28

Well, my birthday passed and I am 28 years old now. I am now in my mid-late twenties (If you'll remember, I section each decade in groups of three, so 21-23 is early twenties, 24-26 is mid, and 27-29 is late. 20 and 30 are rounded numbers and don't get included. Each decade is treated the same. I am 28, so in the middle of what's considered my late twenties, ergo, I am "mid-late twenties")

I got 35 Facebook messages, two texts, two emails, three phone calls. My numbers are down from last year! I've spent too long skulking around under the cover of the night, people have been forgetting me.

 I posted on Facebook "Happy International Day of Peace and do you remember the twenty-first night of September?" because my birthday occurs on the International Day of Peace (great PR for a Social Service Worker) and because the Earth, Wind and Fire song "September" contains the line "do you remember the twenty-first night of September"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_Peace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk

But my only commentor was someone who doesn't speak English, saying that she liked the music. So she obviously doesn't get it and just thinks I'm a disco fan. I don't think anybody made the birthday connect on either reference

On these posts, I usually list my accomplishments over the previous year. At age 27, I finally managed to gain sustainable full-time employment in my field, and I was accepted into and began University. I can't think of anythinhg else.

I finally got my OSAP today. Originally, I'd mailed my OSAP application to my school's financial aid office, because OSAP said I would need to submit my application there. But then I got a notice that I'd sent it to the wrong place, and that I was supposed to send it to the National Student Loans Service Centre. They linked locations online, but when I went to the locally indicated place to submit my forms, I was told that even though it says it's the place to do it online, they don't provide that service and I would have to go to another location. So I went there and it submitted just fine.

I was told I'd receive my funds on September 1st, but it didn't happen. Checked again and said it would occur September 1-6. Didn't come. Called the National Student Loans Service, at the number they stated I should call if I didn't receive my funds, and it was literally impossible to get a human. Just automated responses to prompted frequently asked questions. But among those responses, they said it would take five business  days past the start of my academic year. Since my academic year started on the 7th, that put things off until potentially  the 14th.

Called the financial aid office at UW even though OSAP's newest estimate wasn't expired, and good thing I did. Financial aid said that I hadn't written a promissory note, which was required to receive funding. Neither OSAP nor UW had indicated this was necessary. The promissory note turned out to be some little option tucked away, that gave some little multiple choice test that read something like:

Are you going to use your funding for school?

By clicking below, I agree to use my funding for school.

So from this point, they requested a couple days to process my promissory not, and then five business days to submit my funding. So in the end, I finally received funding on the 27th. I had to pay for textbooks out of pocket.

Let's talk about the grant. I just had my tuition paid and $2500 for living expenses for the semester.

Really appreciative for the tuition payment and the grant, but player please, let's budget this $2500.

So my rent is approx $950 per month. With roommate, let's lower this to $425. I pay hydro and gas. Let's estimate $60 hydro, $30 gas. $90 divide by two, that's $45.

$55 Internet, $55 phone. That' $110.

Let's make a conservative estimate of $50 per week for food. Let's say there's four weeks per month. That's $200.

So $425 + $45 + $110 + $200 = $780 for the month. And that' excluding other small bills like laundry, textbooks, and recreation. $780 multiplied by four to cover the semester is $3120, exceeding the budget of $2500.

I'm okay because I now have savings, but what I already have surpasses what was given, and I've still got like, three paycheques coming in from Hatts Off which will also surpass what was given. Which indicates that this isn't a sustainable way of living. I don't know how so many students manage it

Quit Again

I quit my job again. The girl who was supposed to take half my sleep shifts quit because of stress, and so for the past two weeks I've been working full time, studying full time, and working two part-time jobs. It got to the point where I'd only be home for a few hours each day to shower and change my clothes, and stay over Friday and Saturday nights. It's a weird feeling, being paying to live at one place, and being paid to live at another.

Getting paid to sleep is pretty swell, but the time commitment alone was brutal. I'd shift on at midnight and have to get up to help with morning routines at 6:30, so I was never going to get more sleep than that. Didn't usually get to sleep through the night either, as something would usually come up. I was averaging 3-5 per day. Travel time was ridiculous, an hour to get home from work, an hour and a half to go to school. And then there were lots of awkward inbetween times where it wasn't worthwhile to go home, so you'd just float around campus or downtown. And since my classes end in the evening and my work starts at night, not much would be open to occupy my time.

But I still agreed to be put on the relief list. My last regular shift is Thurs night.

I went home to Guelph for an evening and part of a day last weekend. My birthday is tomorrow, and I won't be able to go home for it, so we celebrated last Friday and Saturday. They gave me a food processor, a cookbook, and a mask from Ghana.

It was nice to be able to use the student discount at the Greyhound again. I missed all those discounts. First time I've used one since I started. My student card is also a city bus pass, so that's another thing I don't need to buy monthly anymore.

Got my school textbooks. Since OSAP hasn't come in yet, I had to pay out of pocket. During certain times back at Conestoga, I would not have been able to do that. One thing I'm really going to miss about working full time is the ability to make casual purchases without worrying about going broke. Although I know some people with better income than me, but they manage to be poorer than me. I don't know how they do it.

I'll probably post again on my birthday.

First Week of Uni

So I had my first full week of University. I'm taking Social Statistics, Intro to Sociology, East Asian Studies, Fine Arts, and English. Social Statistics and Intro to Sociology are specific to my program, Fine Arts is because I need an art credit, East Asian Studies is because I need a culture credit, and English is because I need to show I'm literate. Some kind of school policy.

Social Statistics, Intro to Sociology, and East Asian Studies are all in the Renison building, which is like the Social Work Building, and all three are held in two rooms which are right next to each other. Fine Arts is in East Campus Hall, which is on the direct opposite side of the school. I have one day where I finish Fine Arts and then have 40 minutes before East Asian Studies starts, and I use all 40 minutes walking over. My English course is online.

The fact that we have East, West, North, and South Campus halls basically means this place is so big that we have districts.

When I first went into Social Statistics, I noted that of the approximately 35 students, I was the only male. I'm used to being in a gender minority, but in SSW, it was an 80% female-20% male ratio. Even highly female dominated courses like Personal Support Worker and Early Childhood Education would have like, four males per class. I don't mind being in a minority, but when I'm the sole example, I stop being a minority, and start being just a dude. A lone exceptionality.

I was told I'd be the only white person in East Asian Studies, but that turned out to not be true. Pretty wide diversity of nationalities. I'm definitely more of a minority in Social Statistics. Probably a room full of social workers who don't want to have to leave Renison to do their mandatory culture course.

But then when I went to Intro to Sociology, there were seven males in a class roughly the same size as Statistics. But I talked to one of them, and he was an engineer doing an elective. So maybe the other six are the same way.

Renison actually has dorm rooms on the top floors. I think that's crazy. Even during my year in the residence at Conestoga, I thought it was kind of weird that when I went to sleep, it was on school property. It was like always being in school. But this place actually has students living in the same building that they take classes in. One of my classes lets out at 9:20 PM. I'm sure there are students partying above us at that time.

Almost done my first art project. I carved a design into a board, and now we're going to make a print of it.

Despite the fact that I have to take an English course to prove that I'm literate, because I had transfer credits from both SSW and HSF, they put me in a course that's like, two years advanced. My friend was laughing at me.

At Conestoga, we had an on-campus pub called The Sanctuary that was open Tuesday and Thursday mornings (always thought it was weird to encourage drinking on a Tuesday morning in a school). At UW we have The Bombshelter, and it's at least open every day from when I step onto campus to when I leave, which is sometimes after 9:00 PM. Similarly, our Tim Horton's shut down at 7:00 PM at Conestoga, but even walking to the bus stop after 9:20, the UW location is still open. I wonder if their establishments ever close.

This school is bigger than I'm used to.

First Day of Uni

So I had my first class of University last Thursday. It was a Fine Arts course, my Academic Instructor told me I needed an arts course and a culture course for my breadth requirements. It was alright. I need to have a pattern for Tuesday, and I've already chosen one. Course will be divided evenly over three projects with an additional grade put toward sketches and showing my work. We were supposed to order some kits, but the door to the room where we were supposed to place our orders was locked, so we couldn't do that. Class let out really early.

I'd built everything up so much in my mind. I'd just finished my first sleep shift at the group home, and there was five hours between work and class. Decided it wasn't even worth it to go home. Big mistake, took less then half an hour to get to the University and spent the rest of my time getting anxious about it. Was having flashbacks to my first day of college and my first day in grade nine. First day in a new school really is a unique sensation.

After I finished the class, I felt really odd. Kind of like that deflated feeling you get after Christmas. Just the release of all that hype. I've got four new classes to attend this week, but my anxiety's not at the same level.

The day before, I went to the university to make sure that I could find all my classes and to get my student card. I thought it would be a lot harder than it was. The bulk of my classes are in a separate building called Renison, even my culture course is in there. Then each of my classes except my art one are shared between two rooms, which are next to each other.

Place makes me feel old. I support a guy who sometimes likes to go to the geology museum there, and I think I've mentioned on this blog that the place has enough resources that, if you lived on campus, you would really not have to leave for any reason. It has enough resources that it is completely self-sustaining. It's like a village where everyone is between the ages of 18-25.

So I thought it would be harder to find things than it was. I needed to find the Student Life Centre to get my WatCard. So I walked around the perimeter, assuming that such a central feature would be displayed openly. It was. Went in, found the line up. Handed in my student number and a piece of photo ID and I got my WatCard on the spot.

Then I looked up a map of the college, found out I only needed to find two locations for all my courses. Got a rough grasp of the geography of the place, wandered a bit and found everything I needed.

I'm using OSAP this time around. Ontario changed the laws so that, if you live under a certain financial bracket, they will pay your tuition and a chunk of your living expenses as a grant, meaning you don't owe them the money back.

I still don't have the money, though. At first I thought it was coming September 1st. Then I thought I remembered reading September1-6. Then when that time period closed, I called in and apparently it's "4 to 6 business days after your studies begin"... Which was September 7. So now I have to wait until potentially Thursday. Beginning to better understand old classmates complaining about OSAP not coming in.

It's funny, my brother goes to Guelph, where they have the Guelph Gryphons as their mascot. My brother's name means "Dark skinned warrior" and now I'm in Waterloo, which has the Waterloo Warriors.

Gardening Season Nearing Close

So we're coming in on the end of gardening season. To break it down, everything I grew from seed kind of sucked.  I originally tried to grow cherry tomatoes, sunflowers, zucchinis, and snow peas. The cherry tomatoes were transplants and everything else was from seed. The sunflowers and zucchinis sprouted successfully, but then something ate them. They left the cherry tomatoes and snow peas alone though, so I guess they didn't like anything established past the sprout stage, plus snow peas. Acknowledging this pattern, I went and bought more transplants, plus planted snow peas around the perimeter of my chicken wire fence and my mesh fence. I bought summer squash and red cabbage to replace the sunflowers and zucchinis, which did well. But the summer squash and surviving zucchinis crawled into the cabbage section and cast shade on them, so I now have healthy, but perhaps smaller cabbage plants then necessary. My snow peas started off well, but they weakened in later development. Don't know why, back when I was in student housing they were my strongest crop. Just got a small crop of snow peas today, which was more than I was expecting. Right now, the summer squash and zucchinis have blossomed, but I'm worried that they will drop their flowers before they produce. That's been an issue in the past. They always grow so large and lush and healthy, but what their final product is seems so random.

The cherry tomatoes were the real takeaway. They outgrew their tomato cages, then I had to tie them to stakes and they almost outgrew those. Never had such large cherry tomato plants, and I never met anyone else that has had the same success with them, either. I'm thinking that if I'm still here next year, I should try growing crops similar to cherry tomatoes. Unfortunately, other than real tomatoes, I'm lost. They're technically fruit that grows like vegetables. They seem one-of-a-kind.

My neighbor gave me a pink rose bush. I planted it in front of my unit. I didn't know what type of plant it was at the time, or how to care for it, but I figured it was worth putting in the ground and seeing what happened. I'm not a big flower guy, but it was growing so lush and healthy, I'm telling you, I thought about picking up some red and yellow roses as well. But something uprooted them. And then someone put a book shelf on them. Unfortunate.

Do you know how good I am at barbecuing now? I'm so good, I taught someone else how to do it. That's right.

My upstairs neighbour moved away. The whole neighbourhood's changing. First my friend passes, then another neighbour is evicted, then another one moves out, then another gets kicked out, then another evicted. Sorry, that story would have had a lot more impact if I could give identifying information.

Before I started the group home job, I was under $1000 in my chequing account, under $500 in savings, and I'd placed 0ver $900 on my credit card. Now that I'm going to University, I have no debt on my credit card and am up $4000 in my chequing account. Not a bad place to leave off.

You guys gonna kill me when I say this. I tried to quit my grouphome job, but they offered me sleep shifts in response. That means all I'd do is show up, sleep, and potentially manage emergency situations. That means no more dishes, no more laundry, no more lunches. I told them I'd give it a try. Another girl that tried to quit offered to take over half the shifts, which I'm glad to hand over. Still going to be crazy when I've got four direct support contracts and teach Safe Management to boot.