About two years ago I stepped off an airplane at YVR from Edmonton to begin my post-secondary education here in the Lower Mainland. As a bartender, making friends was pretty much my job and so I was leaving behind a major social network as well as the city I knew and had lived in my entire life. On top of this, I was going to be away from my family for a lot longer than just a one week vacation in Cuba. Granted, flying home would only take about an hour I was still embarking on a pretty big adventure.

Now, as much as I love Vancouver I have to admit that some of the people here aren’t all that welcoming. The bar scene is clique-y and finding a social niche can be tough when you know hardly anyone. I was in the midst of learning all this when I received an email from The Other Press inviting all the students to come out to a meeting to learn about contributing and even possibly of becoming a section editor. With nothing to lose and a passion for writing I made my way to that meeting and a couple weeks later I was the new arts and entertainment editor.

Over the past year and a half or so I have made some great friends being a part of The OP. We meet up weekly to go over our last copy and plan the next, but it’s not all business it’s a time socialize and joke around. We even get together for staff pub nights or dinners where we get the opportunity to further socialize and have some fun.

Obviously we take pride in the quality of our paper and work very hard to ensure that but we like to have fun while we’re at it too. I have really found a great community of people here at the newspaper and now have some familiar faces on campus. I have even acquired a cat-sitter in our lovely sports editor!

I feel like now it’s my turn to extend the invite, so come meet us! With the opportunity to make a few new friends and get paid to contribute what’s stopping you? We get together on Mondays at 6 p.m. and whether you want to contribute or just check it out you’ll be sure to find a friendly, laid back group of people. I really wasn’t kidding, The OP is the place to be!

Procrastinating your way to success
Sharon Twiss, a 2001 graduate of Douglas’ Print Futures program, offers advice on how to stay focused when a course load has you down
By Sharon Twiss

Driving down Royal Avenue, past the College, I longed to be back in school—learning about the latest issues in my field, debating ideas with my colleagues, sliding in one more piece into the puzzle that is my brain—until I saw a guy, oblivious to everything around him, reading a book while walking down the sidewalk. Poof! My yearning evaporated as quickly as it arrived. There are things I like about not being in school: I like taking all of a weekend afternoon to struggle with the Globe & Mail crossword. I like being able to think about mundane things while I load the dishwasher. I like tossing a book across the room the moment after it becomes boring. Most of all—and this is what walking-reading guy reminded me of—I like not having stuff hanging over my head, stuff like a research paper or some assignment or ten articles to annotate. Yeah, I liked school, but I sure don’t miss the stress.

Ah, but I did it, managed the anxiety along with the excitement. You too can avoid being overwhelmed by school work so that you can absorb every penny’s worth of your college education.

Trick your “inner procrastinator” into working for you instead of against you
I’m going to get all my work done right away, all the time. Those should be the words to a September song, the same words that you will try desperately to whip yourself with after Thanksgiving. Why is that? You can’t change anybody’s nature, including your own. Accept yourself as you are, right now, and work with what you’ve got. If you’re a procrastinator, then get that working for you.

“Structured Procrastination” is Stanford professor, John Perry’s, answer. Professor Perry is an admitted procrastinator, has a long list of “very important projects” that have deadlines, and has a reputation as someone who gets shit done. What he gets done is not the top item in his priority list. No, he’s a procrastinator. What he gets done are a lot of the items lower down on the list, while he’s in the process of procrastinating completing the top item.

Amass such a list of “very important projects” for yourself as soon as you can, then procrastinate doing any of the items on this list by getting all your school work done instead. If a Stanford professor can trick himself, so can you.

Start your homework the day it’s assigned, no matter what
Hey, but what about procrastinating? It says start, not finish, and besides, this technique works for procrastinators as well as for you other two. Here’s how it works: you get an assignment, then after class during the first available free half hour, start working on it. That’s it. And it’s magic.

Of course you’re not going to finish the assignment, that’s the beauty of it. Leave it until the night before and you will have to finish it, but not right now. Experience the calm, anxiety-free, almost-pleasure you experience working on an assignment without the pressure of a deadline waiting for you like a zombie ready to suck your brains out. And the great thing about this technique, especially for procrastinators, is that even if you don’t get back to that assignment until the night before it’s due, you have already started it! Your monkey mind will believe that you’re just tying up loose ends, just filling in the blanks. Say goodbye to the paralysis of beginning, you are getting stuff done.

Commit to this no-brainer ritual
Here’s a small action with big results—the easiest thing to remember—the one thing you could commit to for your entire college career. From the comments on Ask.MetaFilter.com, comes this pearl: “Make your bed every day—as soon as you get up. Something about that one small thing sets the tone for the rest of the day: are you going to be lazy, or are you going to get something done?”

Places to be in downtown New West
By Jay Schreiber

Welcome to New West, home of newlyweds and nearly deads. The place where people live inexpensively, and in your case, come to Douglas College.

Around the area there are good places to know, and a few things to stay clear from. The $ explains how much each place costs; for each “$,” expect to pay $15.

Bars and Pubs

57 Below – Convenience is a key factor in this bar. Cheap food, cheap alcohol and there’s always a party going on. Right in the SkyTrain station and on your way to school makes it a great social spot. Before ordering food, ask for a college discount and they’ll make it happen.
$

Heritage Grill – Nightly live music and Granville Island on tap, what more could you ask for? Food is decent, and usually the bar attempts to be more upscale than the partygoers at Fever nightclub just around the corner. Intimate setting, and being right on Columbia St. makes it good for a late night rendezvous.
$$

River’s Reach – Heading out for the night to watch the game? River’s offers good service, great food and excellent atmosphere. Located on 4th Avenue and 6th Street it’s a climb well worth it for New West’s best pub
$$

Brooklyn’s – Decent floor space and friendliness towards student are the best things about this place. The food is good, and the beer is cheap. Quiet bar to go to during the day but the DJ gets the party going at night. Request a song and he’ll make it spin!
$

The Met – Located right outside Columbia Station, this is a popular spot for Douglas Students. Pub grub and TVs with any sport you want are aplenty, and they have a decent pool table too. Less rowdy than 57 Below but definitely the first pick of the Douglas College drinking team.
$$

Restaurants

Subway – Hey man, class starts in 10 minutes and you need something close and cheap! If Jared likes it then why not down a six inch before hitting the books?
$

Old Spaghetti Factory – good college discounts and the service is pretty quick. Food is okay for dinner and they expect bigger parties so bring the whole class. Not to mention all the crazy crap they have on the wall to look at, this place is not bad.
$

Burger Heaven – If you want the best burger you will taste in New West then look no further. Located on Agnes and 10th Street this place will blow your mind with the amount of meat selection. Potato wedges are great and the elk burger is to die for, or if you please, try some kangaroo.
$$

Places to stay away from

Richman Restaurant – $5 meals for students and more MSG than you can handle! Sticking to noodles and rice are advised with maybe a side of fried meat something. Lemon sauce can only hide so much when food poisoning has been on the menu before.
$

Royal Hut Pizza – A pizza place is a pizza place but not when all they serve is cardboard with pepperoni. I know it’s tough to discredit a pizza place in New West especially with their enormous population, but at least steer clear of this one. Ironically, it’s right across the street from Richman.
½ $

New West nightclubs – If you are new to nightclubbing, or know nothing of the types of fine establishments we have in New West, then these next two sentences are for you. Nightclubs in the GVRD are “good” in one area: Downtown Vancouver. Clubs just don’t work anywhere else in this area because people who know how to club know where to go. Clubs in New West are horrible excuses for wasting money, staying away from Fever and The Standard should ensure you have cash in the morning. Oh yeah, and if you do find yourself in these places (lord knows I have), then don’t hit on the dancers; they get paid by the hour.
$$$

You’ve got class in Coquitlam; so where is everything?
By Liam Britten

What a strange set up Douglas College’s two campuses have. On one hand, there’s the New West campus, an old, weathered building that’s central to transit and all kinds of businesses despite being situated in the heart of one of New West’s rougher neighbourhoods. Then there’s the David Lam campus in Coquitlam, which, despite its gentrified surroundings and modern everything, is miles away from almost anyplace you would want to go to as a student.

Never fear; there are options for all of us at David Lam, but most of them will require at least a short drive unless you have more than an hour to visit them. Places are rated using Jay’s “$” system; for each “$,” expect to pay about $15.

Bars and pubs

Roo’s Pub – Fantastic sports bar, close to Coquitlam Station bus loop and features a large selection of beers on tap. Don’t worry, even though it’s got an Australian theme, you won’t have to listen to didgeridoo music or throw any shrimp on the barbie; just enjoy great food and watch your sport of choice on any number of TV screens. The place gets really hopping during Canucks games and Monday Night Football but if you’re looking for a damn fine lunch, they serve 30-cent wings every weekday around noon.
$

Frog & Nightgown – What a name, eh? And if you like hole-in-the-wall pubs, friend, you’ve found it. Improbably located a several blocks west of the campus on Falcon Drive, this place is an okay spot for a quick beer or a plate of nachos, but its distance necessitates driving from the campus. It caters to an older crowd so don’t expect any student discounts or music released past 1975 but it is a quiet spot with competitive prices.
$

St. James Well – This one’s kind of a stretch because it’s so far away, but I gotta round out this section somehow, right? The Well is located in Newport Village, a fairly high-end shopping and apartment centre right at the Coquitlam-Port Moody border. Believe it or not, this Irish pub is majorly popular especially with the 20-somethings who live in the Newport area. Good drinks and great beer selection, plus they’re good about accommodating large parties; be careful, though, the prices are pretty steep.
$$

Restaurants

Coquitlam Centre food court – Geez, we’re getting high class now, aren’t we? Surprisingly, this run-of-the-mill food court is probably the easiest place to get a quick bite on the run in Coquitlam if you’ve had enough cafeteria food. A&W, KFC, Ms. Vanelli’s Pizza, if it’s greasy and cheap, you’ll find it here. The mall also has an East Side Mario’s, Montana’s and Ricky’s Grill inside if you’re looking for something not served in a paper dish.
$

C-Lovers Fish and Chips – Delicious fish and chips here, and that’s about it! Unfortunately, this place is pretty small and fills up quickly around lunch time, so you can actually find yourself settling in for a wait to get in sometimes. Other than that, cheap, greasy and delicious. Located at the corner of Pinetree and Lougheed.
$

Mr. Mike’s Steakhouse and Bar – It’s expensive, but you get what you pay for here. Mr. Mike’s is a steakhouse first and foremost but serves a wide variety of pastas, seafood appetizers and more. Fine service and great food make this a great restaurant, but not for lunch every day; it might be more suited to celebrating the end of a semester or something. Located at the corner of Pinetree and Lougheed in the same strip mall as C-Lovers and Save-on-Foods.
$$$

Places to stay away from

Sui Sha Ya – Please, have mercy on yourself and avoid this place. I love sushi, and I love all-you-can-eat sushi more, but this place is terrible. The tuna in their rolls has the texture of something that came right out of a can, the service seems almost deliberately slow (perhaps not coincidentally, as there’s an hour and a half time limit for dining) but I guess it is cheap. Honestly though, Coquitlam Centre has two much better sushi places, and if you want to drive into PoCo or Newport Village, you’ll find far superior options.
$

Charlie Hamilton’s Pub – Located at the ground floor of Henderson Place Mall (across the street from Coquitlam Centre), this place is a dive and a half. It may be close to the school, but please, resist the temptation to go to this place based on distance alone. The beer sometimes tastes funky and stale, cops are always swarming the joint and there’s always some jackass looking for a scrap. But then again, no one does dank like Charlie’s.
$$