Year-End Review
Jan. 2nd, 2004 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldCaesar, in his description of Gaul, said that it had three major geographical components. The past year doesn't have a geography of its own, of course, and it can be conquered only in a metaphorical sense. Still, I see no reason why my evaluation, at least, can't be trifurcated. (Chalk this millennial tendency up to the Indo-Europeans' preoccupation with the number 3.)
This year has been a more-or-less unqualified success for me.
I've gotten my Honours English degree from UPEI and I've been admitted to Queen's University to do my MA under scholarship. Even if I don't proceed further into the depths of academia, I've got a very good academic record which should hopefully keep me in good stead. In the meantime, at Queen's I've what is for me the unique opportunity of exploring my future in a variety of fields (law, education, literary studies, something else entirely) in a cosmopolitan and diverse area of Canada.
Socially, too, the year has been quite successfully. Particularly after my relocation to Ontario, but including the preceding two-thirds of the year, my social life has expanded and diversified, as I've managed (sometimes despite myself) to get to know, as friends or simply as acquaintances, more people than I've ever known before. I'm particularly happy with my effective adaptation to Kingston; far from being as paralyzing and disorienting as I'd fear, the move was quite liberating and empowering. Perhaps I should have done this earlier.
My main problems relate to the continued presence of a sort of paranoid awkwardness. I continue to fear making mistakes in social situations for fear that this will permanently discredit me and my aspirations for greater social integration. This is particularly problematic inasmuch as dating, and romance, are concerned. As well, this can often manifest itself in terms of an insensitivity towards others, and to a stubbornness which can be counter-productive. Conflict with my family comes particularly to mind in this vein.
As well, I've wrongly estimated the sort of work I'm supposed to produce as a graduate student, something more analytical and less descriptive than my undergraduate work. This was a relatively minor problem in my first semester at Queen's, but it's something I have to tackle in the two semesters to come at risk of dooming whatever hopes I might have to proceed towards doctoral work if I decide to go down this route.
On the level of mundane physicality, I've gained 15 pounds since July/August 2002. I want to lose this, and more. Ideally, I'd like a six-pack, but I'll settle for a more plausible flat stomach. The good thing about Queen's is that I've got east access to a gym and a pool, both free of charge. Let's see what happens.
From the above, it should be obvious that I'll have to redouble my efforts to normalize myself socially, to become less defensive and more open. This should pay dividends, I believe, in much the same way that my previous efforts along these lines have proven enormously profitable for me over the past year and a half.
And that it.
This year has been a more-or-less unqualified success for me.
I've gotten my Honours English degree from UPEI and I've been admitted to Queen's University to do my MA under scholarship. Even if I don't proceed further into the depths of academia, I've got a very good academic record which should hopefully keep me in good stead. In the meantime, at Queen's I've what is for me the unique opportunity of exploring my future in a variety of fields (law, education, literary studies, something else entirely) in a cosmopolitan and diverse area of Canada.
Socially, too, the year has been quite successfully. Particularly after my relocation to Ontario, but including the preceding two-thirds of the year, my social life has expanded and diversified, as I've managed (sometimes despite myself) to get to know, as friends or simply as acquaintances, more people than I've ever known before. I'm particularly happy with my effective adaptation to Kingston; far from being as paralyzing and disorienting as I'd fear, the move was quite liberating and empowering. Perhaps I should have done this earlier.
My main problems relate to the continued presence of a sort of paranoid awkwardness. I continue to fear making mistakes in social situations for fear that this will permanently discredit me and my aspirations for greater social integration. This is particularly problematic inasmuch as dating, and romance, are concerned. As well, this can often manifest itself in terms of an insensitivity towards others, and to a stubbornness which can be counter-productive. Conflict with my family comes particularly to mind in this vein.
As well, I've wrongly estimated the sort of work I'm supposed to produce as a graduate student, something more analytical and less descriptive than my undergraduate work. This was a relatively minor problem in my first semester at Queen's, but it's something I have to tackle in the two semesters to come at risk of dooming whatever hopes I might have to proceed towards doctoral work if I decide to go down this route.
On the level of mundane physicality, I've gained 15 pounds since July/August 2002. I want to lose this, and more. Ideally, I'd like a six-pack, but I'll settle for a more plausible flat stomach. The good thing about Queen's is that I've got east access to a gym and a pool, both free of charge. Let's see what happens.
From the above, it should be obvious that I'll have to redouble my efforts to normalize myself socially, to become less defensive and more open. This should pay dividends, I believe, in much the same way that my previous efforts along these lines have proven enormously profitable for me over the past year and a half.
And that it.
