In a year...

One year ago I was leaving my home of 4 years to return to Ontario. After completing an undergrad in Business and Philosophy at StFX I was ready to take on the world. I had decided to stray from my foundation in Accounting to pursue my passion, Radio.

So today, 1 year from my graduation, it seems natural to do an evaluation of where I am. At this point it is hard to not focus on some of my successes, despite not being a national radio star on CBC. However, I have made progress into a lot of unexpected avenues, and I have to be happy about that.

Since graduating I have landed a challenging and rewarding job teaching people at a popular computer/technology retailer. I am in the middle of both a grant application with the Canada Council for the Arts and a Masters application with Ryerson University, in hopes of making my work on Well Versed a full-time career. I also write for Talent Egg and have been featured multiple times on Brazen Careerist. Now I am working hard on promoting a really interesting book, The Hidden Game.

So, you can see how it would be hard to complain. I stopped trying to force things awhile ago and just decided to do my best with what was presented to me. So far it seems to be working.

New Help Finding a Career

So for the past while I've been writing for Talent Egg's blog, The Career Incubator. Even with my bias I still think you will find that Talent Egg is a great organization. It is designed to be more of a career hub than just a job-listing service.

Besides my simple writing on the site, the entire organization is run by a great group of people. Founder Lauren Friese has got quite the head on her shoulders. You can see this by some of the great articles she writes. In addition, the whole team is adding some amazing insight and advice into the crazy world of finding your ideal career.

In addition, I think every job listed on the site is fantastic and work a look.

I've become quite connected in the career-finding world through Talent Egg. Every day I'm learning new things and meeting new people. One great opportunity I had was to participate in TD Moneylounge's "The Hunt" video series. Each week there is a new episode. I've appeared in each of the two episodes so far. Episode Three, "Options in a Slumping Economy", airs April 8th.

Graduation Weekend - Day 1

I'll blow past the fact that I haven't updated you on my life for the past number of weeks. The hastiness to get to describing my graduation weekend is conducive of the speed at which it seems this weekend came. The last number of weeks seem a blur - end of classes, papers, exams, packing/cleaning. However, that is all in the past.
Now I am sitting in the Prince George Hotel in downtown Halifax, about to have breakfast with my Grandfather and Step-Grandmother. I picked the two of them up at the airport last night after dropping my friend Michelle off. We went right to the Hotel and then to the local jazz club (Stayner's) to listen to my friend's group - The Matt Thauvette Quintet. It was a great evening catching up with my grandparents.
I informed them of some of my more nostalgic thoughts that have purveyed my mind in the past week. Having a week to spend between exams and Grad-Weekend is both odd and delightful. It was relaxing and stressful. It was happy and sad. Walking around the campus, it felt like only last week I was cheering in the new students as an Executive of the Orientation Committee. I will try to keep those cherish memories close as I go through this week.

And in those moments....

Today was a day of possible success and possible defeat. Many say that as one door closes a window opens. I would say things are more about perspective. I think all things are doors that swing both ways. While sometimes the goodness takes awhile to become apparent, when it does you can not argue that it's utility was always there.
As I said, today was a day where the door was swinging. Possibilities for triumph and joy metamorphosed in the re-vote for Senior Class Speaker. While yesterday things went haywire with the online system, today was the day for everyone's ballot to truly count. I tried to preoccupy myself by studying diligently. By 5pm the polls closed and so did my hopes. I lost the vote but decided to not let it affect me too much. Some dear friends helped me with conversations, text messages, and phone calls of support. The people who knew me and the situation well knew not to sympathize but rather put the situation in its true light - I did not represent the ideals and thoughts of the majority of the graduating class - which isn't a bad thing.
Despite this, the possibility for public acclamation and approval was not over. In just two hours I was sitting down to eat at the Student Union Awards Banquet. It is the only student nominated awards at StFX and it is a highlight of the year for many. There I was able to congratulate one of the two Senior Class Speakers - Tito - on her win. I was able to chat with many of the people who voted for me. I was able to eat a great meal and share conversation with some truly dedicated student leaders. I was also able to be sincerely delighted, honored, and humbled by winning a Gold X for continued support to student life and StFX, a Media X for continued support and involvement with the radio and the news paper, as well as the extreme honor of winning the Marcel Lussier Award for Outstanding Community Service over my life at StFX. Needless to say, this day has ended on a high note.

My last class

I just finished the last class I will ever have of my undergraduate career. 4 years went by fast. The last class didn't feel like much of anything. It went by painlessly much like my first day of classes here at StFX. The day is sunny and people walk around with the innocence of spring. Later I will go to the student bar to celebrate and shake off some of the stress that always comes with the end of the year. However, a lump of anxiety still rests in my stomach. Besides having to still hand in two papers and go through four exams, the thought of this all being over makes me hesitate. The feeling hasn't sunk in completely, but I know that with each passing day I come closer to leaving this place. Somehow I know I will always return to the captiavting magic of StFX, but I still feel sad every time I leave. As students part for the summer we give our tearful goodbyes. Two worlds exist for any student of StFX - the summer months and the school months. The two will always remain seperate and unknown to the other. To have never gone here is to never truly be able to know what every past and future Xaverian knows - we have lived in our own special world. So, as I prepare to say "goodbye" I can't help but feel like I will be leaving something behind.

The Last Week

So I'm heading into my last week of classes of my undergraduate degree! The reality of the issue hasn't completely sunk in yet. It has been an amazing ride thus far and there still is quite a lot of work left to be done. Last weekend I helped host a leadership conference at our school. It was amazing to see so many people come out for a day and learn many important skills and become even more motivated to make positive changes in the world.
Additionally, I have been nominated, interviewed, and now am awaiting a vote to be honored as the speaker at my graduation ceremonies. That element, to say the least, has been an ever-present occupation of my mind in the past while.
I am so passionate about the role that thoughts of what I could say to entertain and motivate my fellow classmates often distracts me from other work - other work that includes a 10 page paper due on the last day of classes. So, even in my last week, the feelings of stress, worry, and joy while doing it are all still pervasive.

I'm going home!

Since attending StFX I haven't gone home for Easter Weekend. This is mainly because Easter Weekend usually falls the weekend before the beginning of exams. Normally Easter Monday would be a holiday and I could travel at this time. For some reason StFX doesn't adopt this day as a holiday, despite being a school with Catholic foundations. 

This year is different. Now my decision to go home was very sudden and happened only a few hours ago, thus less than 24 hours before my flight. The reason is I got into a habit of never being able to go home for Easter.

Friends who have been alerted of my travels are shocked by the sudden decision. Some have cited my earlier comments of me making the weekend, "A Paper Weekend!" or "A Study Weekend." This will now have to take second to me spending time with family and friends. So while I think about the end of school, jobs, and life, I hopefully will gain some perspective over this weekend.

Back from Nationals

Last weekend were the National Debate Championships at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I went with my school, St. Francis Xavier, as one of 14 members. Some of us judged, most of us debated on two person teams. StFX was in a three-way tie for sending the most number of people (matching the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta). Achieving this status was the first of several accomplishments of the weekend that I am proud of. Now, while sending a large contingency does not necessarily entail high performance at the tournament, it does say something about the internal development and performance of your club. I, along with my debate partner, re-formed the StFX debate team 5 years ago. As this way my last debate I left the weekend extremely proud to know I had aided in developing the team to be such a presence in the Canadian University Debating Circuit.
The second achievement came in the form not of overall wins for myself, but of my individual performance. Having been scored on my speaking skills in all of the 6 rounds provided an indication of how I had developed over the past 5 years. I left the Nationals with a ranking of 2nd in Atlantic Canada (only to our current StFX Debate President) and 37 of 104. Having achieved this in the face of the best debaters in Canada (and some of the best in the world concurrently) makes me feel pride as well.
The third achievement I left with came after just finishing the movie Rocket Science. This quirky movie about a boy who tried to find himself in the world of high-school debate demonstrated the larger world of debating. Debate is something that has intrinsic and extrinsic values that go far beyond mere resolutions argued from the affirmative and negative. I am proud to say I was and will always be a part of that. I have learned valuable lessons from debate that will last lifetimes.
Debating is one of the few things that I can say has been with me at StFX since the beginning. Debate is like a loyal girlfriend. And while that sounds pathetic and disturbing, I would say that is not the point. Debate has been constant. It has provided. It has helped me grow and learn and heal. Like any relationship you get what you put in. I have given a lot to Debate and I am now getting all it has got to give.

Just when I thought things were begining to settle

At the time of my last post I was saying that I just got over the most stressful moments of 2008. Well, I will let you know that those days in January still hold their title. In close second is this current week. I have been covering a Presidential/Vice-Presidential campaign slate in my Students' Union election over at this site. If you read my posts, or just what I am about to say, you will see that I have been the recipient of much criticism. I didn't expect this reaction, but I do accept that I will have to receive these comments. I guess I was naive in thinking the process would be easy. Well, it isn't.
Besides that I have a lot of upcoming tests that I will have to study for. The only issue is that I don't know when I will study as I am going to the East Coast Music Awards this Thursday. This weekend will be amazing though. I will get to talk to some of Canada's best musicians including: Two Hours Traffic and The Tom Fun Orchestra. I plan on doing many interviews and getting lots of pictures. Look for some upcoming blog posts and potential podcasts.

To love chaos

As the end of January approaches that feeling of established routine tends to settle. While I may be chaotically busy, my various responsibilities can be managed through an adherence to a fairly regimented schedule. I relish being engrossed in the many social and academic elements that make up University. As I start to think about how I am managing my classes, my job at the radio, debating, and everything else I can't help but contemplate how all of these elements have made my life happy over the past 5 years. I have built a surrounding of desired activities that I will have to let go in only a few months. Beyond activities are the people and the lifestyle. These to will go in some part if not in their entirety. A massive change is coming that, while expected, is completely unknown. I did not fear university and now I speak of my love for what has come of that fearlessness. I hope I am just as courageous now as I was then.

From the train - part 2

It is 10:30pm, I’ve been on this west-ward train for 8 hours and boredom is setting in. A few people are playing poker, some are reading, I just finished an offhand conversation on relationships that resulted in more personal insight than expected. I still do not have an adequate number of cases prepared for the upcoming tournament.
I’m running through Quebec as people sleep silently around me. The night’s rest allows the quiet and natural beauty of this province to awaken to my eyes. Little things like chilled rivers rushing over rocks. A small “salon de billiards”. A well lit mill that I can see from the train windows all delight me to a point of profound contemplation. I think about how I want to disappear amongst this landscape. How I would like to pack my bags and camera and go on an adventure of writing and photography that would push myself spiritually and creatively.

From the train - part 1

Here on my first Via Rail ride in Nova Scotia I write. I’m just over 2 hours into the trip and I’m listening to the passionate tunes of Kate Maki. Her romantic lyrics and soothing voice calm me as I prepare for the other 16 hours of this trip. I’ll probably take a lot of time to reflect and admire upon my life – in between preparing for the upcoming debate tournament – with this beautiful Canadian landscape as my companion.
Right now I’m thinking of how I got to this place. How I became an integral part of the debate team. How I developed a strong base of friends that I know I will always see at school. Just yesterday at the student bar I progressively found myself in a myriad of conversations with some great people. I am persistently falling in love with this sense of community that surrounds me.

What I could talk about

Tonight was my first night out in Antigonish for the year of 2008. It was a big night on campus as everyone was celebrating 2 Years Eve - a repeat of New Years. There were great bands, tons of people, and a whole lot of reuniting. This was amazing.
It was exactly what I needed. I got to connect with people I haven't seen in awhile. Dance with some beautiful women. Hug a lot of friends. And witness the drama that comes with alcohol and youth.
Overall the night was incredible, but there was one unfavorable moment. I had the unpleasantness of dealing with an acquaintance tell me that I am pretentious and self-centered. Now maybe other people may agree with her (I hope few to none) and I know that my own argument to the contrary caries only biased validity, but it was her audacity to say something like that to me.
I soon forgot this comment and went on to enjoy the night with people who made me feel happy and good. Overall it was a great night and I was glad to see so many familiar faces around me once again.

Update on academia

So it has been awhile since I've posted. My apologies. The academic life at StFX took me as its prisoner and I just broke free. So in the beginning I was a slave to my courses doing papers and projects galore. Nicely the course masters let me free for an evening of celebration when I got my X ring. Once that was done I had to face the reality that in two days I would write my first exam of 2007 - Auditing. Well I studied hard and still feel like that exam took a little bit of my life without giving anything in return. However the next day brought kinder tidings in the form of my Ethics exam. This was a philosophy course (my minor) and thus even an exam could be delightful. The next day brought my Business Policy course. Probably the most ridiculous and misleading course I have ever taken at X I highly dreaded this exam. Luckily it was simply 89 multiple choice questions and thus not as unpleasant as possible. Sunday brought a day of break and the time to do my 10th episode of Well Versed. I wrote e-business the next day, which went better than anticipated. In between I had a 4 day break which allowed me to catch up with some friends and do some Christmas chores. Then I set in to two intense days of studying for Financial Accounting. This was the exam I was most concerned about and now feel as though I did relatively well.
The most pleasant part of exams were the moments in between writing (for less than obvious reasons). I spent my time in either the library or the Student Union Building among other hard-working students. The close proximity of many of the people I care for brought joy in distressing times. I made new friends in Erica, Samantha, Charlotte, and Kelsey. I became closer with my roommate Wil. I caught up with people I haven't seen - like Aaron. I got to be artistic with Pendle. I even had a great conversation with my dear friend Mark. Surprisingly this was the toughest yet most productive exam season ever!

X-ring is over

It is odd that the magnitude of this moment didn't set in until it was all over. Yesterday was supposed to be the biggest day of my life here at StFX and I still don't know if that is true. Now I won't put it out of the running, but if X-ring was the most memorable day it would be because of what lead to that moment.
Even as I sit here and write this blog, mere hours past the last moment of celebratory bliss, I can't force myself not to think of the wonderful times I've spent at X. Last night little connections that I made over my 4 years on campus were appreciated. The ability to look someone in the eyes and understand a bit of their worries - without knowing their name - was realized. And an ability to fell comfortable hugging someone for drawn out moments in a crowd became more than touching. The whole thing was memorable.
Last night people let go. We reveled in our successes and applauded ourselves for a job well done. If it is possible I was one with StFX last night. Alumni talk about a spirit that surrounds this school and a family in which I am now apart. I think I am beginning to feel the effects of the meaning behind those words...and I like it.

What...another end?

I didn't think I would miss my classes. Sure, I'm no stranger to the heart pains and strains of anything that you've invested memories and time in. Usually its the passing of certain happy moments, or entering into new possibilities that creates those nostalgic moments of forgotten joy and a fondness for just about anything. I love being so happy you feel sad, but I am always surprised when it happens. Once again I have surprised myself as these feelings re-appear as the holiday season nears, classes end, and thoughts of family begin to rise.
It strikes me as apparent and relieving to note that my nostalgia has extended into a reflection of the professors I have only for a few more exams, the classmates that I've struggled through projects with, and even the rooms that used to imprison me at the same time every week. Perhaps as I only have a few more days in waiting for my X-ring I realize that I will be leaving yet another life behind in only a few months. Oh how time passes...

11 more days

Yes, I am posting about X ring. I am doing something I never thought I would do, and that is to get excited about something material to the point that I have to tell everyone around me. However, the X ring is something far more than a material object.
If you do not know what I refer to then I will explain. It is quite simple on the surface. The X ring is simply the school ring of St. Francis Xavier University. It is given out in the graduating year on the feast day of St. Francis Xavier (Dec 3).
Beyond all this is where the meaning and importance lies. X ring is a milestone at StFX. It is equal, if not greater, in celebratory festivity and memory. The X ring ceremony is something for students to mark their achievements. It is simple and without frills. There are few speeches, no honorary degrees, and just 1 day that I have been counting down to since I first arrived here over 4 years ago.

The Radio friends

So I was just reading the blog of fellow DJ and dear friend Shannon and found the whole thing endearing. Now these terms befell my mind due to reasons to close to the heart to describe. However, I will say that I have been touched by the positive effect of my actions this evening for that and for other reasons.
I also received an e-mail from my parents after my movie review show, Celluloid Radio, on 92.5 The Fox aired (every Tuesday at 7pm AST). It encourages me to know that my parents listen to my show. It reminds me

a) that people care about me; and
b) I am doing something important to a few people

Repercussions like Shannon's blog or my parents' e-mail fuels my mind to persevere and comforts my soul.

Who visits an airport?

I do. Well, that is, I am. Right now I write from inside the Halifax airport. The normal question to proceed this would be, "where are you going?" This question is now illogical to me because I am where I was going. Huh? Yes, I went to the airport to do nothing but go to the airport.
Well, that is half true. I did take my friend Savanna here and get her on a plane to Ottawa that will leave in 30 minutes. And yes, I did say that she was leaving 3 days ago. However after a hurricane here and multiple flights sold out she was unable to get her discount fare and thus was stuck a few extra days with me and Wil.
So while Wil and I toiled through copious amounts of papers and some serious exams, Savanna tried to get on a plane. Finally she will be flying out and I am done another round of heavy work. Now for me it is starting my job as a consultant while catching up in more school work. Go, go, GO!

A friendly visit

My friend Savanna is sitting beside me in the library on the last night of her 4 day visit. She arrived last Thursday on StFX campus after a 12 hour trip just in time to hear leader of the Green party Elizabeth May speak. After presenting myself and my roommate with an onslaught of gifts that included multiple candles and jellybeans we went to the speech and a philosophy debate. That night I inttrodcued Savanna to Antigonish's finest cheese layered pizza (the Wheel) as we watched movies in the candle light. The next day we would walk around town and go to the Tall and Small for lunch. Savanna was once again blown away by the delicous food of this small Nova Scotian town and its beauty.


That night we made loads of deserts and spaghetti before watching movie with a few friends. The next day we went with some other friends to the Ocean. This would be Savanna's first time seeing the open water and it was quite a sight as the waves were high with the coming of hurricane Noel. That night was 1 month 'till X-ring and the parties were rampant. For those of you who don't know the graduating class has a ring ceremony on Dec 3 (the feast day of St. Francis Xavier). Our school ring is one of the most recognized rings in the world. The next day was more cafes, walks, and then an evening of poetry as I did my radio show on CFXU. Today Savanna brought me muffins between classes and is now studying with me. She will be missed when she leaves tomorrow.