The End?

Before the beginning of this site, there lies a mark of the end of an incredible adventure in itself.

I would’ve liked to cover it week-to-week, but that is reserved for its own story on its own time. Yet, it was an experience I wasn’t sure I would be getting into until I reached the end. Now, here I am.

The Co-Op

As I stay true to the purpose of my site, I will cover the tail of my co-op with SFU working with amazing people with transitioning programs for first years. Mainly, the preparation focus was for the Fall 2022 semester.

The ending was bittersweet, a little sweet and happy, yet a hint of melancholy aftertaste that is indescribable. I was able to say goodbyes to a wonderful colleague that I started with as she was accepted to a major firm for next year (best wishes to her!)

The Sweet:

Being able to work with friendly, diverse and welcoming group of people, it was a pleasure to meet the people behind the big events at SFU. This gave insight to what happens behind-the-scenes in the months leading up to Welcome Day Fall 2022. Having our creations, our planning and pieces of our ideas come together and appear on high-profile articles like Macleans is short of surreal.

The team I was in was rather small, yet a substantial amount of effort came from countless of people. Some of them are my volunteers that I supervised and thankful for their awesome spirits. A small team? One answer: We could only push forward and do what we could in the weeks leading up to this. There were incredible amounts of intricate details and planning that had to be completed and preparations done in order for this to happen.

The Bitter:

While there are plenty of areas to improve as it is the first in-person first day event at SFU since hiatus, they are nonetheless part of the learning process (as with anything else). The interesting aspect to this is that it was these moments where I note down where I can improve my processes, I realize that this is ultimately temporary. I will not be continuing this indefinitely to enact those improvements. I had to shift my focus upon what I can improve that carries onwards beyond my position. This was certainly weird. Essentially, I had an excuse-free card to not care about a particular process because it’s too niche for it to be useful. Being able to decide and discern what is critical to focus on for the betterment of my productivity and time was important.

Slice of an End

I mentioned this earlier, but the melancholy taste was there. At the same time, it was there, but it was not when I focused on it. It was a fleeting taste that could not be pinpointed. The reason? I don’t know! What was it? It was the feeling of being in an isolated world and unique position that made it a slice of my life in 2022 special but ultimately in the end, this was only temporary.

I am happy that I can move forward having learned many things and met people, but it also means this feeling in that slice in my life could not be continued indefinitely. While I am still working in the position, it is definitely not the same as the new semester rolls around (variables have changed) which does have an impact. In short: It is not the same as before.

The reason I chose to write about this is to showcase an excellent example of what sliceofjim.com will be about. Every moment in our lives, even if it has a longer length than my co-op position, can be seen as slices of our lives. Often, we are caught up in the hustle and bustle of a busy life. In a fleeting second, we find ourselves what seemed like just yesterday, already a year has nearly gone by. It is recognizing these individual slices that I hope to cherish the moments as they come, unplanned or preplanned, in the near future.

What will you and I find at the end in 4 months from now? End of the Year 2022? A new friendship? Another new learning moment?

Let’s find out together in my slice of Jim posts in the coming weeks.