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August 11, 2011

Don't Be An Ant

So to take a very short detour from the video posts for a moment I'd like to share a very short video clip:



It's from, Waking Life, a philosophical film about, among other things, the concept of free will.

While working on the tips I've thought a lot about what it was like when I first came to Mount Allison. There was a second year student who was back on campus early and he came to the Karaoke BBQ (which unfortunately had technical amp-exploding issues that year but will not this year) and he said to me and a few newly found friends something along the lines of "Don't let this opportunity pass you by. There's like a month where you can randomly walk up to people and start new friendships and then people go back in their shells." It reminded me of the film, of the above section in particular and being jostled off of autopilot. Your first few weeks here are that moment extended.

It does end at some point. People find their niche and their main 'friend group', let's say, and then eventually turn on autopilot for most everyone else. This is your opportunity to take advantage of the small time you have where you're surrounded by people who are actively looking for new friends. Don't waste it sitting in your room.

You'll have plenty of time for that around exam time when you're studying for exams. See you all in three weeks.