That picture is of the CCTV building which is being built in Beijing now. Here is a great article/slideshow (if you like China, architecture, or futuristic things) about new architecture in China. Unrelated: I saved $140 by ordering my books for this term from amazon.ca instead of buying them from the bookstore. Stupid bookstore, trying to steal my clams!

I have bought 19 of the 22 books I need so far. I paid $257 instead of the $397 it would have cost me to buy them at school (tax incl. for both). Granted, not all of the ones I ordered are new (maybe 2/3 of them are). Also, the gamble is always that the book might not arrive by the time you need it. A third potential problem is that it might be a different edition, which will mess up your pagination. But still, $140 is $140. Plus you get a whole bunch of things in the mail! It's always good to find a better and different way to do things, especially when it saves you money. Did I mention I'm 1/4 Scottish?

The first week of school was kind of hectic, mostly because my organizational skills are wanting. It was pretty stress free though. My strategy is mostly to recognize that all these minor things will be resolved eventually, so I don't need to worry about them in the present. I tried to get into a Sci Fi Lit 400 class, but I couldn't fit it very easily. That would have been cool though because Sci Fi is fun and relatively easy. Plus you get to watch a lot of movies in that class. I think I'll be able to take a film class next fall just to fill in some generic credit spots though, so that will be fun.

So I went to my last new class today: Romantic Lit. Man, the teacher for that is so great! I really appreciate and respond well to teachers who are very knowledgeable and passionate about what they are teaching. Plus he is ridiculously nice too, in a sincere way. His name is Kevin Hutchings, and if you go to UNBC you should take a class with him. He reminds me of the teacher I had in Montreal who made me want to become a teacher in the first place. Also, he looks just the tiniest bit like Rivers Cuomo.

Oh yeah, congratulations to the Canadian Junior team! 5-0 win to get the gold medal over Russia. In some ways it was a more impressive win than last year, since last year's team was so talented that they couldn't help but win. This year they won it by working hard and playing as a team, even though Russia was arguably more talented. Talent schmalent!

One more thing, welcome back to Canada David Bancroft! He was in India last year, and now he is in Canada. Wait, I said that already.