KG Blog

I would like to announce that I’m moving my blog.

Yes I know it’s a nuisance, however, I’m getting a little bit offput by the url here, I want something more me.  Alas, I present:

www.tomsopinion.com

What do you think? (go bookmark it, go now, go!)

From there I’m going to launch a travel blog, which will be separate and independent and all about my experiences and voyages while I study in Norway.

So I apologize for all of the downtime and non-posting.  Things are a little hectic at the moment, I have to be in Norway by 10 August :).

I will be taking this url offline in about a month or so, once I’m happy that the new one is fully operational to my satisfaction.  Needless to say I won’t be posting here anymore, so update your bookmarks :).

There’s a few events in my life that have transpired over the last six months that some of you may not know about.

As many of my friends know the study of history is important to me. If I can, I want to pursue it as a career. I’m also the kind of guy that craves security and comfort. I enjoy routine.

A few months ago, as I was nearing the completion of my undergraduate degree, I became worried about the future. It’s one thing to plan and pretend to be ready for a possibility and quite another to be faced with it. I had always told myself that I knew what I wanted and I would chase it no matter what.

My plan (yes my conduct my life by plans and lists), since 2002, was to study and live in Europe. Let me go back a little further. I had applied to physics and history when I was entering university. I got accepted to both and I chose physics. Why physics? For the same reason I do everything else, it’s interesting. My interest in it soon gave way to interest in history and in the middle of my second year I found myself fumbling my courses to try and switch programs, from science/physics to arts/history.

I completed three years at university then discovered (amazingly) that I needed money. So I went off to work for twenty months. And I hated every single day of every single one of those twenty months. You might ask why I stayed with that employer for so long. To be honest I don’t have a good reason other than laziness. It was a well enough paying job for someone with a resume full of “fluff,” as some would call it. I had resolved however, to finish the history degree because I knew I wanted my life to progress in that field in some way.

I got back to school and finished the final twelve months of the program and earned that 4 year BA in seven years. Not all of my courses from physics could be used for the history, that’s where the extra year comes in, for those trying to keep up with the math.

It was during the final month or two of the BA however, that I began to worry. And what worrying I did. Here’s what about, “the choice” as I like to call it. To either follow the yearnings of my desire and heart or to submit to the cold reasoning of my mind. You see, I applied for graduate school in two places; the University of Oslo, Norway, for an M.Phil in Nordic Viking and Medieval Culture and to Wilfrid Laurier University for an M.B.A. (hence the post about the GMAT). As luck would have it I got accepted into both. Each application was strategically enacted to correspond to one of my two choices, the life of a scholar studying Scandinavian medieval history or the life of a business professional wheeling and dealing in the skyscrapers of tomorrow. It’s not that I was more interested in one part of medieval Europe over another (though I am now because of subsequent reading and self-directed immersion, Viking law is where it’s at), or that I desperately want to be a financial adviser to some large company though that would be cool too. These are just the areas of greatest interest to me. I frequently think about the notion of a never-ending life and more and more I realize I would like to be around a long time to see and learn, there’s so much to do.

Anyway, the choice has been made. I was helped greatly by those at Laurier who told me that since I got accepted once, I would almost certainly be accepted again. I’ve decided to attend the University of Oslo and then if needs require it return and complete the MBA. If I should happen to win the lottery while in Norway of course I won’t be returning to do the MBA, or working at all for that matter (at least on someone else’s clock).

My ultimate goal is to live and work in Europe, as a leader of some sort, for social change. Both academia and business allow for this and that’s an added benefit. Though I suppose almost every line of work allows one to become a champion of society. It’s just that academia and business can easily put one out in the forefront of public awareness. There’s also a reason I choose Norway specifically and that’s because there’s a girl there I’m very much in love with. That story though, is a post for another day.

That friendly fella Josh, from System13.org has invited me to share seven random things about myself. I guess in the internet world they’re called "memes."  I prefer to call them… surveys.  Though since they’re random things I guess no one is really asking them and therefore it’s not really a survey, however, I maintain it’s a survey.

1. I’m obsessively organized. I’m not sure where this comes from or even why I like it so much. When things are organized they’re quickly accessed and used, when that happens tasks become EASY!!!

2. I LOVE maps, the older the better. I could spend hours staring at them (as I could at paintings). I just get lost in them.

3. I want to become a history professor.

4. I love science, specifically physics and astronomy. When I was younger I wanted to become a theoretical astrophysicist. Neutron stars and naked singularities are just cool. I also love science fiction but that’s another matter.

5. My favourite TV show growing up was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; I hated Michelangelo and disliked Raphael. Donatello and Leonardo were my faves.

6. Subtle humour, understatement, and wit are the forms of comedy that tickle me most. I’m usually the only one in the room who bursts out laughing at a subtle joke. I don’t know why but I just love that kind of humour.

7. I honestly believe that reading is the best hobby a person can have. Anyone who reads is automatically (and probably mistakenly) raised a few rungs in my estimation.

Well, that’s seven. These things kind of make one kind of take a look in a mirror don’t they?

I had a friend who taught me how to play chess. Unfortunately, I’ve lost contact with that friend, it’s something I wish hadn’t happened.

The story begins with an amateur chess club in the seventh or eighth grade. I can’t quite remember what year I began playing and to be honest I don’t think it was ever an official club of any sort. We would just stay in and play during recesses and lunches.

Before that though, I had no clue how to play chess. I mean people tried to teach me at various points in my life but it never stuck. For some reason, when I became friends with this certain fellow, chess became much more appealing. You see, he played chess and his enjoyment and passion for it made me want to play it. I guess somehow we got to talking about chess and I must have expressed my interest enough to convince him to teach me and patiently play with me until I could offer some modicum of challenge.

In the eighth grade we were asked by a teacher if we wanted to participate in a city-wide chess tournament, it was only for elementary school students. By that point, with my competitive nature, I felt I was ready for it. My friend jumped at the chance, he’s like that. The school transported us to the game site and there the few of us chess-heads played.

The tournament didn’t have teams, we didn’t represent a school or anything, it was every man for himself. There must have been about 30 or 40 competitors. My friend and I were placed in different groups. I can’t quite remember but I believe there were four or five players in each group. I managed to defeat all of those in my pool and it seemed that my friend defeated all of those in his pool. Somehow, we ended up facing off at the final game.

I had never defeated my friend once to that point. He was a much stronger player. But we played nonetheless, the match began and my friend made many stupid errors. I won that game. I smile about it now, because it was the first time I had defeated him and it was such a grand circumstance in which to do it.

However, in my heart I knew I didn’t really win. You see, we were under unfair time pressure. Games were timed of course as they usually are in chess and we had expected a certain length of time to play that game. The tournament officials told us otherwise though, we had much less time to play, the end of the day was drawing nigh. The errors my friend made were simply the result of people standing over his shoulder telling him to hurry. He was a gracious loser though and always claimed that the victory was fairly mine. To him a game was a game was a game, regardless of time or audience pressure. I disagreed with him then and still do. But I will never forget some of the details of that day. It’s funny how you remember certain people with certain events in your life.

Since that eighth grade tournament until about two years ago (say 10 years or so), I have won two games against this friend, and he’s wiped the floor with me more times than I can count. I only have two other friends that play chess, both out of the country though one is coming back in July. It is a little sad that I don’t really have anyone to play chess with though.

It stands for Graduate Management Admissions Test.

I wrote the GMAT on the 11th of June. I’m considering business school you see and almost all business schools require a certain GMAT score as part of the admissions process. I got 610 out of a potential 800. The average is 530 and most schools require 550. The nature of the program I applied for demands a slightly higher academic component to make up for the lack of business management work experience (which I have little to none of).

Writing of the GMAT requires, in most cases, fingerprinting and a photograph as well as a signature, don’t ask me why. Check out the fine print though:

You have agreed to the terms and conditions set forth in the GMAT® Information Bulletin including without limitation those related to testing; score cancellations; exclusive remedies for testing/scoring errors; examinee misconduct/test irregularity policies; privacy policies; collection, processing, use and transmission to the United States of your personally identifiable data (including the digital photograph, fingerprint, signature and video recording collected at the test center), and disclosure of such data to GMAC®, its service providers, any score recipient you select and others as necessary to prevent unlawful activity or as required by law.

I don’t know if the US government having this kind of data would bother you, but it bothers me. Funnily enough, there’s no way around this. It’s possible to not take the GMAT. If you want to apply to business school you have to take it, in Canada and in many countries of the world. I think that’s crappy.

Hopefully I won’t have to rewrite it. If the competition is strong enough I might have to I suppose, alas I won’t worry about that now. In about three week’s time I should know better whether I’ve been accepted or not. I will keep you posted.

What does honour mean to you? I use the Canadian spelling to loudly (in writing) announce my nationalism.

Seriously though, if you had to define honour how would the definition read?

For a long time I’ve tried to think of a complete, solid, all-encompassing definition for the word but somehow always fell short, and still do. As I see it, this leads to a few conclusions. Allow me to elaborate (as if you have some say.)

One of the possibilities, that I’ve thought of, is that there is no definition for the word. It’s a metaword of some sort that simply encompasses a huge amount of more precise words; kind of like the word furniture. Of course this doesn’t help because it relegates honour to a class of words I dislike: imprecise. Bad, bad, bad. The point being that the word itself has no meaning, it’s a pointer to other words or a lazy man’s escape from concision and precision. If this is true then the adventure kind of ends there doesn’t it.

On the other hand, it’s possible that I haven’t come across the definition of honour yet. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. After all, I haven’t yet seen a space shuttle with my own eyes but I’m convinced they exist. The Oxford Concise English Dictionary (I can’t yet afford the 20 volume set) gives a definition so long it’s as good as useless. Of course this makes it a little bit more fun because it means the search can continue, think Indiana Jones in the world of words, I always do. Though somehow if the OED can’t seem to give me a good place to start I’m not too certain what a non-linguist avid reader can do. No matter though, this world of adventure is one that can be put down and taken up whenever one pleases, words don’t disappear, they remain forever, somewhere or other.

So, what does honour mean to you?

I have underestimated the power of, and need for, editing. When I look back at some of the posts in this blog I’m disappointed. I don’t like revisionism on one hand, but I dislike blatant and obvious errors in writing as well.

As a result, and among other reasons, I’m going change the posting schedule to once a week on Saturdays (while reserving the right to post more often) in the hope of providing higher quality, more interesting content. I’m in the process of a number of other web projects all of which take time. However, quality is the main reason for the “cut backs.” I want to provide provocative, well-argued pieces that I can be proud of putting my name to.

In the end however, all of it may come out differently in the wash when my other projects come to fruition. If you must know, I’m in the process of putting together a site, with the help of Joomla, where I can compile all of my individual works. I’m making a Tom Centre as it were. The blog format doesn’t allow me to post things in parallel, doesn’t allow for easy news feed posting, longer written works etc. I want MOAR!!!

I guess my mission with this blog has changed somewhat and this is the result. My paranoia of the interweeb though is still a formidable force within me so nothing may come of it.

Carry on then.

When it comes to sports viewing on television I can’t watch anything except world cup soccer. The Eurocup is coming up, staring 7 June in fact, and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never watched a Eurocup so I don’t know what to expect.

My point is that sports on TV suck! Yet when the stakes increase somehow the enjoyment of watching increases. A very few times in my life I’ve watched a final game of the baseball world series and that was also extremely engrossing.

Though I’ve not done any study on the topic, as in comparing goals or RBIs or penalty time, I could swear that the games with higher stakes are better, more intense, and faster. That may seem obvious but it leads into the question: what is it I’m after? It doesn’t seem to be the sport itself…

—–

PS: Sorry about the late post.

In my dream
the tower stood
waiting for the
master in cape and hood.

In purple velvet
he approached,
daring his great
defense be broached.

Upon the noiseless
tongues of lightning,
his visage spread
mighty and frightening.

The terror seized
my every limb,
to think he did
it on a whim.

Though I did not
see, I saw
the fire that burned
his brain so raw.

I wondered why
he so cursed me,
for only after
did I see…

That he was me.

My world is simple. I make goals for myself and I do everything I can to attain them, well almost everything. I’m stunned by people that I see around me who don’t work in this way. Obviously, one size does not fit all, I know that. Being human I’m only able to see as far as my mind allows me though, so I think my way is best (and it probably is for me).

This is very noticeable to me at my current place of work. The shift schedule, as I’ve mentioned in other posts, is very taxing physically and no one seems to deny it. Everyone agrees the wages are pitiable, they are in fact (as I understand it) below industry average. And the tasks of the job are menial and mind numbingly boring. Despite these things almost everyone there doesn’t have any plans to leave. The complacency that has gripped my coworkers is interesting because it provides an insight into what I believe many people suffer from; a lack of goals.

Again, I know that many people don’t operate as I do but at the same time I’m certain that there must be a percentage that would benefit from the creation of goals, more commonly known as “planning.” The drive and focus that a goal creates is phenomenal. I mean people went to the moon, they crossed oceans, they developed and innovated many things because of focus and determination. These lessons can be scaled down to the level of the personal. Without a goal a person sees no reason to expend effort, no obvious centre to focus upon.

I’m bored by the people who’s plans extend only to the weekend, maybe that is bad of me to say but I can’t really help it. Deep, rigorous, complex, intellectual, conversation holds my interest and inspires me, that’s why I seek it. And so it’s been my general experience that persons with goals are also likely to provide this kind of conversation and persons without goals or plans generally don’t. To be clear I consider mental effort a perfectly valid use of one’s efforts. If a person wants to discuss their attempt to prove or disprove the philosophical need for aid to the poor I would love to hear about it.

I think this idea of goals also impacts how people think about- ergo, behave toward- the future. Given that most people are interested in self preservation, a look into the future coupled with even a mediocre assessment of it by said people would result, I think, in a manyfold better prospect for humanity.

Goals are destinations on a map. I’m always looking for the next horizon in one aspect or another, mental or physical. I cannot imagine just being content with staying in one place. It’s important to remember though that goals are just a destination, not a route, so among the choices of goals, and the various routes to achieve those goals, there are an infinite amount of possibilities to satisfy everyone. Standing still however, just seems to crop all of those away.