Hmm.

[pyat]

I had lunch with anidada. We bought some sandwiches from a new Middle-Eastern place at Church and Dundas that's running a week-long $1 sandwich, $1 salad special. We took our sandwiches up to the Ryerson campus, and sat talking as we ate.

As previously noted, Ryerson is where I got my bachelor degree. I occasionally wander around the campus on my lunchtime walks, noting the many changes that have been made since I was there. Anytime I'm there, I am plagued with a sort of ill-defined regret that I didn't live on campus. I regret all the missed opportunities and life-experiences. I made exactly one friend in those four years, and spend most of time between classes in the library, writing RPG adventures or reading.

However, as I expressed some of this sentiment over lunch, I realized suddenly that the regret was entirely baseless. I was a very different person then. The personality traits that prevented me from socializing with my classmates would not have disappeared simply because I was on campus. I can remember, for example, being invited out for drinks, or to the game club, and refusing simply because I felt vaguely superior to my classmastes. If I'd been on campus, I'd have simply been seeing less of velvetpage and my gaming friends, and been lonely.

The regret just sort of vanished when I examined it. Also, the sandwich and conversation were both good.

And, here's an image - a better angle of track 2, with the spring sunshine pouring down.

Comments

[used_songs]

I love that picture. The light is palpable - really beautiful.

I lived at home when I was at college (because that was the only way I could afford to go) and I think it helped me stay close to my parents emotionally. I mean, I would spend non-school/non-work time hanging out with friends, but I'd always go home.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Once or twice a week I arrive just at the right time for the sun to come down that way.

I do wish I'd have socialized more, and made more friends and contacts, but I suspect if I'd been on campus, I'd have been some kind of slacker hermit, and just lived in the computer labs.

[summerfields.livejournal.com]

That's what I did at Queen's - except I didn't write RPGs, I just slept in the library. I sometimes regret not being more outgoing and friendly....but meh. I made good friends at WCBC.
(but now I kinda miss the anonymity of a large university!)

[pyat.livejournal.com]

*Nods*

WCBC had some definite good points, in that regard, it looks like!

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

That is an awesome picture, Pyat -- worthy of publication, I would say.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I wish I had a better camera, though. :)

[bootler.livejournal.com]

That's a really gorgeous picture. It's easy to forget how strangely pretty Union can be.

I lived in residence for my first year both at the University of Lethbridge and at Trent. In Lethbridge it was one of the worst experiences of my life (for many reasons), and I pretty much hermitted in my room the whole time. At Trent it was fantastic, and how I met my best friend. So I think you're very probably right that the benefit of living on campus very much depends on the kind of person you are.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I'm sure I might have changed over time, if I'd been living on campus, but it might not have been for the better. In any case, I have a good life, so...

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

Why is that other countries' mass transit always looks so cool? The light falling is just neat.

I lived at college but just took too many classes to have much of any kind of social life aside from mountain biking with my roommates. Still, I have no regrets now. I needed the space to find out what normal(ish) life was after an adolescence the bore a strong resemblance to "Repo Man" minus the alien in the trunk.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

after an adolescence the bore a strong resemblance to "Repo Man" minus the alien in the trunk.

I was the alien in the trunk!

[paka.livejournal.com]

Ryerson is where I got my bachelor degree

You and Ed Greenwood. I was thumbing through old Dragons a while back (my buddy Mike has a collection of magazines and a lot of them date to before I'd even heard of AD&D), and there was this discussion of Greenwood with "journalism degree from Ryerson." Huh. Ryerson. Where'd I heard of that school before? Ohh, right.

I actually disagree with your thoughts about living on campus. My personal experience was that, even though I stayed the same person for a bit, being stuck in the environment forced me to re-evaluate and grow - and of course it wasn't always painless. A little like learning a language by travelling overseas as an exchange student. I think you'd have probably done the same sort of thing had you lived on campus.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I think you'd have probably done the same sort of thing had you lived on campus.

Shhh! Stop giving me back my campus regret! ;)

Ed did indeed attend Ryerson, and was a librarian in Toronto for a long time. May still be in some form, in fact!

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I lived at home during university, too, but I also did the exchange student thing. I can see where you're coming from, and in some ways my growth that year was a very good thing. In other ways it was misshapen and weird, and it took me a while to overcome some of the bad habits I developed by being alone too much at that age.

Knowing Piet as I do, I suspect the latter would have been closer to his experience.

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

That sure is a lot of particulate material in the air you folks in that train station are breathing in...

::B::