There should be a transvestite martial arts movie called Enter the Drag Queen.

The tagline could be “Watch this Dragon get their Drag On!”

So today, I went to VFS to go over some stuff with Patrick and sign a bunch of forms. The commute took around 45 minutes total. 10 getting to the Skytrain, 25 on the Skytrain, 10 walking to VFS. That means that in order to get my ass to class by 9 am, I will have to be out the door by 8:15 minimum.

I will probably leave at 8 in order to leave a buffer zone.

My biggest worry is not the commute (because, like, whatever, this is my dream here) but the fact that I have to do it during rush hour, which means being part of the commuter rat race, which will not be easy for an edge of the herd type like myself.

More importantly, it means I might not get a seat on the Skytrain. And while 25 minutes sitting down is a breeze for me (I just read a book), 25 minutes standing up could be…. problematic.

Luckily, I know from way back in the days when I took the Skytrain a lot (like, for instance, when I lived a block away from it) that if you keep your eyes open, a seat usually opens up eventually and you can sit your big fat ass down in it ASAP.

And there’s nothing quite like the pain of swollen feet to keep you alert to seating opportunities.

The walk from Waterfront Skytrain Station to VFS was easy. For one, it turns out it’s not six blocks, it’s four. And in that direction, it’s downhill, and fairly gentle gradient, although Richmond has spoiled me so that any gradient at all feels like I am in an Escher painting.

Once there (quite early, which is quite typical of me), I was able to tell the receptionist (and the super gay guy who apparently answers the phone) I was there. There was some confusion at first when they told me that Patrick’s office was in some building on Water Street, which was news to me. The last time I had been there, Patrick’s office had been in the same building as the writing program, 198 West Hastings.

But then again, since the first time I applied, Patrick went from being Senior Admissions Assistant to Director of Admissions, so…. no doubt that is why he got the new office. And hey, it can’t have hurt my chances to have the guy who fought to get me in the first time (only to be overruled by that prick Simon, who is NO LONGER THERE) become the head of admissions, right?

The big issue, of course, is the $3600 difference between what the government will dole out in student loans for one year and tuition at VFS. That’s a lot of money to come up with. Luckily, the school has set up a payment plan, so that I don’t have to come up with it all at once.

It goes something like this :

2016-05-10 $800.00 CAD
2016-06-30 $800.00 CAD
2016-07-29 $500.00 CAD
2016-08-30 $510.00 CAD

Even luckier is the fact that I can make that first payment from my savings, no prob. Then I will have 2 months to come up with the second payment. And I have a lot of avenues to explore in that time. I could look for a personal loan. I could ask to borrow from Joe.

Heck, I could even get a job. VFS is in the heart of downtown Vancouver, and there are tons of little sandwich shops and other lunchy places just between the Skytrain and VFS. I might be able to pick up an after-school shift or two in some little business there in order to pay VFS.

Or who knows, maybe VFS has jobs I could do themselves. I would happily work off my debt. I could answer the phone, do office gruntwork (copying, filing, and mail? Sure!), get coffee for people. I have no problem with that. It’s one of the benefits of having a flexible ego.

Hey…. I’m just happy to be here.

So I am not too worried about the money. I am confident I will come up with it somehow, especially given the fairly generous payment plan.

Plus, I am not exactly sure, but I think the amount the government kicks in because I am disabled and because I am low income will be applies to that missing money, so it may turn out that the gap is not as big as I thought. Plus I will, of course, look for scholarships and bursaries, but without a heck of a lot of hope in my heart, because the truth is, there’s not a lot out there for people who are not recent high school graduates and/or who are not pursuing normal type employment.

Who knows, now that I have a year of college under my belt with pretty good grades (especially if you ignore certain courses) will open doors for me. I can only hope.

For the trip back to the Skytrain station, I took the bus. Downhill is one thing, uphill is quite another. I probably could make it on foot, though I would probably have to rest on each block. But why put myself through that when I can take literally any downtown bus and have it take me to the Skytrain sooner or later?

Maybe when the weather is nice, I will consider it.

The basic deal is that I will have a three hour class from nine to noon, lunch from noon to one, and another three hour class between one and four, five days a week. So basically I will be going from five three hours courses a week to ten, doubling my workload.

No problem. I was getting bored anyhow.

We did the tour of the writing floor again. It’s quite small. But that’s the lovely thing about writing. It doesn’t take up a lot of room and it doesn’t need expensive equipment.

All you need is imagination, verbals skills, and the ability to type.

I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.