School

Anyway. Through elementary school, to UTS. It's amazing how many different opinions there are of the school – and I'm just talking about those of the people who attended. Some hated it, some loved it, some emerged surprisingly indifferent to the whole experience. I've been out for six years (well, I ceased being a student six years ago – I still do a lot of work with the Alumni Association), and it is only looking back that I realize how much I benefitted from UTS. Aside from the math, and a bit of science, almost nothing came from the curriculars. But I did learn to procrastinate, come up with excuses on the fly, pretend I knew what I was talking about, etc. I also had a place where I could explore my own hobbies (computers, a bit of singing) without anyone trying to tell me how to do it.

I was left alone, for the most part, throughout my time at UTS. As a result, I may not have achieved some great potential that people saw in me. On the plus side (from my point of view, at least) it gave me time to navel-gaze; a year or two into University (to get ahead of myself for a moment), I was able to reinvent myself based on the principles that I had somehow acquired through my time at UTS.

I didn't have many friends at UTS – most of them were passing acquaintances; the few that I see, in retrospect, as true friendships are the ones that I have maintained since graduating. There are only two people with whom I am in continual contact nowadays: Andrej and Bryan... fascinating people, both, and I have a lot in common with them. But I don't think that they have too much in common with each other. There are many, many others (especially people from our Barbershop double-quartet) with whom I stayed in touch for a while (thereby qualifying them as friends), but with whom I wish I had kept in better touch. I guess I didn't learn my lesson from elementary school very well...

And then comes University. I've spent the last six years studying Engineering. My undergraduate, as I have mentioned, was done at the University of Toronto (I have now spent 12 years on this campus, counting high school), in Engineering Science. (For those of you who don't know about Eng Sci, it is an advanced Engineering program that tries to instill a measure of breadth into students' educations... one graduates as a computer engineer, or an aerospace engineer [etc. – there are currently 9 or 10 different streams offered], but with at least some knowledge of the other fields.)

Eng Sci reminded me a lot of UTS – smart people who spend way too much time around each other, always being asked to do more than we can really handle, and a general air of unstated superiority. Mind you, Eng Scis are a more mature lot (they had better be!), so it was a more pleasant version of high school. This gave me the opportunity to interact and associate with people in a way which I had not done at UTS. Midway through first-year, I started to realize just how annoying I was. (This observation has since been substantiated many, many times by those who knew me in first year but still talk to me anyway.) I decided to strip away all of my devices (I was a big fan of the Guilt Trip as a method for securing what I wanted) and start from scratch. I have a fairly classic (archaic) set of values and morals, and I made those the fundamental rules guiding my conduct.

Surprisingly enough, it worked. I am a much different – and, I feel, better – person than I was. I can get along with people, and have conversations with them, without being a complete nuisance. (I'm still a nuisance – of that there's no doubt. But it is more of a conscious act, now...) I think that this gave me confidence, in turn, and allowed me to make more lasting – and meaningful friendships. A positive feedback loop, certainly. But one that has helped me considerably (and, hopefully, helped those around me too, from time to time).

Once more, though, it is not so much the curricular as the social aspect of University which has taught me the most. Granted, I went from never taking any real notes in high school (and first-year) to being a fairly meticulous note-taker, and my overall learning (and studying) skills have increased. I have learned to rein in my procrastination, and to use it solely for good. My coding skills, too, have obviously benefitted. And I am a much more qualified know-it-all than I used to be.

After graduating, my original intent was to take a few months off, maybe a full year. I was going to sleep and travel, and perhaps engage in a bit of web-design on the side in order to tide me over, financially. But a course I took in fourth year – Interface Design for Complex Systems – made me change my path. The instructor of the course, Prof. Kim J. Vicente, invited me to study Human Factors in his lab, as a Masters student. I was caught completely off-guard by this, but accepted. Looking at how the job market has fared (I graduated from Engineering Science in 2000), it was probably a wise decision. I'm not too sure, mind you, that Kim is of the same opinion. I've been a bit delinquant (bordering on remiss), as it has taken me longer than it probably should have to get used to the field of Human Factors, as well as to get the hang of research in general.

Nevertheless, I have been here for nearly two years; I hope to finish up in August or September. I have once more learned a lot here, but this time it was actually related to my academic work (there's a first time for everything, they say). I have learned a lot about the field of Human Factors; it has changed my perception of technology, the way it is used and (naturally) the way it is designed. I find myself, once more, a bit apart from the crowd; I don't mix in all too well with the other lab people. I can only guess that this is because I am still in close contact with my friends from undergrad, and that is where I feel most comfortable. In any case, I do like it here, and have truly enjoyed it.