I wrote a very long update about all the details of yesterday when I got home (late) last night, but somehow the whole thing was lost. Frustrating. So I’ll try to rewrite the key points.

1) I had a meeting with Prof. Terpstra today. We went over everything; me and school, me and the department, me and comps, me and my family, my medical issues, everything. And he had some pretty insightful things to say. He’s a great, great man and I’m glad I went to him. I know it’s odd that I went to him *first* though, I didn’t exactly mean to do that. But he thinks the problem with this year, and why I want to move departments, is because the work I’m doing in history right now is boring and not very creative. I’m just reading and not writing, I’m not feeling very cutting edge. He thinks the reason I’m glomming on to this tech stuff (my words, not him) is because it’s creative, and it gets me the rush of doing something really avant garde, and that’s really doing something and going somewhere. I think he’s on to something. I have always sort of followed along with whoever seemed to be doing something interesting, whoever was pushing the envelope. But anyway, he doesn’t think I’d have a hope in hell of ever getting a job in a history department if I were to switch, no matter what. Everyone has a different take on that issue. Interesting. We’re thinking that a joint degree would be best. So that’s got to be my next project. I have some people to call and such.

2) After that, I had a good cry (tough, tough conversations to have, even though prof. Terpstra was really very wonderful to me), and I went up to see Jason and Emma, who were presenting VASE to…well, someone. There were various displays of technologies up in Robarts, I think they all shared the same funding. So I tried to be helpful there. That was very long and very intense. And while I was there I ran into Adrienne Hood, and we had a good conversation. She says she’s been trying to bring technology into the history department, and has had NO positive response. She says this year her request was met with ‘There’s no place for history in that,’ and ‘there’s no student interest’. So in a way this is the best and the worst time for me to bring this up. So that was interesting.

3) After that…we went and helped emma pick out a GUITAR! And it’s BLUE! How beautiful! We made sure she had a decent capo and a bunch of picks, though she swears she doesn’t want to strum. And she’s already making good use of the internet to learn songs and chords. We’re starting a band, we’ll call it: Emma and the Conquistadors.

4) And THEN, Jason and Yuka took us for dinner at a Mexican place. We had fajitas. 🙂 And emma and yuka made bunny faces at each other. And after that we went back to jason and yuka’s and played guitar until jason kicked us out. Ever so fun. Emma’s fingers hurt when she types today. What a star.

So, there you have it. The complete update after all. And today: handing in my application to OISE. Yay!