School Troubles. Again.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've been busy with work, and with not much to say. I do, however, have a massive rant today! And guess what, it's about registering for classes. Again.

I don't know what is wrong with Kwantlen. But every time I try to register for classes with them, something is wrong. This time, it doesn't seem to be registering any of my transferred credits from my previous college. That means I can't even get into a second year English course. The only pre-recs I need for any second level English course is two first year courses. I have four now, but only one is from Kwantlen. I've been able to get into a third year English course before at Kwantlen, so I know this is a recent problem.

But I'm not too concerned about English. I can take those courses whenever. It's the problems with my Creative Writing courses that will set me back another year if I don't get them solved soon. I talked to an academic adviser about a month ago. We went through everything together. I contacted the people I needed to, and she e-mailed the people she needed to. And once again, they let me down. I'm able to get into a forth level Poetry class because the one person I had to contact pulled through for me. Everything went smoothly for that.

But apparently the person my adviser contacted (and she did, I was there to watch it), didn't pull through. In fact, they seemed to mess something up. Because now apparently I have no credits from my last college. Even though I'm looking at them right now...

So I have a headache. I hate registering for classes. This system is horrible. And I have no faith that it will ever get better. Or maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm jinxed and every time I try to register, something just has to go wrong. That must be it. If everyone was having this much trouble, then I'm sure they would have fixed it by now.


Right?

Okay, probably not. No faith. None at all. Stupid system.


UPDATE: I was able to get into one of the third year courses I wanted. Now I'm even more confused. So the block transfer went through, but only for one class? I still can't get into the second year English courses though... I really hope someone actually replies to my e-mails. This is just so messed up.

Lots and lots of words

I've been getting behind on my Business of Writing updates, so I'm going to try and catch up now.

I mentioned earlier about a conference I went to, and I should elaborate on that. It was a literary conference, comprised of multiple panels. Unfortunately, I missed the first one, because it was located a fair distance away, and my friend was driving me, so I didn't want to ask her to wake up super early to get me out there. The first panel that I was present for was rather dry. Everyone was reading essays, or papers, or sections from books. They were all accounts of epistolary stories, or histories. The subjects were rather interesting, but I have to admit that I zoned out quite a bit during the second one, and can barely remember what it was about. The third one from that panel was the most interesting, because it was about a certain sweater that is made by a First Nation group, and how it was incorrectly recreated without permission from the group, for the Olympics.

It was a good presentation to end that panel on, because after lunch, the next panel was by three First Nations presenters. And they were all so interesting, because they were talking to the audience, not reading off a piece of paper. They were telling personal stories, not research. There was even some singing and rapping. It was by far the most interesting panel that I was able to attend that day.

Of course, that's not saying much, considering I had to leave after that one. My friend had to be home by 4:30, and it was an hour drive back to her house, so we left at 3. I heard the next panel had to do with food, so I really regret not staying for that one, but there wasn't much I could do.

After that, we started learning about grants and CVs (Curriculum vites? I can't spell it). The grants weren't too challenging, we just had to go into more detail about our porject. And not just the plot synopsis, but details that we probably never really thought about until now, at least for me. The point of a grant is to convince a council to give you money to work on a project. We were told to talk about why we're writing out project, why it's important to ourselves and the community. Why people have to read it, and why it has to be written. Unfortunately, as a speculative fiction writer, I write for fun. Although I try to include deeper meaning into my work, it's generally for fun. I like to write what I like to read, and what I read is fantasy, dragons, magic, knights, kings, queens, grand wars and the fall of kingdoms. Now this really isn't important. It's not a tragic history of my life, and how I became the person I am today through great struggle and overcoming challenges.

So although I found writing about my project was fairly easy, I don't feel like it'll be earning me grant money any time soon... or ever.

It's the CV that got me, and I'm pretty sure most other people, worried and rather self conscious. A CV is basically a writing resume. It includes all schooling, publications, awards and interests. Just to get mine to a full page, I had to include a suspicious amount of line breaks and some small things that otherwise would not be on a regular CV, such as magazines I've submitted to (but not been accepted in). I thought my two little publications in my old colleges anthology were pretty good... Until I looked at some other CVs just from my class. I really need to get my butt in gear and get more actual publications.

Today we had a presentation on reviews. This was particularly interesting to me, since I have actually done several reviews on this blog. None of them have been for money, or even for the public, so I never considered them to really matter. I was doing them for whoever might stumble upon them, or maybe for any google searches. In fact, if I look at my traffic sources, I have a few people that found this blog because of a review I did on "A Murderous Procession". It's been a while since I've done a review, but I have read several books since my last one, so I should get back to them. Maybe I'll do one on Tuesday.

And now what I have planned for the next few weeks. I mentioned Fan Expo a few posts ago. I am definitely going to this. Just for one day, since ticket prices start getting expensive for more than one day, and my poor boyfriend can't afford much. And since I don't have much time to go out and do things, what with school and work, I'm hoping to get a lot of points for my List through online research and sharing. I've found a great resource through Reddit, which has a lot of publishes authors and editors, who constantly posts links to other websites that help to improve writing, or help to get published. It also constantly has AMAs (Ask Me Anything), with writers, editors, publishers and so on. While doing my research on Brandon Sanderson, I realized these are far more than just questions on the author's books or home life, but also on their jobs, and how they deal with the problems that all writers, or editors or publishers, face.

So that was a big update, sorry. I feel like I owed it, after all the other days I've missed. I'll try to update more on schedule from now on!

Last Minute Procrastination

Just a quick post tonight, partly because I'm working on an essay (that's kind of due tomorrow...), and because I don't think my internet will last much longer.

I managed to finish my portfolio for class today, then proceeded to forget to print out multiple copies of my workshop poem. So I learned how to use the library printers at school. I have to say, they're less confusing than I thought. I managed to get back to class four minutes after it started. And I wasn't even the last person in. That being said, we got out early, because none of us were in school mode yet. That's what happens after reading break.

And that's my first day back at school. Now back to the essay that I should have started much, much sooner...

Christmas and Movies and Finals

Wow, times goes fast. I though I had posted something on Tuesday... Apparently not. Anyway, have a Friday post instead!

But hey, twelve more days 'till Christmas! This year I'll be spending Christmas Eve with my boyfriend's family, since my family has decided not to get together this year. It should be fun. I have to work until 6:30, but oh well. I took several days off for Christmas last year, so I guess this makes up for it. And I don't have to work on Christmas day, so that's even better. Then, to top it off, I get paid time and a half on Boxing day. Yay! I'll have some money stashed away before I cut my hours to nearly nothing... I really should have spent less on Christmas presents... Oh well.

In other news, the final Hobbit movie comes out on Wednesday! I'm determined to see it on Thursday.... And maybe again several times after. I'm a little excited.

However, I have one final before I can really get into the Christmas or movie spirit. I should be studying... But it's on Tuesday. I have time...

Transit Rant!

Time for another rant about transit! I find myself doing these around the beginning of each school year. This was definitely my worst day transit wise though.

I give myself two hours to get to school, and I normally get there with about twenty minutes to spare, sometimes half an hour on a good day. Tuesday was not a good day. The bus that I normally would catch is the 188. I have to walk up a small hill to catch it, but it takes me directly to a bus loop where I would then catch a bus (i69) that takes me directly to the skytrain (a sort of above ground metro, for anyone who doesn't know). However, since school has started, the 188 has been very full. On my first day taking it, I got lucky and was allowed on. Not so luck this previous time. The first bus passed me by, so I decided to just take a bit of a walk and go catch a different bus (C28) that will bring me to the same bus loop. I waited for about half an hour, in which time another 188 passed by, also full. When the C28 arrived (fie minutes late), it was full also. I've never seen the C28 full! By this point there was no chance that I was getting to school on time. If I risked waiting for a 188 or C28 that wasn't full, I would still be waiting for half an hour.

So I walked pretty much back to my house, which is about a ten minute walk from where I had ended up. I caught the C38, which would take me to a different bus (159) that would eventually get me to the skytrain, but using a route that takes twice as long. I very nearly didn't catch the 159, but my first bit of luck that day decided to shine, and the 159 was a couple minutes late.

So I got to the skytrain station, an hour later that I would normally get there. That meant that my class had pretty much started by that point. Since it was a three hour class though, I decided to just keep going and arrive late.

But of course, the very first skytrain that arrived was out of order. I had to wait another ten or fifteen minutes for the next one. Once off the skytrain, the bus I needed (319) arrived instantly, which was my second, and last piece of good luck for the day. Because when I was getting close to the university, thinking that I might be only 45 minutes late, there was construction.

I arrived at class bang on an hour late. My professor was pretty chill about it, so I guess technically I had three bits of good luck. My ride home was, thankfully, much less eventful, and my dad was even willing to pick me up from the bus loop. Once home, I sent a complaint to the transit company, so hopefully something will be done. I don't want to have to leave two and a half hours before my class, just to get there right on time, because I have to take the longest route possible just to get on a bus.

Day Number Two

Second day of school for this semester, and I still haven't gotten lost... At least, not much. While trying to find my class, I definitely walked right past it. The problem is that my class is 1015, and any of the classrooms after mine are suddenly up in the 1050's. It was confusing. But after a circuit of the building, I found it pretty much right at the main doors. At least it'll be easy to get to next week.

I also found out that I bought the wrong book. About a month ago I had my whole rant about having to switch English classes. I had printed out the book list before switching though, and apparently didn't throw the wrong book list away. So when I was rushing to leave on Tuesday, I guess I grabbed the wrong one. So now on Monday I'll have to return the wrong book and get two new ones. Hopefully I'll get all my money back, since I haven't even opened the book.

It was also super busy on the transit this morning. Lots of kids everywhere... I'm hoping it'll calm down once the school year get underway.

And that's it. Not much today, and I'm really tired, so just a boring update. I'll probably have a review for Tuesday.

I Didn't Get Lost!

It's always a good day when nothing goes wrong. Especially if it's the first day of school.

This is my second semester at my university, and I haven't been there since April, so I was pretty worried that I would have no idea where I was going anymore. Luckily, the bus stop was still in the same spot, there were still signs pointing to the right building, and I somehow managed to stumble across my class half an hour before it even started.

Good day.

Of course, it was pouring with rain, and I had to get a blood test done this morning. That meant I couldn't eat anything until after the test was done, and while waiting, the computer system at the clinic went down, so that added nearly half an hour to our wait. But at least breakfast was all the better when we got it.

In the end, my feet are wet and my bank account is two hundred dollars lighter (from books), but I didn't get lost, I didn't fall asleep on the bus, I made it to class on time, my arm is not sore, and I got myself a Upass. I would say the good heavily outweigh the bad.

Now I can look forward to one long day at work, another day at school, then my staycation! I can't wait to actually explore my home town. I never actually get to do any of the popular attractions around here.

An Anecdote with a Lesson

So I decided to pay my tuition today. That went easily, no complications (except I forgot to print my receipt...) It wasn't until after that I started looking through my schedule to confirm all the days that I would have to go in that I noticed something odd.

My online class has a class in a city that is NOT the one I wanted it in.

I go to a university that has four campuses (for privacy sake, I'm calling them A, B, C and D), all of which are pretty far away from me, but only one (A) that has an easy and direct route. That is the one that I have been going to. That is the one that I made sure all my classes are at. And that is not the one that this specific class had me going to. This class has me going to city B.

So I decided to take a look at the list of classes to try and figure out what went wrong. First off, the professor that I have for that class doesn't teach anywhere but in city C. Looking harder, I realized that I might have made a mistake and not looked at the city when I signed up, thinking that 'hey, it's an online course, I won't have to leave my house'. Of course, there's a mid term, so I would have to go somewhere at some point. But considering this class that I signed up for said city C, it should NOT be sending me to city B. There is not an ounce of logic in that.

I got really confused at this point, and went to see if there were even any online classes that sent me to city B. There aren't. So yeah, an online class in city C is sending me to city B for the ONE in-class test. No sense!

Finally I just dropped that class, as I saw a pretty convenient one right before another class I have on Monday. Unfortunately, after all this time trying to figure out what went wrong, someone had taken the last spot in that class. And in the next best class. Jerks. So I have now signed up for a class that is actually part in-class and part online, which is pretty cool. The only downside is that now I need to take another day off of work, and I will actually be spending more time in my round trip to and from the campus, than in the actual class. I'll need to stock up on some new music or something.

The moral of the story? Get your shit in order before starting post secondary. You hear that high schoolers? It's not the actual university classes that are hard, but just getting registered for them. Talk to a counselor! Let someone else do it! I have a headache, just from spending half an hour figuring it out. Imagine having to do this every semester. We seriously need a class just to learn how to get into classes.