KSS stands for Kwantlen Second Semester. Originally I was going to call this blog entry “SS minus one” but I thought that might be misconstrued as some kinda Nazi thing.

Tomorrow I start my second semester at Kwantlen. That means I have to transition out of the lazy mode I have lapsed into over the winter break.

The sad thing is, I was just starting to enjoy it.

Meh, whatever. I will enjoy being back in school too. It will be good to have something to do with my time, and something to focus my energies upon. I am a little worried about my messed up knee, but as long as I remember to be gentle with it, I should be fine.

The big news is that yesterday, I took the plunged and dropped my Linguistics class so I would not have three classes on Tuesday, like I had before. I decided I had to bow to sanity, even if it meant I had to resume the quest for that elusive fifth class all over again.

So I dropped my linguistics class and went on the hunt. It’s not easy because I am so fussy. It has to be the Richmond campus, it can’t start before 1 pm, I don’t wanna take anything like hardcore science this semester… my only asset is that I have very broad interests, so I can enjoy a class on history as much as one on sociology or philosophy or whatever.

My cousin has a doctorate in Whatever from Ya Know, Just Stuff University.

Anyhow, after a lot of dead ends, I resigned myself to doing something I didn’t want to do, and that is take (sigh) Introduction to Philosophy.

So not only am I now taking three Philosophy courses, I have to go through Philosophy 101 again.

But now I have a saner schedule. One class on Mondays, two on Tuesdays, and two on Wednesdays. I still have no class classes on Thursdays and Fridays, which is suboptimal, but acceptable.

I will find things to do on those days.

Here’s a breakdown of what I am taking :

Introduction to Philosophy : Yech. I am not looking forward to that. I dunno why I am being such a snob about it. It’s not like I remember taking it the first time like it was yesterday. I will no doubt find it interesting. I guess I just feel like I am too good at philosophy to have to take a 101 class in it. I felt the same when they made me taking a Essay Writing For Dummies course when I went to UPEI. I was like, “I got an 88 percent in ADVANCED English and now you’re making me do THIS SHIT?”. I really did not want to be there and it showed. Now I feel bad for the prof who taught the class. It wasn’t his fault I felt like I was being made to repeat kindergarten. He did not deserve me quiet but palpable contempt. But I was far less socially clued in back then. After all, I was only 20.

Introduction to Ethics : Sounds like a course for sociopaths, doesn’t it? This is one I know I will enjoy because ethics is my all time favorite subject in philosophy and probably also in life. I love it so much that I enjoy hyper depressing stories like The Cold Equations because of the ethical issues it explores. I love super tricky moral questions. And to me, the question of what is right and what is wrong is the most important question there is. Compared to it, everything else is mere engineering.

Philosophy, Culture, and Identity : The mysterious one, in that I can’t imagine exactly what will be in it like I can with the other two. Here’s the course description :

Students will be introduced-through literary and philosophical works-to issues connected with how the modern identity is formed and how it is constituted in Western culture.

Sounds pretty darn interesting to me! It contains two favorite subjects of mine : identity (who am I and how did I get that way, and what does that mean?) and modernity (the same thing, but as a culture). Modern life is so comfortable and efficient that it’s hard for us to understand how rare and amazing it is in the context of history and the world as it is today. I will enjoy studying that.

Canada since 1867 : I realized while mucking about with registration that I have not taken any history since high school. So I am looking forward to this. I have always liked learning about history, it’s just never been something I found compelling enough to study. I thought about taking a course about Europe since World War I instead, but that made me feel like I was being a bad Canadian. So Canadian history it is. Should be chock full of action and suspense.

Intro to Creative Writing 1 : Presumably, this will be the nice, normal, all I have to do is write course that I craved when I was taking Creative Writing : New Forms And Media last semester. That will be a profound relief. Writing I can do no problem. After all, I am the nutbar that decided he would write a million words in a year and did it in 11 months, and has been writing 1000 words a day since. I look forward to being challenged to write things I wouldn’t normally write.

And that’s what my semester will look like. It will be weird going to school three days a week instead of five, and I really, really hope (are you listening, Me Of The Future) that when it comes time to register for the summer semester, I remember to register for classes the moment registration opens so I can have the courses I want for a change.

I still need to pick up some school supplies. Mostly printer paper and hole-reinforced paper for my binders. Plus, of course, my textbooks. I imagine the bill for them has gone up seeing as the linguistics I was going to have had no texts and I am pretty sure Philosophy 101 will have a ton.

Anyhow, that’s what my next four months will look like.

I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.