**Winter 2004**
What the heck do I remmeber about this term? I don’t think I remember much except for snow and slush caked walkways on the way to class. This was my 3A term. There was a saying: “2B, or not 2B.” 2B was supposed to be such that if you got through that term you would be able to make it through anything. I dunno, I found it somewhat simple, so I thought this term was going to be simple. I was wrong. As my elective, I took an electronics course to fill in the technical elective. That was one of the toughest courses I had ever taken. Seriously. I wasn’t really interested in the course; I just took it to fulfill the requirement. I used to think that I may want to go into a hardware-based career. However, this course fully turned me off of the prospect.

This was the term that had Operating Systems as a course. One of the components of OS was creating a real-time operating system. We had a group of four to work on the project. As the project developed, it soon became apparent that one of our group members was not pulling their weight. The other three of us, Keith, Henrick, and I, were livid. I mean, the RTOS required hours and hours of programming work. Most people had four functioning members; we effectively had three. Angry as we were, we didn’t speak up. Instead, we just divided his work among the three of us. We spent many many all-nighters getting the thing up and running, and we eventually did. The three of us kind of bonded over this project. In my mind, it was this very project that cemented the working friendship that the three of us have had over the past few years.

Another one of the courses was about interfacing hardware and software. The material was fast-paced and relentless. When the midterm rolled aorund, I ried hard to absorb it all. I didn’t do so well though. The number I spotted on my returned test was so low that I was in total shock. As I walked back to res from class with S, I started tearing up. By the time we got back I was in a full-fledged cry. I ended up crying on his shoulder. Kind of fucked up, no? I really liked the guy a great deal, but I don’t think he was comfortable with that–not at all. It’s a wonder how we still got along.

Residence life was…all right, I guess. The four of us did a lot of social things together. We took skating lessons for a few weeks with M and Y’s friends. We also had a lot of social events in the apartment involving those same people. However, as time went on, I felt more and more isolated as an individual among the group. Why? I’ve mentioned it before, but I didn’t fit in. They were…in a different world…kind of. It’s hard to explain. Seriously. They were so absorbed in their own things and didn’t seem to express any interest in what I was doing.

Oh, and I was up to a lot those days. Frosh week planning was in full swing. Every Wednesday night, I had to go to big important group meetings. I also spent a lot of time away from the suite just planning for things. I was spending a large amount of time in the labs in the eng buildings because of class projects and such. For all intents and purposes, I was pulling away from my housemates more and more. I know that that’s what I was wanting to do back then. I mean, I really didn’t want to rely on them as my only social outlets. At the same time, I didn’t want to lose them as friends. Thing is…I think this was the start of the end.