In this first installment of The Ubiquitous Mouth, Samantha Lee asked UTS a series of fall- and Halloween-related questions. Let’s see how you answered:

TUM: What’s the weirdest costume you’ve ever dressed up as?

• Sudipta Sarkar, M4: Myself.

• Sophia Wang, F2: A Grape (Chinese drama don’t ask).

• Jaden Li, M4: Mr. Hayto.

• Andrea Zhao, S6: “Green girl”. Everyone thought I was Fiona from Shrek. This was the highest number of adults I’d disappointed in such a short span of time until my first crunch week at UTS.

TUM: What’s your motto to live by?

• Sudipta Sarkar, M4: Vibe check someone before they vibe check you.

• Mia Richmond, S6: Velut arbor ita ramus.

• Aaron Zhou, M4: 100% Pure Sugar.

• Sahil Bhatia, F1: Yeet.

• Katerina Lyakisheva, F1: Keep calm and sleep on. Unless you’re late for school. Then RUN.

TUM: What’s the best Halloween movie?

• Della Alderson, S6: The Great Pumpkin.

• Sophia Wang, F2: FROZEN TWO (I know it will come out a month late but no one cares).

• Jaden Li, M4: The Grinch who Stole Christmas.

• Everyone else: The Night Before Christmas.

TUM: If you were to invent a new candy, what would it be called?

• Ethan Jeon, F1: It would be called the Gravity Candy. When someone eats the candy, they start levitating!

• Aaron Zhou, M4: 100% Pure Sugar.

• Sahil Bhatia, F1: Yeet berries.

• Serena Suleman, M3: “The Level 5”. It’s great, but it’s really hard to find.

TUM: What’s your favourite thing about school?

• Janice Wang, F2: ALL THE CLUBS.

• Edie Huo, F2: Friends.

• Andrea Zhao, S6: 10:07, 11:22, 12:37, 2:39, and 3:54.

TUM: What’s something you’re hyped about?

• Avielle Spector-Bloch, F2: TUM!

• Janice Wang, F2: Crunch period being over XD.

• Ethan Jeon, F1: I can’t wait to see the first Cuspidor issue!

• Aaron Zhou, M4: 100% Pure Sugar.

• Julia Nathanson, S6: Getting into one safety school so I can stop coming to class.

TUM: What's the funniest thing you’ve heard this month?

• Sudipta Sarkar, M4: “I will leave you to your devices” - Dr. Harkison after we asked him to play Smash with us.

Aries - Ride in a Fire Truck Costume

Aries, everyone you know has probably described you as having a “fiery” disposition at one point in time. Embrace the stereotype! Put a spin on this trait of yours by rolling up to a Halloween party in a fire truck outfit to showcase just how energetic and fun-loving you are!

Taurus - Hershey’s Bar Costume

Taurus, there’s no need to be ashamed that the candy’s your favourite part of Halloween -- after all, we all love some free sugar! But this year, why not publicly proclaim your love for the holiday by taking it a step further in this sweet chocolate bar outfit?

Gemini - Novelty Sneakers Costume

Gemini, as a kid, you definitely loved matching costumes with your friends on Halloween -- but were devastated whenever they bailed out on you! But that doesn’t mean you have to forego group costumes forever. Grab a friend this year and dress up as a pair of sneakers in your favourite colour. You’ll get a lot of compliments and, more importantly, will never be without a friend beside you!

Cancer - Deluxe BB-8 Inflatable Costume

Cancer, your love for all things cute is one of your best traits, so you need to remember to embrace your own cuteness too. Dressing up as the adorable droid BB-8 from Star Wars this Halloween will help you further contribute to the world’s natural cuteness cycle and garner lots of compliments from friends!

Leo - Inflatable Emoji Costume

Leo, we know it’s exhausting being the life of the party. When talking to people gets too tiring, you sometimes resort to communicating exclusively in emojis… and everyone around you thinks it’s awesome! This Halloween, dress up as your favourite emoji in this inflatable suit to truly embody your fun and energetic style!

Virgo - Plants vs. Zombies Sunflower Costume

Virgo, your friendliness (and scarily well-organized windowsill succulent garden) make you the perfect candidate for this costume! Even though you’re probably not one to download mobile games, this well-known, lovable plant character perfectly complements your helpful personality and green thumb.

Libra - Blue Caterpillar Bodysuit

Libra, beyond being the wonderful justice-seeking person you are, you’re also a lonely soul at heart. Having a couple extra pairs of arms (in a snazzy shade of blue!) will help you score a couple extra hugs from friends this Halloween to fix that problem, as well as granting you extra candy-carrying potential.

Scorpio - Queen Chess Piece Headpiece

Scorpio, your ability to be careful and calculated with every action you take -- whether it’s texting a crush or coordinating three different extracurricular meetings at the same time -- is unmatched. This Halloween, amaze your friends further by dressing up as a chess piece, showing off your ability to think several steps ahead of everyone else (by having the coolest costume).

Sagittarius - Mathematical Graph and Formula Hooded Cloak

Sagittarius, you’re always on a quest for knowledge. Whether this comes in the form of preparing to ace your next math test or getting lost in a Wikipedia rabbit hole at 2 am, you truly learn something new every day. This Halloween, put a spooky spin on your love of learning and rock this cloak covered in scientific symbols!

Capricorn - Kool Aid Man Costume

Capricorn, you’re an ambitious soul, but you also have a secret quirky side buried under your many successes that not everyone has seen. Why not embrace this second face of your personality this October 31st by making a smashing entrance in this lovable Kool Aid Man costume?

Aquarius - Yellow Mustard Costume

Aquarius, your originality and individuality is one of the most important parts of who you are. You refuse to follow the crowd: if everyone else is getting ketchup on their hotdogs, you’ll pick mustard instead. So, why not embrace this love of the underrated and dress up as a bottle of mustard this Halloween?

Pisces - Inflatable Unicorn Rider Costume

Pisces, it’s no surprise to everyone that knows you that somewhere, deep down in your soul, you still believe in magic. Now, you can impress all of your friends and live up to your childhood dreams prancing around town riding a unicorn this October 31st!

“7 Things we Hate like Poison”

1. Less sleep

• I wish 6:30 AM would never come… - Sonia

• in the words of the great poet kylie jenner, rise n shine uts - Angela

• Already one all nighter… - Sumin

• coffee, coffee, COFFEE - Madi

2. Summative crunch :(

• one after the other! exciting! - Angela

• A constant feedback loop? Is it positive or negative? - Sumin

• Crippling Senioritis but wanting good grades for uni apps = cognitive dissonance - Madi

3. University applications

• the spookiest thing happening on Halloween is the common app deadline the next day - Angela

• Why does applying to uni feel like you’re filling out a dating app profile?? - Madi

4. Fall themed drinks

• Sorry I’m not paying $8 for something that tastes like an expired candle - Madi

5. 63 buses

• Why must 3 buses pass by going south before a single one comes north?? - Sonia

• Text 5951 to TTC for inaccurate times - Sumin

• Bus is coming in 30 secs ~30 secs later~ bus is coming in 12 minutes >:-( - Madi

6. Cuspidor deadlines

• Break it till you make it - Sonia

• Oop - Madi

7. Snow in November?

• This is *clearly* a delight - Sonia

7 Things in Which we Delight

1. More spares

• Catch me using my “more spares” to make up for my “less sleep” - Sonia

• I’m rarely at school… - Sumin

2. Fall colours

• Makes the walk home 1000000x nicer - Sonia

• *_* - Angela

• I freaking love fall - Sumin

• Brown - Madi

3. House events

• So many fun holiday themed activities! Go knights! - Madi

• Chomp chomp - Sonia

4. Everything pumpkin

• Tbh pumpkin is overrated though - Sumin

• YUM - Sonia

5. Geneva Park 2019

• SO MUCH FUN...thanks F1s! - Sonia

• So many new knights!!! - Madi

6. Stationery

• Muji getting me through school! - Angela

• Muji discontinuing my favourite pens is not a delight, but a poison :( - Sumin

• I lost my muji pencil case but I’m too afraid to post on UTS Students :( - Madi

7. On-sale Halloween candy

• :) <3 - Angela

• My favourite part <333 - Sumin

• Too old for trick-or-treating, but never too old for candy - Sonia

• AKA the E in TRIBE (thanks econ) - Madi

Dear fellow Procrastinator,

I am really sorry you feel this way. It’s all-okay, though, because I know exactly what you’re going through. The problem isn’t that you’re procrastinating; in fact you have the wrong mindset. See, you have a fixed mindset as in your mindset is affixed on procrastinating as your only problem. You need a different mindset. No, not a success-based or, god forbid, growth-based mindset, but a healthy one. You need to start by having a felicitous diet. For instance, my diet is comprised of success and blueberry milk. Once you have the healthy mindset down (I strongly suggest copying mine), the key is to have the write tools to study and work with. Besides the usual words of advice such as “always highlight what you have trouble with” or “re-read unclear passages”, I suggest buying the most expensive Muji pens you can so not only will you know you have clout, but others will know it too. If all of these suggestions fail, and you still think that Netflix and Instagram are your issues...it’s time to get back on LinkedIn to help get you back on track.

Miss Advised

Hi New Student,

Transitioning to a new school can be scary everyone struggles to adjust to the new environment. But everybody’s been the new kid somewhere at some point. It might feel like everything is terrible right now, but that feeling will fade, and everything will start feeling normal pretty quickly. Smiling goes a long way to making you seem more approachable. Hold your head up and make eye contact with other people, try your best to be kind and approachable. If you want to make good friends you'll enjoy spending time with, it's important to be yourself. If you see someone that interests you or shares the same hobbies as you, don’t be afraid to talk to them. By making the first move, the other students will notice your confidence and will likely feel more comfortable approaching you. It’s also important for you to understand that making new friends and developing friendships take time. It’s only been the first month of school so it’s not too late, you can still talk to people and make new friends. As long as you don’t give up, you’ll eventually find people you can call your friends because everyone at UTS has an inclusive and welcoming environment.

Put yourself out there and just have a good time! The best way to make friends in a new school is by joining plenty of school groups. This way, you will be spending time with people who have similar interests as you. You’ll likely have scheduled meeting times or practices, which means more time to get to know your peers. Joining clubs or teams are an amazing way to become more involved and integrated in the school community. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, you’ll find friends who make you happy!

Hope this helps!

Dr. Swagger