Chapter 40

So it was now okay to be fun and do things you wanted to and did not want to. After a few months into the school year, even the most loyal to their previous habits will come to realize what they truly wanted now that the pressures of family and previous community were behind them. For some, when you discovered freedom from your parents, you realized that a lot of the values you had such as learning how to speak Chinese, or doing classical music was something you only did to please them. Now that they are off your back, you can finally work on what you want, and maybe you just didn’t want to do anything. 

In the previous chapters, you read that I was hellbent on maintaining as many hobbies as possible from highschool and although it was impossible to keep them all. I pretty much then told you that if nothing else, I wanted to have the 4 clubs I mentioned. Two of those clubs were with regards to breakdancing and classical music. This is because I considered these two hobbies of mine as the most important. 

Choir and singing were a special thing for me because of the whole Kiwanis thing but I found that I didn’t really want to do any more choirs. The highschool choir I was a part of was really what I was attached to, not necessarily the singing part itself. So for me, singing was the first to go. The second was swimming and lifeguarding. As I mentioned, it was too much of a commitment. The first year in undergrad left me with not a lot of time to explore lifeguarding opportunities. Moreso, to continue to be a lifeguard, you have to keep your credentials updated and I simply did not have the means to do so. As for swimming as purely just an exercise in exercising, I usually chose breakdancing to be my choice for physical activity. 

I wouldn’t really do any swimming at all in my first year of university and my last swimming thing I did would be in summer of undergrad year 1. That was when I did some lifeguarding just for a little extra money, just before my licenses expired. When the summer ended, I never renewed any of my licenses. Even as just a summer commitment, it was still a use of time. Furthermore, even during the summer, there was always something to do.

So, back to classical music and breakdancing. Out of these two, I definitely had more attachment to classical music. Just refer back to how there were literally 15 chapters in the past regarding it and that’s not even including the summer right before university either. With this in mind, you would think that classical music would have stood out and have survived the transition from highschool to university. However, the hobby that actually survived? \

Breakdancing. 

How?

Convenience.

The University of Waterloo Breakdance club, or UWB as we were known as, were a wild bunch. We hung around the University of Waterloo in the student life center everyday and everynight. We were a club that seemed to always have a member or two that was practicing. It seemed like a second home to us and as it turns out, this was a unique trait only few clubs possessed.

While I did want to do more with classical music and orchestra, you just can’t beat a club that was always running with seemingly no off-time and located in the center of our campus. It was simply too tempting to go for a quick dance session whenever you needed that feeling of stress relief during the day, after lectures, or at 1am in the morning. Furthermore, there was very little gatekeeping. Breakdancers became a simple collective of those who wanted to dance and we were willing to share our floors with pretty much anyone who can do it. Only a few of those who tried breakdancing tended to stay because as welcome as we were, the art itself was intimidating to start off. Nonetheless, it was a good time all around. Thinking back on it, I would label this period in the history of UWB as the golden era. 

I improved a bit in my time there simply because of how many times I went to practice (or “sessions” as we called it). It was literally every night. Whenever I finished my last lecture of the day, I’d pick up a quick sandwich near the cafeteria and head over. I would dance for a bit and chat for a bit, then dance some more. Usually, when I finally remembered to check the time, it would be close to midnight. This happened quite a lot during first year, but by the time midterms came around, I realized I was behind in most of my classes. Breakdancing after lectures so late into the night meant I got no studying done for any of my courses. It was then I realized that I had to re-evaluate my value systems. Breakdancing was convenient, so I did it a lot, but it was never that high on the tier list. Thinking about my future and how I was to compete with so many people, I made a decision. 

Though I enjoyed having friends in the breakers and hanging out with them as much as possible, I couldn’t neglect my studies. With this realization, around my first midterm season, I started showing up less and less to UWB sessions. Then, following this mindset, I evolved from an overtime breaker to a full time breaker before finally, I became a part time breaker. A role I would carry with me pretty much until the end of my time in Waterloo. Thinking back, though I only got glimpses of the golden era of UWB, it was a decent and sustainable compromise. While I was sad to have missed so much, in hindsight, I don’t think I would’ve gotten to where I am without this arrangement. 

The last thing I have to say with regards to breakdance is that I had often thought about what choir teacher, Mr. P, said in highschool about the whole coffee thing (check out “chapter 18: choosing happiness” if you need a reminder on the concept). Do you choose the path that will enrich your life with memories or do you want to choose the path of the future. In highschool, this was much easier. Due to the easy-going ways of the time, you could often have your cake and eat it too if you simply sacrificed some sleep or worked extra hard. The only problem was, unlike highschool, in university reality is much more pertinent. School wasn’t free, your friends are all competing against you for spots in professional schools and GPAs mattered a lot more. Highschool differed from University the most at this. In highschool, it was okay to be without purpose. You could even simply be there for the experience if you wanted to be. Sure there were certain things that you had to do for your future but it was never at scale that you would be at in university. In university, you can’t just be there anymore. You also weren’t intended to make friends and memories. That was a good side effect if it happens but in truth, you were in university with only one job. To come out with a career. It was time to choose the route of the coffee. 

Though breakdancing held on to me by only a thin thread, it was still an important one. When the stress got too much, I would always visit the breakers, they were always there. Never missing a beat. It was a fun time. It was my biggest stress reliever and I’m not sure how my life would have turned out if not for all of the access to breakdancing. As much as I would like to say that UWB was an everlasting institution with members passing the torch down again and again, I’m sad to say that the golden era was a fleeting time.

The golden era of UWB was a beautiful time. Aside from the second home it provided to all its members, myself included, the other thing that made it stand out was the fact that it would come to an end.

To some extent, I think most of the breakers saw this coming too.