Monday, March 10, 2014

the final push toward The End

The Mister Rogers obsession continues (at least in its current form--I've been a fan since I was a kid)...

Monday: This half of the semester I have had to work harder than I've worked since FVA. In some ways I love it (I don't like it when things are too easy--which probably explains some of my love for the violin and French horn, though I was initially attracted to those instruments because of their sound), but in others I hate it, the stress that results from times like this being one of the main reasons. And when I get stressed out like that, I begin to doubt myself and whether I'll get everything done on time (thankfully, since finishing FVA, I've managed to pull through times like this beautifully).

This time, I was stressed out about my midterm paper for Contemporary Indigenous Arts, which I just barely managed to proofread and print before dashing off to class.

Tuesday: Tuesday was one of those days where I planned to get stuff done, but due to various appointments that were higher on the priorities list, most of the other things didn't get accomplished.

I did have my appointment with Joan. An hour after that I met with Jayne to talk with her about my midterm. I'm going to have to work like you wouldn't believe to pull off the rest of the semester and offset my crappy midterm mark.

While watching Mister Rogers' Emmy interview (during which I found out that he was colourblind) that evening, I found this quote that really speaks to what I've been through this year and the support I've received. It is one of several things that have appeared over the past week or so (starting with the documentary that triggered the current obsession). Yet another reason why I don't believe in coincidence.
"It's the little epiphanies of life that matter most. It's those moments when somebody will tell you, 'you know, you really did help me in a way that you could have never known, just by being there, and just by being you.'"--Mister Rogers
The quote is from this video.

Wednesday: Readreadread, writewritewrite.

Thursday: I emailed The Fred Rogers Company (formerly Family Communications, Inc., which distributed Mister Rogers' Neighborhood), sharing with the people there (many of whom worked with Mister Rogers and have been with the company for decades) my experiences of watching the show as well as how Mister Rogers and his message continues to play a huge role in my life, especially as I'm champing at the bit to finish university. I also quoted part of last week's post (the last two paragraphs in the Saturday section) and included the above quote and how it is relevant to the support that I have received. As the thought of writing to Mister Rogers didn't occur to me until after he died, this was a way of making up for that.

When Alex came into the computer lab to turn off the computers that night, he asked me how I was. I let loose and told him about the fact that I'm more than ready to be done school, both because of what I've been through and because I'm just ready to be finished school, which I wasn't when I graduated from NBCCD (the final day was incredibly bittersweet and when I got back to my place I burst into tears). He said that that's often the case: either students aren't ready to leave or they're champing at the bit like I am.

When I came home that night, I found out that my internet had disappeared and I couldn't get it back.

Friday: More reading.

That night I called EastLink. They did everything they could on their end and... nothing. It's a problem somewhere in my computer, which is both good (it's limited to only one computer) and bad (no internet on my computer).

Saturday: Because I had to read and write so much on a fairly tight deadline, I had to forego my weekly dose of the Met (sorry, guys) as this week's opera was in English and I can't read or write and listen to singing in a language that I understand at the same time (meaning that Italian's out, as I understand enough to have a rough idea of what's going on, as is the Habañera, as I have that song memorized in French and roughly memorized in English). I'm not much of a fan of Baroque opera, but I loved The Enchanted Island when it premiered a few seasons ago (it's a fairly new pastiche--i.e., a mashup--that the Met commissioned).

Sunday: This week I have to do a presentation with a couple of my classmates on two current art shows: one local (we picked the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia) and one national. We met at school on Saturday and made our picks and then then met again on Sunday, this time at the AGNS (home of Maud Lewis' teensy little painted house). We had initially chosen one of the shows there, but ended up choosing a different show (also at the AGNS) that grabbed our attention right away and that made the initial pick seem dull in comparison. That means that we have to come up with a new pick for the national show, as the initial pick for the national one tied in with the show at the AGNS that we'd picked and then decided not to profile.

Afterward, I went back to the college and wrote for the rest of the afternoon and finished the gallery review for Twentieth-Century Art.

That evening, Tom called me on my cell and we tried to troubleshoot my internet problem. No luck.

I spent the rest of the evening--you guessed it--reading and writing. Currently, all I have to be concerned about is my midterm for Topics in Modern Canadian Art (due on Thursday--I'm so glad Carla gave us an extra week to do it) and possibly another response paper for Contemporary Indigenous Arts (I wrote one this weekend, which is number three--that means I have to write at least two more by the end of the semester). No rest for this university student.

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