Administrivia

I'm a busy woman--I think we can agree on that. And yes, for the most part, it's my own fault. After all, I chose to do a PhD, and with my SSHRC, I don't really need the money I make TAing--I just wanted the experience. And I certainly didn't have to audition for a play, volunteer with DAGS or talk Trent into building a back patio. Granted, a lot of the stuff that takes up my time is my choice. However, one major drain on my time that I absolutely resent is beaurocratic administrivia. Trent and I have seen enough of that, selling and buying houses this year, moving across the country, arranging for new service hookups at two new Halifax addresses now, plus there's the stuff I have to do every year to register for school, manage my scholarship, grant and TAship payments, not to mention keeping track of marks and attendance for the Friday tutorial I lead... add to all this that, every year, I have to pick up, fill out and run around with a stack of forms to keep my student loans in interest-free and non-repayment status. Not that it was ever a pleasant task in Edmonton, but it always seemed a lot simpler; the student loan people would mail me a form, I'd take it to the University to be signed, then drop it off at my bank--pretty painless, in all. It's a little trickier now, though. They didn't send me any forms, so I called the CIBC National Student Centre and asked them what to do. They told me I had to download a form. I had my computer in front of me, so I asked the lady on the phone to stay on the line while I found the form. Good thing too--it was pretty hidden on the website to which she directed me. I downloaded the forms and printed them. Six copies of the same form shot out of my printer. They all said: "Press Hard--You are Making Five Copies." Amazing, isn't it? That website actually injected my printer with carbon paper...

Okay, it didn't. So I just filled out the top copy and figured I could make five photocopies once all the beaurocrats had signed it. So on Friday, I took it to the Dal FGS (queue #1), and they sent me down to the Student Loans booth in the basement (queue #2). The lady there told me that I first had to get it signed by the Registrar's office, then come back down to her, and she sent me back upstairs. Queue #3 at the Registrar's Office was, by far, my favourite. It snaked down the hallway, and really only moved when students got sick of waiting and left. You see, there were only two staff members in the registrar's office. It's refreshing to know that Dalhousie University isn't wasting my tuition money on frivouous expenditures like support staff. Finally--with Philip and Nancy waiting to pick me up on campus (I had told them my errand shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. Ha!)--I get to the front of the line, where the lady tells me I've filled out the wrong form! She hands me an identical form (Schedule 2), except that this one really does have carbon paper, plus one more (Form B) to fill out. So we fill them out and I take them back downstairs... to discover a "Back in One Hour" sign on the Student Loan booth. Rrghh...

So I get in the truck with Philip and Nancy, and we go to CIBC so that they can fill out the section on both of these forms "To Be Completed By Lender." See, the College Plaza CIBC had always done this for me in Edmonton, and they would also mail them to the CIBC National Student Centre. Except that the CIBC branch here in Halifax (queue #4) had apparently never even seen these forms before and tried to insist that CIBC didn't negotiate student loans.

"That may be true now," I explained, "But when I was a student, you did." In fairness, the nineties were a very long time ago. In fact, it's really incredible that there is someone on living record with student loans negotiated in the nineties at all.

"We don't know what to do with these forms," the teller explained apologetically.

"Well, I think you fill out and sign the section labelled 'To Be Filled Out and Signed by the Lender.' Then either you or I have to send them to the CIBC National Student Centre."

So they run around the branch with the forms for a few more minutes, take a bunch of copies and hand them back to me. "But you should probably call the National Student Centre to check on these," she adds as I'm about to leave. "We don't know if we did this right." And, as I discovered in the truck, she stole my pen.

So I get home and realize that one of the copies of one of the forms (Form B) that they returned to me says that it has to be sent to Alberta Student Finance... only the bank has forgotten to fill out and sign the "To Be Filled Out and Signed by the Lender" section. Sigh. So this morning, I phone the CIBC National Student Centre (call #1), bounce around their automated service for a while, then mash the keypad with my palm in the hopes of reaching an agent.

"Thank you for calling the National Student Centre. How did you find the automated service?"

"Great. Very helpful," I say, and then I explain my predicament. "What do I do now?" I ask. "I don't want to send the form to Alberta Student Finance without that signature. Should I bring it back to my bank, or should I send it to you guys to sign?"

"No, your school needs to sign it."

"Um, no. The school already signed it. It says I need a signature from the lending institution. That's you guys."

"Then send it to the Alberta government. We don't negotiate Alberta Student Loans."

"Not any more, but you did in the nineties, when I got my loan. And I don't want to send it to the Alberta government without that signature."

"Then get your school to sign it."

"No. I don't think you're listening. I need CIBC to sign it. Should I get them to do it at a bank branch, or should I send it to the National Student Centre."

"I don't know. Try phoning the government."

At this point, I called the guy useless and hung up on him. Then I had a bit of a temper tantrum, calmed down a bit, and I called the Alberta Student Finance Board (call #2). The lady was actually very helpful, but she explained that I really did need my lender's signature on the form. "Try calling them back. Ask for a supervisor this time."

So I do. I call CIBC back (call #3). Again, I wander around the automated phone service for a while before I mash the keypad again. A guy answers.

I'm wary. "Um... hello. Did I just talk to you?"

"No, I don't think so. I can check."

"Don't worry, I think you'd remember." And I tell the story. Again. And he's not really sure what to do.

"Would you mind if I put you on hold while I ask my supervisor?"

"By all means, please put me on hold. Ask your supervisor. I can wait all day."

He laughs. I wait. Finally, he comes back. "So the bank has copy 22A of your schedule 2?"

"Yes."

"And all parts are signed and filled out?"

"Yes."

"Then you didn't actually need Form B--that's for people who have Alberta Student Loans only. Since you have Canada Student Loans, you can just fill out the Schedule 2."

"Really?"

"Really. And--maybe next year, instead of going to your bank, you might want to send the forms straight to us to sign."

Roger that. Over and out.

I am Worth More than $0.25/Share!

A lot more, believe you me! And yet...
Trent found this site the other day: http://blogshares.com/industries.php?id=971
Scroll down the list. Apparently, what you are now reading is #32 on the list of Top 100 Halifax Blogs! (32? I should be in the Top 10!) And I trade for $0.25/share. So. I have no idea what the what all of this means... but I think you, my loyal readers, should definitely, definitely invest in some shares in me. Drive up my price. Way up. Think: Enron (before the crash)...

Now I'm Sad... Now I'm Happy!

Yesterday was a weird day. First, we dropped Nikki off at the airport. She's moving back to Toronto. That sucks a lot, on account of she's my closest friend here in Halifax. So then Trent, Miika (Nikki's boyfirend and Trent's friend who is, of course, moving away at the end of the month) and I got to hang around the airport and be sad for an hour or so... until Phidit's and Nancy's plane arrived! Yay! And I get to keep them for a whole week!

Yay, We're Vikings!

Both me and Trent, and apparently, the director "wants to use us as much as possible." But I bet they say that to all the extras, don't they?

Oh my gosh, wait a minute! I just searched the movie on imdb.com and guess who the star is? Eomer from Lord of the Rings! Okay, his real name is Karl Urban, but I wonder if he'll let us call him Eomer? Junaid, I'll ask him if he knows Sir Ian McKellen for you...

32 054 400 Seconds

That's approximately how long I've been in Halifax. Weird, huh? And, like one year ago, we are now enjoying the leftovers of a tropical storm.

I have some good news yesterday: I auditioned for two plays last week and was offered parts in both of them! Obviously, I can't do two plays and go to school and cheer on my Viking husband in his first Hollywood movie role, so I decided on Jean Genet's The Balcony. I was also offered Maggie in Tom Stoppard's A Separate Peace, but that one is being presented by the Bedford Players. Bedford is a rather affluent suburb of Halifax--basically, Upper-Middle-ClassLand. They rehearse and perform in a church, and everyone that I saw at the adition was middle-aged and middle-class. Please don't think I'm judging them, especially since they apparently draw rather large audiences--I think that's great, but I really just want to make some friends and have fun. After all, theatre is where I met fabulous people like Heather, and since childhood friends, work friends, family and neighbours seem to be out as ways to meet people here, I figured theatre is my best bet. And the Theatre de Boheme (the group doing The Balcony) is newer, younger, and more avant-garde. Just cross your fingers that they aren't as horribly pretentious as some of the theatre types I've met in the past (the anti-Heathers) and I should be okay.

So here's the part where I brag a little bit. I auditioned for The Balcony a couple of hours after the Bedford Players left a message offering me a role in the Stoppard play. The Balcony audition went really well, and I told them that I'd been offered a part in another play, though I'd much rather do the Genet. They had another round of auditions yesterday evening, and before those had even started, the director called me at home to ask me to please turn down the other role because, although they weren't sure what part they were going to offer me, they definitely wanted me for the Balcony! See, I told you this was the part where I was going to brag!