Get smart, or die tryin'

My title heading is a reference to Fifty cent, btw.

I've been hit with a mix of cool and not so cool school news in the last month. I got wurrrd yesterday that I am the recipient of my department's scholarship. Fantastic news on a fantastic sunny day. In September, I dropped into Campus to have a meeting with my thesis supervisor who told me that our department nominated myself and another classmate of mine for the scholarship. Our GPA's were exactly the same, down to the point something something. The recommendation was to split the money between the both of us but they were waiting for wurrrd from the University to approve the split. The email I got yesterday said it will be me, myself and I. Don't know how they came to that conclusion but I'm counting my lucky stars. Or as Oprah says: "Luck happens when fate intersects opportunity." What the hell does Oprah know right? She don't need no scholarship...

This is good news considering shortly before this, I received notification that I was in fact, not chosen by Bell Canada for one of their 5 major scholarships. I read up on my competition who won: 2 comp. sci geeks, 2 mba types and 1 communications dudette. Bell was looking for doctoral and masters students whose research centered around the awesomeness of technology, the internet, cell phones, multimedia communication etc. My proposed area of research was like the anti-christ of all those things, given I suggest that the internet is a breeding ground for hate and cyberstalking for vulnerable youth. Bell did not think I was awesome. That's ok.

So I didn't get the Bell $12, 000 scholarship. Total longshot, I should've known. But it was nice to have some people in my corner who rooted me on. At least my department thinks I'm awesome and although I only got one fourth of the amount of the Bell scholarship, I think I feel more validated by my department.

I know everyone's heard me say it before, that I never thought I'd end up in grad school but I'll say it again--so there. I can't help but feel a little weird, surreal and happy about my decision to be back at school. I know a masters degree is like the "nouveau bachelors" and overall, a pretty over-saturated, overly hyped degree but you don't go to grad school to impress others. You do it to impress yer damn self. It's always a little gratifying telling certain naysayers I'm doing my masters, because the look of shock on their faces with the expression "you? Doing your masters...Never would've thought...." Is priceless. Or as chEEse once said to me: "I always thought you would end up selling cell phones or something..." Is a good one too. And so what if I did sell cell phones for a living, I'm sure I'd work hard and eventually make employee of the month at some point. LOL.

I met a man recently who told me "In anything that you do in life, be humble and do it with dignity." I'm going to try very hard to remember that everyday.

So you think you're a feminist?

On Tuesday, my radical feminist friend T calls me up to ask what I'm doing this weekend. We haven't seen each other in about a good 4 months because of schedule conflicts. I told her we should try to get together for dinner or coffee or something soon. She invites me to the transition home where she works because they're having one of their clean-out sessions; packing up stuff, cleaning, sweeping etc. Now I've helped out at these events a few times and offered to help out for a couple of hours on Sunday. She's not happy with that response. "Why can't you help out both Saturday and Sunday? You said you have no plans."

True, I did tell her I had no weekend plans, but it also happens to be MY weekend and I'd like to think I have a right to do whatever I please with my weekends, even if it means rolling around naked on my bedroom floor like a pig. These clean-out sessions are like full working days: 10am-6pm. I'm pissed that my genuine offer to help out for a few hours on Sunday was met with such...I hate to say it, bitchiness. T then proceeded to give me the silent treatment over the phone while I kept on saying "hello? hello?" and the only thing she did say when she broke her silence was how disappointed she was in me, blah blah, blah, how can I not align myself with other feminists and blah blah blah this is a great way to advocate for feminism and women and I'm not seizing the opportunity to do so blah blah blah.

I work 5 days a week, sometimes 10 hour days, and I sometimes spend my weekends doing office work that I've dragged home with me, not to mention I have this thing called school which I still have to deal with. With the free time that I do have, I'm sorry if this hurts her to hear, but I do happen to have other people in my life such as girlfriends, family and a boyfriend who I get to see about once a week if I'm lucky. I don't care for being a radical feminist and I certainly don't need someone to suggest that because I won't offer my cleaning services for an entire weekend, that I am somehow betraying feminist ideals and my identity as a woman. If all of this suggests that I am now not a feminist, then I guarantee you, I will not lose any sleep over it. I also told T flat out that if she thinks this is reason enough for her to end her friendship with me, then "oh well, that's too bad." Sounds really stupid I know, but I seriously do not have the time or energy to deal with other people's issues or issues in regard to me, right now. I have a hard enough time trying to maintain my sanity, let alone having someone give me the silent treatment and whining about how I've dissapointed them.

T calls me back the next night and leaves me a long apologetic voicemail, realizing she over-reacted. I'm sure we're going to be cool with one another and I will call her up to say whatever, forget about it, but for the moment, I will revel in my new identity as the Anti-Feminist. With that said, I will celebrate with a tribute to my top 3 hot male actors with hot accents:

L-R: Hugh Jackman (Australian), Colin Firth (British), Colin Farrell (Irish)

Hugh Jackman is my favourite though. I heart him because he has a crooked mouth. I love asymmetrical facial features. I guess I'm not a big fan of blondies.