things, but wonderful things. Things that I never get to do here so it felt really good to do them. It's made me very excited for Christmas break because then, I can't even do any work! Zero, zilch, nadda - 100% home free. Ohhh yeaaaaah :D

It was kind of depressing to come back to school this time, I'm not going to lie. It's really weird for me to feel that way because I'm always the cheery, gung-ho, motivated person, but ouf, I did not have much pleasant stuff awaiting me at MTA this time around. It wasn't just like I had a rough week coming up or anything - it's the fact that it's go-time all the time, all the way until the end of the semester. I've got 2 papers, 2 midterms, a formal debate and 4 final exams coming in the next month. Bruuuuutal. And you know what? There's absolutely nothing I can do other than put my nose to the grindstone and get 'er done... for the next month. All hardcore, all the time. Oh, I'm going to be sleeping so, so much over the Holidays.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

PS - One interesting thing I can put up here since I have zero applicable photos this week:

Campbell Hall (a MTA residence) and Eco-Action (an environmental group here on campus) are coordinating a clothing drive and clothing swap over the next two weeks, and here is a link for the promotional video for the campaign, 'We Propose Clothes': http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=YS5x8YSX7Yg