Here it is, here I am...
I'm at school once again.
What's that you say, wasn't last time a disaster? Well, not really a disaster, but there was a storm warning, I tell you that.
I'm in North Bay, alternately freezing my ass off and boiling up (seriously, the weather is friggin crazy), and trying to find a place in life and be social as best I can. Which of course, is slow goings. School and me... well, I have to be really interested in it to make a go of things. And I hope I am. There's some classes that make me cream, it's true... like psychology and criminology and most of the generalized 'corrections' courses. Really it's just the teachers that are making or breaking the mood. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I set sail for this frosty place on Sunday September 2nd. So I've been here a week and a day now. I'm living with Hoover and his two roommates right now, and with any hope/luck, it could stay this way. I don't know, I just like it here. I occupy the basement room that in your house you'd keep free fpr storage and laundry. I'm looking at the water heater and the fuse box right now. But... I dig it. I like it a lot. I think a lot of good writing could come out of these conditions. And it's so much better living with a bunch of guys that for the most part I know something about then having to find some family renting a room or live with drunk first year jerks, don't you think? Well, we'll see how things turn out.
I'm taking corrections, which means prison guard, but can also mean a lot of other things, which I didn't realize. Lots of social work related positions require correctional training. But that means I wait til second year to do all the cool physical training stuff, because some people in the program will branch off then. I think that's how it goes anyhow. Again, we'll see. Hell, I might not even be able to stick it out this year. My OSAP hasn't come in yet, after all. And yes, that's a worry, but I can't do anything about it so I try not to think about it.
What else... well, I'm enjoying things so far. More than would be expected of me too, I think. As always, it's a constant struggle for me to try to fit in, and even harder to get myself to meet and talk to new people, but I'm working at it, and think I can be proud of myself for the effort and results I've had so far. I may fail, but at least I'm trying my best, and it's so fucking HARD! The fruits of my labour may be kind of trim as of yet, but I'm persistant. I do, however, have the good looking girl I *wished* would talk to me actually talking to me. Well, I did today... something tells me I wasn't as glowing and resiliant as I could have been. But what is expected of me at 8 in the morning, after 4 hours of bad sleep, waking up every hour, and then looking like hell... fuck, it was not a good day to start talking to me at all... but it's not like I had a lot of control on that. If I get another chance, well, it'll be all over Olive-skinned Girl... I'll not be caught by surprise again. Nuh uh. Another nice one I pulled today... while forming (ugh) groups for (ugh) groupwork, I reluctantly joined this group of morons, just because they asked first. It did feel a little like being picked just before the kid with the coke bottle glasses for baseball, but whatever. Well, right after I said yes, and I'm talking RIGHT after, the one attractive girl in my program (not the same young lady) calls out, "I need another person in my group..." Ouch. That's Motrin pain. Big time. The third strike today was when I ripped off a good hunk of my face with my razor while shaving. I'm out.
So, class. Initially I had class scheduled at 8:30 every frikking weekday. And since I don't yet have my car here with me, that means getting up at 6:50 every day so I can catch a bus at 7:15, so I can transfer to another bus so I can get to school for 8:10. Ouch. Now, a couple of my classes have been pushed back to 9, which gives me a little leeway (read: another 15 minutes of sleep) some days, but I wonder if I shouldn't just leave the routine as it is and get up at the same time every day to avoid junk. Then maybe I can have a cup of coffee here before I leave and save myself a buck some days at school. And if Olive-skinned Girl decides I didn't make *that* bad of a first impression, well, there's a little extra time in the morning to make myself pretty and chat her up before my classes start.
I think I'm one of the brighter stars in my class. Whenever we have our little group discussion things and I have something to say, now everyone in the whole class turns to see/hear what I have to say. That's kind of nice. Builds a little confidence it does. The other day when we were talking about anarchy, well, I really stirred the pot that day, frig.
I have full cable, full unlimited internet and full telephone capabilities. We're stealing cable, the internet is Chris', and there's a phone plan. Aint bad at all. I've made my little room pretty homey in the while I've been here. I brought limited decorations, but my touch is pretty evident. I have been fairly touched in the head, after all.
And really, that's school. I'm doing basically whatever I want, whenever I want, like a 21 year old should. Still, I feel old sometimes. Well, as long as my OSAP comes in and I can keep convincing myself to forge ahead, to be as social as I can be, to do my schoolwork... well, really there's no reason this shouldn't turn out alright.
Indeed. No reason at all.
But that's never stopped anything before.
We'll see, we'll see.
Oh yeah, one other thing...
for some reason, I decided to tell everyone that my name is Jack.
Is that strange?
Back.