Queen's

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​Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
October 2023

In September of 1992, when I was 17 years old, I flew over to eastern Canada to study at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. At the time, Queen's seemed very far from home.

​​Still remember my first day. Having arrived at Kingston Airport, I hailed a taxi and was driven through a medley of grey surroundings to be dropped off at a drab, scholastic-looking edifice. I walked right through the building, over to the park on the far side of it, where I questioned another student where I could find my residence, Gordon-Brockington House. He cheerfully mentioned that I'd just walked right through Gordon-Brockington House. Returning, I obtained the key to my room and climbed the stairs to the top floor, Gordon 5, whereupon I promptly entered my room, closed the door, and played heavy metal music (loudly). I think I must have been too nervous to get out and meet anyone that first evening, so I just chilled - antisocially - in my room.

During that first week, known as Frosh Week, I encountered a scrolling blur of juvenile initiation rites, painted people, and ghetto parties. On my second day, after deciding I could not be antisocial forever, I ventured outside Gordon-Brockington and joined a group of students who were mingling and having fun. I recall having my very first cup of coffee, ever (although I've had many thousands of since then). I spoke with a guy named Mike, who was outgoing and seemed pretty cool to me. Another fellow named Darren joined our conversation, and the three of us ended up hanging out for an hour or two. Darren and I made plans to meet up later that evening (I don't recall why), but after I waited nearly an hour for him, I realized he was not going to arrive, and I never saw him again during the rest of my years at Queen's. 

​However, I met plenty of other people during frosh week. All the students were organized into Gael Groups of about a dozen or so students, and you hung out with your group for the week. Mike ended up being in my Gael Group, which was serendipitous. I met another guy named Mark, who seemed to complain about a lot of things, but he impressed me quite a lot after stating that one day, he planned to map out how the entire human brain worked. That blew me away. For a few days, I thought that Mike, Mark, and a few others might be life-long friends, but it was not to be. After frosh week, I never caught up any significant way with Mike or Mark again. Occasionally, maybe once or twice a year, I ran into one of them on campus and we'd briefly converse, but there was no substance to it.​

Queen's University, with Stauffer Library in the background (1).

Gordon-Brockington House in winter (2).

Overview of part of the campus (3).

Prologues

Without a doubt, my true friends during that first year at Queen's were those that I met on Gordon 5, with one exception.

That exception was Bruce "Brutes" Calder from Ottawa, a jovial, rapidly-speaking physics and chemistry major who had also been in my Gael Group. Although I hadn't hit it off with him as much as some of the others during frosh week, we caught up in the ensuing weeks and quickly recognized some common interests. One day at lunch, as we ate our third (or fourth?) helpings in one of the cafeterias, Bruce mentioned I should come over to his dorm room to play a few hours of an old MS-DOS game called Warlords. I was hesitant, but capitulated, and Warlords ended up becoming one of the most addictive games that I ever played. We ended up hitting it up throughout the entire year, and I daresay we skipped a few classes to do so (which may be one reason my marks were not stellar during that first year). Bruce also introduced me to Landfall, a Dungeons and Dragons variant that he conducted himself. Looking back, I learned a lot from playing Warlords and Landfall - the first taught me to think strategically, the second politically.

​Later on during frosh week, in the hallway of Gordon 5, I met Pete "Slash" Rive from Pretoria, who came across to me as a hyper-cool computer science major (which, I know, is sort of a contradiction in terms, but that was my impression at the time). He was an avid scuba-diver and seemed to have no problem dating pretty girls in the first few weeks, so perhaps that was what impressed me. Pete had an interesting habit of leaving the music in his room on even when he went out, reason being that he liked to enter his room to the sound of music playing, particularly the album The Joshua Tree by U2. He was also an excellent squash player, and we played a few games that year - although I had a tennis background, he thrashed me. I think those thrashings may be why, 15 years later, I ended up playing state-level squash in Australia.

​I also met Tim "Enchanter" Johnson from Montreal in frosh week, the geography major who lived across the hall. Tim was always calm, cool, and collected - nothing ever seemed to rile him. He loved music too, but his tastes were more aligned to rock bands like The Cult, Smashing Pumpkins, and The Black Crowes. He had an electric guitar and loved to spend weekends playing it in his room, although we did have a weekly event, which we dubbed Tradition, during which we'd walk to town and each consume two (or three) Whopper hamburgers at the local Burger King. Tim was adept at telemark skiing, which I had never heard of before, and we went on a couple of ski trips in that first year at Queen's. His musical tastes definitely expanded my own, which was a good thing as all I knew at the time was heavy metal.

​Next, Jon "Jono" Carline from Vancouver, a chemistry major that I met, strangely enough, in the bathroom of Gordon 5 one evening after I had been out. We ended up discussing philosophy on the sink counter for a couple of hours. Jon remains one of the most capable conversationalists I have encountered to this day - he knew exactly how to approach people and defuse potential conflicts. He had been an actor in his spare time during high school, which must have helped. Jon ended up joining the gaming sessions organized by Bruce. Moreover, like myself, Jon was one of the only other people in Gordon 5 who was 17 years of age and therefore unable able to get into the local bars, so we spent a lot of weekend nights in Gordon 5 drinking Southern Comfort, eating pizza, shooting the breeze, and watching episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation - sounds dull, but it was actually kind of fun. I like to think that at least a few of Jon's diplomatic skills brushed off on me.

Many hours spent playing Warlords, a classic MS-DOS game (6).

The Joshua Tree, with songs burned into my brain from hearing Pete play it so many times down the hall (4).

The Cult, a classic 80s rock band - I believe this was the poster hanging on Tim's dorm wall (5).

Watched more than a few episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation on weekend evenings (7).

Last, Eric "Wonder" Wong from Toronto, a commerce major that I also met during the year in Gordon 5. Eric was incredibly studious and he liked to work very late, well into the wee hours of the morning. However, his door was always open for a late-night study break, during which we was more than happy to host some meaningful discourse on a variety of topics. Eric had a very generous, honest heart and he was always a stalwart friend, never false in his dealing with others.

Epilogues

I left Queen's in 1997, but have kept in touch with all these guys over the years, although it's been over a decade since I caught up with some of them. Bruce ended up creating several companies and lives around Ottawa. Pete also created some companies and he now lives near San Francisco. Tim, I saw him recently, living close to Banff, protecting wildlife. Jon, he's working high on the corporate ladder near Houston. Eric is living and working in Singapore.

I've also returned to Queen's a couple of times since I left - once around the year 2000, and then again around 2008. The campus was pretty much as I remembered it, with essentially the same buildings and parks, aside from a few new ones that have been erected in the interim. However, the life of the place, like the mitochondria living within the infrastructure of the cell, seemed lost to me on both occasions, which I did not really understand at the time...but I think I do now.

​For although I remain indebted to my academic coursework and research at Queen's, during which I obtained degrees in both evolutionary biology and physiology, which absolutely influenced me to this day, a massive component of my education - possibly the lion's share - was not so much the coursework itself, but in the wisdom I gained from interacting with my friends, especially the ones that I met in that first, most impressionable year.

They all helped to shape who I am today, and so in a way, they're all still here with me. To me, none of them will ever age, and as for the memories, they won't ever fade.

Solace.

Some of the guys from first year at Queen's - myself on the left, Eric on the bottom, Andrew "Rockman" Jeffery and Serge "MEB" Cadieux in the middle, and Pete on the right.

References
(1) https://grantme.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Queens-University.jpg.
(2) https://www.queensu.ca/encyclopedia/sites/qencwww/files/uploaded_images/g/gordonbrockingtonhouse/20090121-GordonBrockington.jpg.
(3) https://info.examtime.com/files/2014/05/120_1r20120910_queens_15.jpg.
(4) https://media.senscritique.com/media/000004821860/source_big/The_Joshua_Tree.jpg.
(5) https://i.pinimg.com/originals/87/88/91/8788919b1910446ae6561f6095f17344.jpg​.
(6) https://image.dosgamesarchive.com/screenshots/warlords-5.png.
(7) https://wallpaperaccess.com/full/4185713.jpg.