Freedom – Day One

So after a weekend of studying for my Great Philosophers exam, I started to understand a little about what all these philosophers had to say and also realized that they are all on different pages from one another.  In the span of the past three months I have studied the works of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes and we briefly touched about Nietzsche.  In the end, I really enjoyed what Socrates/Plato and Hobbes had to say and even though a lot of people like what Nietzsche has to say, I really didn’t get enough of an introduction to him (literally on hour of lecture) to form an opinion.  I will keep my philosophy text book with me over the years and perhaps I shall read about him in the future.

Monday morning comes along and I know that I have to make my way to the gym on campus to take the exam.  This is the first time I will have to go to the gym for an exam and I vaguely know where it is.  I give myself enough time in the morning to hunt it out before 9:30.  At 8:30 I arrive on campus and head towards the Moriset building.  I see a bunch of students studying, gabbing, drinking coffee, taking notes so I know I’m in the right place.  Vero told me it was in the basement so I head there and don’t really see an entrance to the gym.  Only an office called Sports Services.  So I head back upstairs and up another flight and I realize that I can literally see the gym from up above…I see the desks all lined up nice and pretty beckoning for my ass to sit down and divulge my knowledge for three hours.  Alas, I cannot find the doorway.  Using my higher intellect, I realize that perhaps the entrance is outside the building so I head outside and tour the perimiter but there are only emergency exits.  Finally, with 30 minutes to go, I break down and call up Vero and wake her up.  “Vero, I can see the gym but I can’t get to it!”  It takes her a few moments to collect her thoughts and try to realize where I am in the building but then she hears me mention the office of Sports Services and she says “You dummy!  That’s where the gym is!  You have to go through the turnstiles and walk down the hall!”

That made me feel better in the sense that I now knew how to get to it, but at the same time I felt like a dummy as my higher intellect must have been fried from all that studying and I should have made the connection.  Either way, I made it to the exam with plenty of time to spare and wrote my heart out for the next 2.5 hours.  I would say that out of four essays, I did well on two of them, so-so on the third, and not so well on the one about Nietzsche.  My only saving grace on the one about Nietzsche is the fact that she knows she only touched upon him so she didn’t expect mastery of the material.

Winter Term ’08…done!  I felt like a free man.  There was a skip in my step!

As a free man, I tagged along with Mike and Vero to a photography exhibition at Cube Gallery down near Parkdale (my old hood!  I love that area of the city!).  Mike’s friends had a few exhibits going on as it was the Algonquin College photography graduation exhibition.  Essentially every year, the first and second year students get to post a few examples of their photography (as well as have their portfolio on hand) for everyone to peruse.  They also have awards given out during the night (in which one of Mike’s friends one both a $500 gift certificate as well as an iPod Touch.  Luckeeeee.).  Krista and Julie also showed up to the madhouse which was the event.  It was packed to the gills.  I felt like I was in the Great Canadian Cabin on a Saturday night around 2AM circa ’99.  They had beer on hand though which put a smile on my face (as it was also very cheap…$3 a cup!  I love student living) and some of the photography was pretty impressive.  It made me want to dabble in the art.  Mike dabbles and comes up with some really great stuff.

We then headed towards Chinatown to get some CamKong food inside us (CamKong, only the greatest Vietnamese in town!) and were distraught to find out that it closed up shop!  I was devastated as it truly was amazing place for food.  I know that Holly is crying as she reads this as it was also a favourite joint of hers…in fact she told me that a long time ago, whenever she would go out on a date, she would ask to go there…even upwards of seven times a week (I jest, I jest.)

So Julie recommended this Pho joint on the corner and I had my first taste of pho and it wasn’t too bad at all although I did have to bite into the hot pepper which nearly killed me.  I even started hiccuping and I was wondering if my heart was going to stop!

All in all, Day One of My Freedom wasn’t too shabby at all.