Greetings, Orientation Things, and Have Fun While You Still Can

(Backfilps were done, and thus this post winds up before you now as opposed to an earlier date when the Orientation events listed were still about to occur. Liesl was so enamoured with her 'hello' to you, that she asked to have it posted anyway. So you better say 'hello' back, glower glower. I kid. She. She kids.) - Dang… can you say ‘daze’? I’m surprised I didn’t walk into a wall first day of school. This was the first summer I felt the full brunt of four months off, and recalling any distinct action I took in May leaves me marveling* at the passage of time. Yet, summer felt like it was only three weeks long. This is probably because I worked for three out of the four months, while many other students… did not. I counted my blessings even as the photocopier put me to sleep.  Then there were the outings and the barbeques and the festivals and the garbage strike, and, for me, the yearly pinnacle of nerdination that truly marks the end of summer. Alors, Septembre est là. It’s the student’s month of promise, of potential, of hope and zeal… New friends to be made! New things to learn! A hope that pervades all doubt... until October and you realize you’re so behind you can’t make a Halloween costume… So while you’re riding that September high**, put some of your doubled energy to the plethora of Orientation events still going on! Meeting new people ain’t just for frosh and extroverts no more, nope nope. So, what have we got here? Well, there’s ‘Queer Orientation Week’, from the 14th to the 20th, for queers and allies alike. Among the pickings be the 6th Annual ‘Where Are all the Women?’ reception on Tuesday (4 – 6 pm) at the International Student Centre. Yes, this meet and greet is focused on the ladies, ‘queer, trans, bi and lesbian’, but their allies are welcome as well. So men, don’t go run screaming into the night. Joooiiinnn uuuusssss… There will also be a Latin Dance Class (a spicy Tuesday indeed), the LGBTOUT’s Drop-in Centre Open House, the, ahem ‘SEC Olympics’ (the ‘Sexual Education Centre, fyi), a ‘Qu(e)erying Religion’ panel, the BBQ/BBQ (‘Bisexual, Bicurious, Questioning BBQ’) the Back-to-School Homohop (zomg), and plenty of events at the UTSC and UTM campuses as well, if you’re adventurous. These are only a few. The rest be here. Have you seen those red posters with the hand-written white letters? I am slightly enamoured with the aesthetic. More importantly, those posters have, gasp, even more events you can distract yeself with before the workload comes crashing down. ‘disOrientation’, also just for this week, focuses on ‘anti-oppression and social justice’, rather than free t-shirts and cheering. Not that I don’t enjoy those. Notables include the Global and Local Poverty workshops, “The Really, Really FREE MARKET: Block Party”, Words of Resistance, a spoken word event, two outdoor film screenings, and can you tell I'm getting lazy? It's all here. Oh, and we can’t forget the International Orientation for teh stoodents from everywherez, happening this weekend. All three campuses will be involved! That sounds like an event us boring Canadians should infiltrate… you’d meet so many interesting people. 🙂 I would also imagine many clubs are having their first meetings of the year this week; UTGDDC is! Thursdays may be my happy days; my first Womens’ Studies class, meeting with the other UpbeaT ladies, then the Game Design Club, and every now and then… UTAMA?! ^_^    ^o^ ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)   (,,#ﾟДﾟ) (?・・)σ (; ・_・)―――――――――C<―_-) [/Japanese emoticon assault] - Yes, that’s enough.  Here’s a treat for peeps in residence, or… peeps with extremely small bedrooms. (-_-;) Random tidbits of dorm decoration ideas. - Lastly kids, if you’re still feeling the sting of last year, never fear! Or, ‘neva fea’, as Robin Hood usually sounds; dust yourself off and remember Jack Skellington.*** after he was blown to smithereens - That’s all I gotz for now. I look forward to blasting you all with non sequitur banter for the year. -Liesl - - - - - * Marvel was bought by Disney this summer. Wolverine, we hardly knew ye… ** I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that *** Possible spoiler for a movie everyone’s seen.