Reading break. Can’t say it was particularly productive as I thought it should’ve been, and instead, my budgeting app decided to colour everything red because I spent too much this month.

What I planned to do:
– Catch up on all school readings! Complete notes, sample problem sets, and previously undone worksheets.
– Hang out.

What I actually did:
– Memorized all 61 Châteaux of the 1855 Bordeaux Médoc Classification including respective growths and communes.
– Hung out.

Saturday and Sunday were full of work and the self-promise of getting started on readings at the very least. That totally didn’t happen, and the waterfall of deferring work had begun.

On Monday, I hung out with co-workers at the Alibi Room for their 400th beer list; subsequently hung out at the Punisher’s place for a crappy beer marathon, classy food, and Cards Against Humanity.… read more

The last push until reading break, which will pass by just as fast as any other week. But hey – no school, and guilt-free no school at that. I can already see my study plans failing miserably. OH WELL.

This week was chock-full of meetings and classic school avoidance, so reading break will be a combination of me relaxing (procrastinating) and catching up on things to prep myself for the crappy latter half of this semester, which will mainly involve me begging my BIOL 210 to let me write my exam on another date. I have my first WSET Diploma class on that day! Legitimately sucky.

Monday was BC’s first Family Day, and I spent it with co-workers since two of us were leaving for other things.… read more

Last week was great – I essentially attended all classes and did my assignment for the next Monday’s genetics tutorial (a non-good copy at least) and I really had no excuse for not completing this same goal, but for some reason I just decided that my bed was more important. Sunday’s alcohol might have had something to do with it, but we were really craving greasy veggie dogs and cheap beer from the Rumpus Room and so we couldn’t help it. I also lost 11 out of 12 Jenga games and it’s a wonder why I haven’t broken more bottles at the wine shop. I have a count going. One of my nicknames is “Unnecessary Josh”.

I’m reaching that hilariously bad point where I’m behind enough in school work that learning new material is almost useless, and busy enough that learning the old stuff is almost distracting and makes me feel uneasy about how behind I am.… read more

My goal this week was to attend all my classes. I ended up skipping genetics tutorial again (oopsies) to buy (legitimately important) things. But I attended everything else! That’s something!

The Doc Martens I ordered came in on Monday. Hilariously painful at first, just like listening to that one friend tell the shittiest jokes over and over again, but now they’re quite fine, like punching him in the face.

BIOL 210 – Vascular Plants
Roots and Shoots! So much terminology. So many processes. Midterm next Wednesday. Scared.

Lab was cool(er) than usual. I forgot that my lab partner and I planted sunflower seeds at the beginning of the course, and three out of the four seeds germinated and grew to a considerable height.… read more

BIOL 210 – Vascular Plants
Favourite class. We learned about tissue systems and the cells that comprise them. Sclereids, for example, sometimes make up sclerenchyma tissues which provide support and flexibility in vines.

I’m also sure my lab partner hates me. I can hardly section plants to save my life, and I tripped on a chair on the way back to my desk from the demo potato and I instinctively yelled “YOLO”. I hate myself.

BIOL 234 – Fundamentals of Genetics
Mitosis, meiosis, Mendel, and the fear of God instilled into my soul from hoping that my crappy cell division drawings wouldn’t be selected to be displayed on the projector only to be corrected by the prof, complete with humiliating collective questions to the class (“does this cell look right to everyone?”).… read more

2nd week of school was cool too. Started off the week with a leftover final exam, which was fine but a total chore – two-sided sheet of notes allowed and exam questions given ahead of time so I’m really complaining about nothing. The future will perhaps be filled with robots but I find the theory-based path interesting yet slightly dull and too open. I can drink wine now and I can see plants around me. Practicality and hands-on stuff makes things so much easier to study.

Robots are cool BUT IN BIOLOGY YOU GET TO PLANT THINGS AND TAKE THEM HOME

BIOL 210 – Vascular Plants
So good! We learned more about plant cells. Most interesting to me were pigments, like anthocyanins and betalains.  … read more

The first class of any course is arguably exciting. I love course outlines and seeing what we get to learn. Of course, I’ll complain halfway through, fall to my knees, and ask God what the hell possessed me to take these courses. For now, though, they’re all pretty cool.

BIOL 210 – Vascular Plants
It’s only two classes in so far and I realized how much I LOVE PLANTS. OH MY GOD. We haven’t done much so far – maybe brushed up on basic plant cell parts and discussed why plants are important (Wine, duh). Main topics including basic terminology and sporic meiosis. Awesome.

BIOL 234 – Fundamentals of Genetics
This class in contrast is intimidating. Likewise, a brief refresher on some terminology and history.… read more

So 2013 marks the beginning of my new academic path in oenology + viticulture, and confirms the termination of my previous path in Cognitive Systems. Out of the three main streams (oenology, viticulture, terroir) and one sub stream (wine business) I’ve created for myself in this degree, I’m taking two each in oenology and viticulture this next term. Although the idea of studying plant genomics in terms of wine grapes seems amazing (cue entrance of Jancis Robinson/Julia Harding/José Vouillamoz and Wine Grapes), I’ve trained the other half of my brain to play the opposition, here, because it’s so easy to get misled by the romance of an idea. Now all I have to do is get past these stupid exams this term.… read more