Dear Emilie

Dear Emilie Man it's kind of strange writing this to you when all of us will say our goodbyes to you very soon. Hopefully I can finish this before we leave, so here goes. Emilie, you really are one of the most interesting and unique people I have ever come across (which doesn't say much because as you know, I lived in a box for most of my life). I don't know about you, but I do think we had a bond/connection despite the fact that I don't always talk to you. Whenever we talk, I feel like I learn and see quite a bit of new things, yet at the same time we can really relate to each other. Sometimes we would talk and although I don't explain things clearly enough, I can tell you understood me perfectly fine. I really believe that is not something that people can come across everyday...I guess we are kindred spirits. Man this is sounding very cheesy now. I will end this by thanking you like the others for a great experience in Blind River. You are many reasons why our group developed for the better, and without you our group definitely will not be the same. Dare I say it...you are an inspiration to many of us. And please don't be sad about us leaving, because it isn't the end. Remember when you asked me whether I am sad that I am leaving the Sisters and I said no? The same reason applies with you: we crossed paths and made impressionable footprints and even though our paths will diverge in different directions, the memories made all of us better in the future. Emilie you shall be missed for a while, but we will definitely remember you almost forever... Lots of love, Angel

Thoughts on Blind River

I am leaving Blind River very soon, but before I go I think I should talk about Blind River and what it is about. So here goes...Let's start with the house. The address - 40 Michigan Street, Blind River, ON P0R 1B0The house is located in a nice area. It's right across from a Catholic elementary school, and it's on a street where there are at least 3 to 4 churches (more on that) In fact it's next door to one. And we have a beautiful view of Lake Huron/Gerogian Bay, with Manitoulin Island (the largest freshwater island in the world) in the distance. One thing I love to do when the weather is beautiful is to go by the lake (2 blocks away) and take pictures and enjoy the sunrise/sunset, because there's a lot of incredible sunrise/sunsets over the lake. The house is also a 5 minute walk away from the arena/community centre.The house itself: The house is almost 100 years old, but despite that plus renovations, it's a nice house with quite a bit of history. Apparently many people in town have some form of connections to the house, ranging from "I lived in it before" to "I had a sleepover party there". There are 4 levels to the house - basement/main floor/upstairs/attic. The basement is cold, old and scary, and the landlord instructed us not to use it. All we do there is store eggs (given free by the community, woohoo!) and other miscellaneous things. The main floor consists of living room/office/dining room/kitchen/laundry room/tiny storage room which became the "Alone Zone" because of Zach. As well, outside the house (but not quite outside because it's boxed in) there's a coat and shoe storage...there must be a name for it but I don't know what it is. Upstairs - there are 3 bedrooms plus a bathroom. One is Emilie's (her room also has this extension to the balcony), one is for the guys, and one for the girls. Both guy and girl room has 2 bunk beds/4 beds (although the closet in the girl's room is rather dinky, compared to the guys). Then we have the attic, which has a walk-in closet, one bathroom, and 2 bunk beds with much more room. If there are 4 guys in one group (like mine) I think they should be put in the attic instead of the boy's room downstairs because the living situation for Zach/Stephen/Charles/Mike was quite bad since they didn't really have enough storage, plus the fact that Mike is so messy that all his crap are thrown across to the other guys' stuff. So for you Castlegar kids - if Emilie arranges for 3 girls to stay in the attic again and there are 4 guys, you gotta speak up.Little quirks of the house: the sink faucets are incorrectly screwed on. The red is actually cold water, and the blue is hot water - a lesson I pay dearly each time I wash my hands- Because the pipes are old and a bunch of other things, there isn't a constant even flow of water for the whole house. Which means when someone is washing dishes or doing laundry, the person showering will have freaking cold water, but that can change quickly too. I once showered in hot/cold/hot/cold in a span of 10 minutes.- Emilie may impose the "if it's yellow let it mellow" flushing policy. Flushing takes around 6 litres of water each time, so that's her way of saving water (a policy I never got the hang of due to good habits, haha).- We practice a "2 loads a week" laundry schedule, which means each person is allowed to do laundry 2 times a week only. This happened after the laundry machine and the dryer broke down...very very bad (again, our washer now does not do spin cycle...nice thing to happen before we leave, haha)- Umm that's it I think? Overall I like where I live in town, it's walking distance to almost everything (but then again that's like anywhere to anywhere in town, haha). Our group really is blessed in a sense that a) free eggs! and b) our house is the result of complaints from previous Katimavik groups when they lived in a tiny house with problems and rats, etc. For that I am thankful (although I recently found out from Zach and Cynthia that they saw a mouse running from the kitchen in a hole in the dining room, haha) - The pipes are old and rusty, so sometimes the water turns orange. Mmmmm, orange water (and we drink water straight from the tap, haha) - Apparently Rebecca and Cheryl wrote a small note for the next group and hid it in the table in the kitchen...so go find it, haha So now, the town itself...I am not going into the basic introduction of it, so you can find out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_River,_Ontario Before I started Katimavik and went into the town, I thought it's your average little little town where everyone is extremely friendly but unknowledgable about the world. As well, there would be no one of another race other than caucasian people (which conjures up images of people approaching me and saying in a slow drawl,"can you...speak...english. Eeeennnglish...") The first one has somewhat of a truth to it, as people in general are relatively friendly and open, especially when they find out you are doing Katimavik. Unknowledgable? Nah...apparently Blind River has one of the greatest number of post secondary graduates in small towns of Canada. Unfortunately, because work is scarce here (ever since they closed down the white pine mill and now only Cameco - an uranium mine in town), the majority of young people move out of town. Which leaves mostly seniors in this town. The thing about having only caucasian people in town is false. There are actually a couple of Chinese families living in town (2 of them have Chinese restaurants, I think, haha) plus 2 indian families also (one person is a doctor, another owns Old Mill Motel)...which does surprise me, but it's a good thing. Hmm, what else can I tell you...the town is situated along highway 17 (the trans-canada highway) and CPR so often you will see trains and trucks going through. The town is so small, it takes only an hour to walk from one end to another (as Cheryl and I demonstrated one night). There are 2 convenience stores (the 24 hour one is close by the house), 1 grocery store (Valu-mart, expensive deals), 2 banks (RBC, Scotia), 1 hospital, 1 police station, 1 fire department, 1 community centre, a couple of schools (divided between public and religions, English and French), 1 library, 1 LCBO, 1 Beer Store, 2-3 bars...Tim Hortons serves as the hip hangout in town (it's 24 hours), and Greyhound buses are parked at CountryStyles (30 minute walk from the house). What else...man there are so many churches here it isn't funny...I find it so odd that in a town that's the size of my high school, there is a need for so many churches. The street I live on already has 3-4, and there are a couple more scattered across the town. Is there a need for that? Or am I just cynical? Because of that, a good number of people you will meet in this town are either "fathers" or "sisters", or have some affliation with church. Yes, because the town is small, technically there isn't much to do, unless you know people in town. Saturday nights there are hockey games in the arena, where people support the local team (Blind River beavers). Sometimes dances occur in different venues. But people in town have different ways to entertain themselves. Random ideas/facts of town According to Ed Ritchie (also the unknown encyclopedia of Blind River): - Cameco had 2 explosions in the past, and there may have been spillage...leaking into the water. Mmmmm, radioactive water. - Before they built Eckat High School, that plot of land used to be an animal farm. Animals would die there and they would be buried there. Now behind the school there are water houses (or something like that) that takes care of the water. Old animal cementary + Blind River = potable water....???? All this talk about the water here makes me miss the water in Vancouver. - The amount of smokers in town is atrocious. It's probably 1:4 people who are smokers. Because of that, Blind River actually has one of the highest rates of cancer in Canada (according to another local). - Blind River is quite a bilingual town. A good number of people can speak French, which was quite a surprise. I don't really know what else I can say, so I will talk about the important people in town: Paul and Baryl - a lovely elderly-ish couple who lives out in the bushes. They are probably some of the most giving and helpful people in town, and probably in life. They helped us out a lot during our time here, and Baryl has lots and lots of influence in town. Lorraine Serre - the main power player/owner of Dorca's House, a local thrift store in town. Again, very giving and nice, and has lots and lots of influence in town. Denis - Lorraine's grandson, likes to hang out with Katimavik kids. A pretty nice kid, although some may find him annoying. He had a crush on Maxime and when they went to the high school dance together, he showed him in a nice suit/tux and brought corsage. Awkwardness ensued and now...you get the picture. Matt and Aaron - if you read the long story, you know what they are about. Hmmm this is really long now....and I am going to rotation camp very very soon (2 hours time) and leaving Blind River once and for all, so I will stop. Overall, I enjoyed my stay in Blind River, and people overall are friendly. It may be a bit boring at days with the lack of things going on (it's a small town, after all) but it really does allow bonding time. If you know how to make the best out of the town, you would really enjoy yourself here. Good Bye, Blind River

Final Presentation

It's 2:00 am right now...I really should go to bed but I think I will quickly summarize what happened tonight - the Final Presentation

Anyways for that, everyone invited their work partners, their billeting families, and/or anyone they made a connection in town. I invited Ed Ritchie and his wife, the Sisters, plus Sally Hagman and Betty Ann, but Betty Ann couldn't come because of vacation. Our final presentation was held in the marina, and around 30 people showed up for a potluck (I made chicken corn soup/hot and sour soup/stir-fried rice with Stephanie). Things went well, I sat with the Sisters and Ed and his wife. Everyone chatted. Then we had the slideshow presentation, but due to technical difficulties it cannot project onto the screen. So instead everyone had to crowd around Maxime's laptop...quite interesting.

After that, we performed our song, which was pretty much the same one Emilie and Stephen wrote for the talent show, with minor adjustments. That was fun. Then Emilie pulled a surprise on us and performed a song for us (the Katimavik group). When that was done, Maxime and Cheryl got teary (Maxime was worse though) and that was pretty much the presentation. People mingled and socialized, while others started leaving and we started washing dishes (to save the environment, we decided to use our dishes instead). By 8 something everyone started leaving, and the gang (Emilie/Rebecca/Charles) started goofing around and having a cake fight. Then we cleaned up the mess.

Overall the night went really well, and it kind of "bonded" us once again...everyone having a good time.

I really want to write the blog I have in mind, but I will stop now...good night

My shortest blog yet eh?

A Weird Little Story

Here's a story that I promised a while ago that I would tell...it's about what happened to Emilie when she was in Blind River.

(Hahaha, this format will be a headache to read)

Once upon a time there was a girl named Emilie Desrosiers. She became a project leader and was posted to Blind River, Ontario, a tiny town with no more than 4000 people. Late into the fall (October 2006) she moved into a nice old house with nothing inside. She was expected to live there by herself for a month before her "children" arrive. Emilie knew she must find a way to get furniture and other things in the house for her and her children, so one night she went to the church next door and asked the people there if they can spare furniture and other things. And that's how she met Matt/Aaron/Alex/Wesley.When people in the church found out that Emilie was a Katimavik project leader in Blind River, they became very enthusiastic and helpful with Emilie's needs. People came by and renovated the house. They donated furnitures, dishes, plus a bunch of other things so when the Katima-children arrive, they would feel welcomed. Through this experience, Emilie got to know Matt/Aaron/Alex/Wesley and they all became friends. You may think it's a sweet little story where everyone is happy with each other's company, but every story has its twists. The twist (not the only one, just to warn you now) came when Matt (a 19 year old guy who is the youth leader of the church next door) apparently made a move on Emilie and asked her to be his girlfriend. Emilie refused, and although they remain friends, Emilie knew things between her and Matt aren't the way they used to be. However, Emilie was still fine with Alex/Aaron/Wesley...The Katima-children arrived at the end of November, and Emilie and the Katima-children lived together and had adventures. Meanwhile, Matt and Aaron dropped by the house every now and then to hang out with Emilie and the Katima-children, so things were good. In fact, Emilie came up with the idea of having a talent night/coffee house where everyone would demonstrate a talent of some form and create a night of entertainment before year 2007 starts. So that's what happened, and there are photos to prove, haha...everyone had a good time, and 20 minutes before the year started, Emilie and the Katima-children hopped into their katima-van and with the guidance of Wesley and Matt, they went into the woods outside of town to light up some fireworks. And that's what they did by the lake. After that everyone went back to the house and had fake fruit wine, and continued partying. And this is where the trouble began...During the party, Wesley complained to Emilie about a headache, and he probably asked Emilie if she had any tylenol. Emilie didn't, but she knows how to perform riqqi (not sure how to spell it), a form of native healing using the hands, so she offered this suggestion to him. Wesley agreed, and so they went to her room and she tried that on him. Matt was just chilling downstairs when he found out she was doing that. He immediately freaked out, went to Emilie's room and told Wesley that they needed to go home immediately. So Weasley followed Matt out, leaving a confused Emilie behind. However, Emilie no longer was confused the next day, because Alex came by the house and told Emilie what happened. Brace yourselves...When Matt heard Emilie was practicing riqqi on Weasley, he thought Emilie was possessed by the devil and she was practicing the devil's way and performing "devil tricks" on Weasley. And of course, Matt must rescue Weasley from the evil wraths of Emilie and her devil ways before it was too late. The next day, Matt rounded up all his Christian brothers (Aaron/Weasley/Alex), told them his views, and said that they must all go to Elliot Lake and pray for Emilie and ask God for his forgiveness towards Emilie, as well as try and get rid of the devil inside Emilie through prayers. And that's what they did the day after.When Emilie heard the story, she was immediately aghast and shocked that Matt could have such a ridiculous idea. Then she was worried that Aaron/Wesley/Alex actually thought like Matt, because Matt is technically their ringleader. On top of that, Emilie was going through a tough time with her boyfriend and was seriously considering breaking up with her boyfriend. With all these things, the poor girl is just overwhelmed. So Emilie decided to confront Matt about this. She went to his house and wanted to talk to him about it, but he was not very communicative. In the end, they decided to avoid each other whenever possible (because Emilie absolutely despises people who are not open-minded and think they have the absolute truth, and Matt had both of those traits).Even though Matt was dealt with, there was still Alex/Aaron/Wesley. Emilie wondered whether they are still willing to be friends with her after this. And for the next week or so, she heard nothing from them until Wesley approached her and said that he would like to talk to her. Emilie was happy about this, and that's what they did. Things seemed fine until Wesley started trying to convert her by imposing his religious views on her during their conversation. And that again made Emilie really annoyed, because she felt like Wesley was no different than Matt. The kicker - he gave Emilie a bible at the end of their conversation. On top of that, even though Wesley went back to art school (he was no longer in Blind River), Emilie started receiving emails from him which greatly hinted that he was interested in a relationship...Emilie then decided to cut him out of her life.2 down...because it was Alex that originally approached Emilie about the night, he had no problems with Emilie. Although truthfully I don't see him around the house anymore, but that could be because he is in university (who knows?). Emilie really wanted to contact Aaron, but she felt she was in no position to do that because a) she doesn't know Aaron's number and b) Aaron has a jealous girlfriend. Fortunately, Aaron came by and told Emilie that he did not believe that Emilie was "possessed by the devil" and he is absolutely cool with her. And to this day Aaron and Emilie are happily hanging out and doing karate together.

- The End -

So why exactly did I tell this story? I don't know, because I personally could not believe someone could come up with such a ridiculous idea that a person is the "devil", etc. Things like this makes me think that religions sometimes has too much effect on people. But then again, having a faith does not mean you stop thinking with your brain. And the funny thing is that even though Matt agreed to not come by the house, he actually broke that rule approximately a month later...which I think is absolutely uncool. Although I just heard that Matt apologized to Emilie for his behaviour, so...hmm...On top of that, the story is quite entertaining, wouldn't you say?(For Castlegar kids - Matt and Aaron will probably be regular fixtures of the house, and even though I said what I said here, I hope you guys don't use that as a biase against him. Get to know him and decide whether he is fine by you or not. Without hearing these stories, I personally think he is a relatively cool guy to talk to. However there was one night where I went to Tim Hortons and Matt saw me, so we chatted for about half an hour. When he left, a kid came up to me and asked if I was hanging out with Matt, and then warned me to watch out for him - "he is a bit of an idiot"...hmmm...)

An Off Night

Tonight was a bit of an off night, I thought. First of all, Denis (Lorraine's grandson) came over and told us that Lorraine got a couple of seizures today and she had to stay in the hospital. It was quite unexpected for me because Lorraine always seems so alive and full of positive energy; not someone who would get random seizures. Apparently this one was rather serious, and it got her family pretty worried. Maxime cried quite a bit after hearing the news, and most of us are just in a state of solemness. For me, it reminds me of a story that a classmate told me in high school. Her dad worked in a styrofoam factory and his job is to cut giant blocks of styrofoam at anywhere from 20 feet to 50 feet tall. One day her dad went to work as per usual, and that night he never returned home again. He had an accident while working and he fell 30 something feet from above. His head landed first and it was pretty much instant death. Now I know Lorraine's case is nothing pessismistic like my classmate's tragic story, but both are similar in a sense that no one knows what tomorrow brings. Because really, who would have thought that my classmate's dad would be gone just like that, or Lorraine would have a serious seizure when she was fine the day before? Oh well, at least Lorraine will recover, but I guess it's a bit of a wakeup call for life, isn't it? Another thing - Stephen tonight just confronted me about something. He thought that I was being abrasive in the way I talked to him (and other people too I think), but more importantly I was distancing myself from the group and not participanting or mingling with the group (although I think that line was more from Cynthia, who joined in with Stephen's confrontation, haha). Honestly, I don't know what he meant by me being abrasive, except maybe perhaps I am feeling very comfortable with him. But I agree with the distance thing, because that is something I have been doing. But that's only because I have always been independent, and my need for personal space increases as I grew up. I like doing things on my own, and I find when living in a group situation like this, personal space is especially important in order for you to claim your sanity (not that things are super insane in the group, but you know what I mean). It does suck when pretty much every little thing you do here is picked up in a snap. I guess these are things that I will sleep on tonight

CTI/Final Warning

On Friday night, after I went home from "work", I was enjoying the leftover supper by myself while Cheryl/Zach/Stephen were helping with the sheperd's pie for Saturday night's dinner (Cheryl and Mike are the house managers, but because Mike is entirely undependalbe, Cheryl got Stephen and Zach to help her out instead). So anyways everyone was chatting, and somehow Mike came up into the conversation (I think it's because Zach or me were mentioning the fact that Mike should be there making the Shepherd's Pie with Cheryl). More talking, and it led to Stephen spilling a "secret" that I didn't know about - Mike got a final warning last week.

For those of you that dod not know about Katimavik punishments, there are 3 forms (if I remember correctly):
CTI - commitment to improve - it's given by PLs, and reasons can range from bad hygiene which affected everyone's well-being, to exclusive relationships or failure to commitment to activities. Mike has already gotten at least one, if not more for not cleaning his section of the room (his mess pretty much spills to Zach/Stephen/Charles's stuff). The thing with CTI is that it's actually not a huge deal to get a CTI, because once you move to another region for your next trimester, that cancels off. Although getting a couple of CTI will lead to final warning, if I am correct.
Final warning - that's given by the PC under the suggestion of PL. A final warning is, of course, a serious matter because not only is it for something serious (one kid in Sault Ste. Marie got a final warning for getting fired in his job) but it stays with you and acts as a hindrance. If someone does something wrong again after a final warning, he/she is pretty much kicked out of the program.
Being booted out - Need me to explain that?

Anyways apparently Emilie got very fed up with us bitching about him in front of him to him (weird phrasing) in our group meetings, whether with him not helping out with chores, with his rude comments, and other things. She decided to call Cara and ask her to actually give him 2 final warnings: one for lack of respect to group living, and another for his job. Apparently his work supervisor is very unsatisfied with Mike's performance (I don't blame him, because how is it possible to take one whole day to shovel a driveway?) and it's getting to a point where he may close off Mike's job placement in the hospital permanently (there are 3 in the hospital, and I am not sure whether all job placements will be closed off because of that). That's a big deal. But Cara decided to give him one final warning for lack of respect instead. She personally came from Sudbury to Blind River (a 2 hour drive) to see Mike and discuss to him about the final warning. What puzzles me about this whole situation is Mike's reaction (or his reaction to anyone criticizing him, for that matter). He just seems so nonchalant and unmoved about the situation. Throughout the week, he just acted like nothing happened to him, as if everything is "same old same old". That is why I was shocked when I heard that Mike got a final warning..."What, did you just say Mike got a final warning?" Stephen: "Oh shit"). It always amazes me that people can say things that sometimes borders on being mean, and he would not seem upset/angry/hur. This can be summarized with Stephen's thought on Mike: He is unaware/has no self-awareness. I don't know about you, but if I get a final warning I would definitely start freaking out, because I am prett much close to going hime. And that's what everyone in the
group is predicting will happen, when Mike is in Quebec (man Mike + Quebec = interesting...)

I think I have explained the story enough. Here's my thought on this. When I found out about Mike's final warning, I kind of led everyone into a debate, with me feeling sorry for him and Zach saying he deserved what he got and he is dragging down everyone's development whether individually or as a group (I agree). The reason I feel sympathetic towards Mike is simply because he can't help it. To me, Mike is like a child that doesn't know better (as least that's how he presents himself). Everyone pretty much agrees that he has some sort of mental illness that we don't know about (perhaps not even himself). And when that happens, isn't it a good enough excuse for his behaviour? To me, it's like an adult yelling at a boy for not tying his shoes properly when the boy never even learnt how to tie his shoes. As well, Mike is not a bad hearted person...he is probably the only one in the group that does not put things to his heart if someone is mean to him (Zach and Mike) and I am absolutely the type that wants underdogs to succeed. Despite everything I don't think a "nice" person like him deserves to get sent home. But on the other hand I see what Zach is saying; having Mike here is pretty much a deadweight to the group, because he is not on par with rest of the world and it's pretty unfair for the group dynamics and development. Besides, if he can't do simple tasks such as keeping his room clean or wash dishes, then is Katimavik right for him? Which leads me to a pet peeve of mine that I have developed in these 2 years: Parents should never ever send their kids to certain organizations (i.e. Katimavik, military) to get disciplined or whatever, just because the parents cannot raise their kids properly. Because it freaking backfires, like Mike's situation.

Anyways I think I am done with this topic. The only thing I want to add is that although Zach has his points in our "argument", it just scares me that he can seem so cold with the way he sees things. This came up when he said "well if Mike is gone, the room definitely will be cleaner and there will be an extra space for us to put things"...it's like he merely associate Mike as a being that takes up space rather than a person that he experienced things with. Now in his defense, I know this is not what he means, but...I don't know...yeah...(slightly confused).

I do hope Mike pulls through, despite the fact that he is driving everyone insane.

This week I am house-managing with Stephanie. So far it's pretty good. I have so many entries of blogs that I want to write, and I hope they will be done before I leave for Quebec (next wednesday!). Add oil!

My Job

Wow, I didn't intend "be back later" to be 5-6 hours later, haha...my 2 projects took longer than I wanted...

But anyways before I go back for dinner, I would like to talk about my job here in Blind River. But even before that, I got news from the advisor in Capilano College saying that they may drop the Math 12 requirement for PSYC 213...yah! One catch - I think they want Math 11 with "B" average, which I don't have (yes that's how bad I am at Math). I have done pretty much everything for school, now I just need to wait...

So my job in Blind River (the lucky Castlegar kid who plans to work in my position, listen up):

I work for Blind River Chamber of Commerce, as the office assistant to Betty Ann Dunbar, the director of Chamber of Commerce/office assistant of Blind River Development Co-operation. My job is to pretty much man the travel center, which is half an hour walk from the Katima-house. Haha, don't worry, you won't be walking to and back from work. Betty Ann drives me to work 8 in the morning, and originally she drives me back home at 4 also (yes it's a 8 hour job, 8 -4) but now because Sally works here in the afternoon and she lives pretty close to the house, she drives me back home (which reminds me, I must get her to photocopy her driver's license and give it to Emilie). So pretty much you have to get to the Blind River Development Co-operation by 8 am (very easy, it's less than a 5 minute walk) to get to Betty Ann, who will drive you to work. Once you are there, then you hang out there for 8 hours. Lunch is an hour, from 12-1.

The travel center is pretty, but very quiet. You pretty much don't see people coming in, although for you guys there may be a slow increase as summer comes. And most of the people who do come in are here for the public washroom (hahahaha), and you wouldn't even see them...you just hear them. So pretty much you are at the office all by yourself, with internet/computer with speakers/phone...does that give you guys any ideas? ;););););) Although now Sally works in the afternoon from 1-4, so you do have company (whether you think it's a good thing or bad is another matter). My job consists of:
- greeting visitors (almost none)
- answering phone calls/dealing with phone messages (again almost none)
- reading/emailing/forward Chamber emails (Emails I have deleted in total: 2736. 50% consists of emails about viagara 40% about stock exchange 9% miscellaneous nothings 1% actual things)
- filing
- administrative work (using excel/word). I have written minutes, made graphs, letters, etc.
- speaking of minutes...attending monthly Chamber meetings and act as the secretary as they blabber on about the matters of the Chamber (write frantically my friend)
- relaxing after my job is done...which means msning/emailing/working on this blog/surfing the net
The workload is ridiculously light. It's not that there's nothing to do, but Betty Ann is so busy with her job as an office admin in BRDC that she can't even properly slough off work for me. The lazy part in me is like "yay free time with the computer", but the curious learning part in me is a bit disapppointed, because the job isn't really challenging. Although I believe one can make the situation better no matter where he/she is. For instance, much of the files need cleaning up, because nothing seems to be alphabetized properly and I almost never find something that Betty Ann wants within those files. The brochures can afford an update (I think there are brochures from 2005). There's a display case outside the center, and that can use some decorating (Sally brought in some cross country skis and winter decorations which she is just waiting for an opportunity to put them up). Read about the history of Blind River...one can be creative with the job.

My verdict on the job: Believe it or not, I actually like this job. I am technically a replacement for the previous office manager (who quit a month before I arrive), except at a much more junior level. As far as I know, he got paid really well (anywhere from $15 to $20 an hour) so that kind of makes me feel important. I like the freedom and independence I get here. Although there really isn't much to do most of the time I am occupied with lots of other things so time goes by for me very quickly. One thing I do regret about is the fact that I didn't give my 100% to my job...I didn't really do any of things I suggested earlier, and I could have used it to challenge myself (i.e. master excel spreadsheet). But I am not going to complain that much...it's really quite plush here, with alone time/computer/phone. Stephen and Charles came in before and they were both slightly jealous that I have such a nice set-up...Stephen said I should have bought some beer and chips and put them in the fridge, pop in a DVD, and just chill...
As well, Betty Ann and Sally are both very nice people, and I got along very well with Ed Ritchie. However while I am describing how chillaxed this job is, things are changing...because of me :P I told Betty Ann what I thought should be improved in the job, so the next person may have more work to do, and projects to follow. As well, I told Sally to ask Betty Ann if she can use my office instead (the nice set-up) instead of the computer outside (no speakers and other things) because she needs it more...sorry?

Characters in Blind River Chamber of Commerce
- Betty Ann Dunbar: Director, nice and pleasant lady in her 50s, very career oriented...like Lynette from Desperate Housewives.
- Sally Hagman: lady who got contracted to work in the Chamber. Friendly, easy to talk to...does not bug you unless she needs things printed out.
- Ed Ritchie: one of the board directors, I have a connection with him and we talked about quite a bit of stuff, ranging from his life to God and etc. Intelligent and interesting. He comes to fix the computer so if the computer breaks down on you, call him.
-Stoney Burton: Boss of Betty Ann in BRDC. Fun guy, goofy
-Tony and Brad: Two people who work in the office with Betty Ann. Your interaction with them will be slight to none.
-Janitor guy named Woody or something like that: the caretaker of the travel center. A nice enough guy, but nags me for not turning on the taps to prevent freezing ("You have to leave the tap on! If you don't the pipes will freeze and it will take a whole bunch of money to fix and if that happens, the town will shut down the Travel Center....")
-Other Board Directors: Susan Zaiser/Kelly Brandon/Janine Timmermans/Jack Richardson. You will probably see more of Jack in the future because his company (Vision North) got the bid to put his office in the travel center. Oh yes, there will be an intern too...in April I think.
-Ross MacDonald: the previous office manager. You will never meet him but there will be talks about him.

Random things:
- there's a fridge/kettle/toaster oven. Sorry to tell you but the toaster oven is broken.
- Betty Ann may or may not let you keep the key to open to travel center. If she does, don't lose the key! But let me know if you do because I made a spare
- Betty Ann likes punctuality. Impress her by showing up at work 5 minutes early (which I didn't)

It's 6:13 pm right now...time for dinner (do I hear the dinner bells ringing?)

Events of last night

Hahaha, I said I would be back later...now I am back, on the next day.

Anyways today I intend to write a bunch of emails/blogs that I promised I would (and believe me, I have tooooooons to say), plus I have 2 side projects of my own (school/Chinese dinner). I am going to write this before I go ahead with my 2 side projects, so here goes.

So yesterday was my last day of work...Betty Ann drove me home and we bided each other good luck, have fun, etc. etc...it feels kind of weird that yesterday was my last day at work, as if it's not suppose to happen. But anyways enough of that. I decided to finally work on my applications to UBC/Capilano College, since I knew the deadline to apply in UBC is the end of February. This shouldn't be such a difficult task, but here's the problem: I am majoring in psychology, with a minor in both Japanese and French. To get a psychology degree, you must have a psychology statistic course in order to do 3rd year studies (PSYC 213 in Cap, PSYC 217-218 in UBC). I wanted to stay in Capilano College for my 2nd year studies, but unfortunately their 213 requires Math 12, which I don't have (my math sucks like hell, which is almost unheard of in the Chinese society). Apparently UBC does not have a requirement for their statistics courses (not positive yet, I wrote them an email), and since I plan on going to UBC for the 3rd year anyways, I may as well do it earlier. However I really, really like Cap and I feel it will train me better for university life, and I don't want to leave. As well, I am not positive that I can get into UBC (although if I got in in grade 12, and last year, I don't see why I won't get in again, my GPA right now is 3.23). Plus, I have to deal with my transcripts and stuff (which I am not exactly sure how I am going to do that...plus they may need my high school transcript, which just makes the process so much more interesting). Then I started thinking about what the courses I have to take, my schedules (how to balance school/work/training), whether I should take 4 or 5 courses, etc. etc...I think you got the idea that my head pretty much exploded. So after dinner I decided to go to the local gym to work out my frustrations - the one and only time in Blind River.

Unfortunately, that was quite an interesting trip itself. To get into the gym, you need a 3 digit password. I almost got there and realized I don't know what it is. So I had to walk back home and ask someone in the house what it is (press 2 and 4 together, then 3) in order for me to get into the gym. Went back, tried again...only it didn't work. I must have stood there in the cold (around -15C) for 10 minutes, trying to click open the thing before I gave up and went back home. I saw Zach getting ready for a run outside the house, and told him my woes...he made fun of me, but he thought the password was 5 and 3 together, then 2, so I went inside and asked again, only this time I made them describe in detail how to open the door. Believe me I felt like an imbecile when I kept playing with the door because no one in the house seemed to have a problem with it...I went back, and lo and behold it didn't work! This was the 3rd time, and with the saying "3 strikes and you are out", I gave up and walked to lake and stargazed for 45 minutes with my music...it was really nice if not cold. Then I went back home, soaked myself in a nice bubblebath in the bathroom at the attic...I could hear the Frenchies (Maxime/Cheryl/Charles) giggling in the walk-in closet next door, but I tuned them out with some Christina Aguilera, read "Freakonomics" (the book with an apple/orange at the cover) for an hour, then went to bed. Another quiet night...

However, it's very very different for a bunch of other people. Brace yourselves...

During my frustrations with school, Charles and Stephen decided to go to LCBO and buy booze. Obviously they intended to have some form of drinking party in the house (duh duh duh that's prohibited, but Emilie wasn't there) with a couple of other people, and in the midst of my frustrations they summoned me to the kitchen and asked me what they should do (as in drinking in house or somewhere else) because they don't want Mike (the sometimes brainless blabbermouth) to say anything. I don't really remember what I said, only that Emilie trusts us and I am not going to stop them if they drink in the house, because we all know that despite all this, none of us are crazy/bad. So their solution (which I didn't find out until I was in the attic bathing) was to hide in the walk-in closet and have their party there (they know I am not into drinking), while Rebecca and Stephen joined them later on. Aaron sort of went in and out of it too, when he was over with Matt and Melissa (Aaron's girlfriend). Honestly, I don't know much about what happened, but to summarize:

-Everyone pretty much knows what's going on, even Mike (though I don't know if he knew it was a drinking party), despite them hiding in the attic.
-No one really got drunk (shows you our tameness) except for Charles (personally I think it's because his tolerance for alcohol is lower, but who knows) and perhaps Cheryl, because apparently she went puking in the toilet.
-Cheryl/Maxime/Stephen went to bed earlier than Zach/Rebecca/Charles (though I must state that Zach wasn't in the drinking party, he is not a fan of drinking/breaking rules), and Zach/Rebecca/Charles apparently chatted/fooled around until 3:30 am. They first have a garlic butter fight, because they were making garlic bread. And then dip fight (we had vegetable dip for dinner as a side that night). And then whipped cream, which was Charles's idea..."oh we bought whipped cream but we don't need it". And in the end the kitchen and the dining hall was a mess, with traces of everything on walls, stove, floor...but they cleaned it up and then went to bed.

This for me brings up a bigger issue - Trust
Our PL Emilie really do have a lot of trust in us. It seems like compared to the 2 other groups (Elliot Lake/Sault Ste. Marie) we are very well behaved. Cara almost never came to our house to babysit us while Emilie gets her time off. The Sault Ste. Marie group originally had 11 people, and right now they are at 8. One girl left, while 2 other ones got kicked out because they are caught doing pot (not sure whether it was in the house or not). The Elliot group seemed fine though. But anyways our group and our PL have a rather unique relationship, which may be different from the 2 other groups...it's hard to explain right now but to sum it up, she is like a good friend. Therefore it makes sense why she has all this trust in us. My question - By us (well not really me) having that drinking party in the house and breaking a bunch of rules along the line, is it a betrayl of her trust? And is it right to do so? Well, duh, of course not, and Maxime and I discussed about this yesterday prior to the Frenchies summoning me to the kitchen. Maxime is quite attached to Emilie and she doesn't want to do anything to hurt Emilie, therefore she was iffy about drinking in the house. But there's more to that.

I think the reason Emilie trusts us a lot because she knows us. She knows our personalities and how we react/deal with things...she knows that the group overall is smart and responsible, and we would never do anything horribly stupid (or else why would Rebecca/Charles who was drunk/Zach cleaned their mess in the middle of the night?). She also knows we are young and we just want to have a good time, let things loose, etc. etc. Heck, she was young once (probably still am) and adventurous, so she can relate to the stuff we do and why we do it. In fact I was talking to Rebecca this morning about her wild night and she told me that Emilie actually knows everything...the fact that Maxime goes to bars to drink even though she is 17(Rebecca/Zach/even Cynthia went to the bar too even though they are 18, the only people who didn't go is Mike and me...ahahaha and I am 20, what the heck?), plus a bunch of other things. Apparently she talks to Aaron about these issues but she was just like "I am glad they are bonding well" However she never confronted anyone about them, and it's definitely not because she is a pushover. It goes back to what I was saying earlier...her knowing us and understanding us. Emilie is and probably will be one of the best PLs our group will have, because of these qualities. I do hope the next group coming in (holla, Castlegar) will have the same relatioship with Emilie that we have right now...and please do not take advantage of it (although we did that but we cleaned up real good and behaved).

I like how our group has all these silent understandings and agreements...we know things but we don't acknowledge it out loud...interestingly complicated/complicatedly interesting.

Hmm...time for me to work on the 2 projects...be back later. Wow wasn't that long..

Valentine's Day/Last Day at Work

Hey kids

As per usual, I am at work right now. I have some stuff I want to do at work (yes actual work) before moving on to my personal things (such as this blog). But I want to quickly talk about the dinner last night before I move on to work:

St. Valentine's Day Dinner/Speed-dating: That actually got canceled. Well not the dinner because everyone had to eat (by the way it's parmesan chicken and creamy rice and veggies on the side...Charles and I were drooling at the chicken) but the speed-dating itself. I wasn't disappointed but I did want to see how it would be done. Cheryl and Charles (the two people who organized it) were just pooped and didn't want to do it anymore. Actually I thought everyone that night were pretty inactive...the house just didn't have to same energy that it usually has (although I talked about this with Zach and he disagrees). So instead of a "romantic" night of "dating", the Frenchies (minus Stephanie) went out to the bar/Tim Hortons while the English kids stayed home and did a French activity (Zach and Stephanie were in charge of that) where we learnt body parts...god I need to improve my pronounciation. So it was a rather quiet and "loveless" evening. Lucky Emilie, she left at 9:00 pm for her 72 hours...she is going to Ottawa :P

A couple of news from last night:
- Our Katima-van/coquette-mobile is broken in Sault Ste. Marie. According to Emilie (who on Tuesday went to Sault Ste. Marie for her PL meeting) the transmission is broken...it happened when she was driving towards the Sault and apparently she can't do reverse backup...eek dangerous. Now the van is in a Ford dealership in the Sault and the guy who can fix it is sick...so no one knows when we can get our van back. Poor Emilie, she had to take the greyhound to get back to Blind River.
- Because the van is broken, we can't do our planned weekend activities, which sucks quite a bit. On Saturday we wanted to go to Elliot Lake and go bowling/swimming/hiking with the Elliot Lake kids and have dinner at their place, but that's canceled (well it doesn't help that the Elliot kids have head lice, so we can't go see them anyway...apparently there's a outbreak of that in Ontario and a couple of them got head lice from work...that really sucks for them). Then on Sunday we were going to go to Paul and Baryl's for another scavenger hunt with the Elliot group, and have dinner at their place. Now none of those activities are happening, so pretty much the weekend is free, and Emilie is not back until Saturday night.
- According to Emilie, Cara McQueen (our project coordinator) is quitting. So for you Castlegar kids, that means there will be another PC coming in for you. Man you guys don't ever seem to have a steady PC...I heard your PC in Castlegar quit in the middle too.

Well as you guys can tell by the title, today is my last day at work. Betty Ann is going to Los Cabos (Mexico) tomorrow morning for a week, while Stephanie and I will be house-managers for the next week. I have decided to clean up the office (it's quite messy) as a final note to my job here. So I shall put on my special MP3 mix - Jack Johnson/John Mayer/Norah Jones/The Corrs/Christina Aguilera/Hey Ocean! and work away...

Be back later

PS. Kind of funny...Cheryl modeled a swimming cap (Maxime's) for the group yesterday, and we had a laugh over it. Maxime said that she bought it to protect herself from the Elliot kids' head lice during our rotation camp, and Rebecca made a joke and said we should all wear one plus googles and show up in camp...we all laughed except for Maxime, who said "No I am not kidding...let me know if you guys want a swimming cap so I can buy more"...is it such a big deal? Or am I just too relaxed?

Random Animosity?

Is it just me? These 2 weeks I have felt some form of silent dissatisfaction from 2 people in the house. You know what I mean...they don't say mean things to you, but there's something odd about their body language towards you that make you feel uncomfortable around them...? The 2 people are:

Cynthia - oddly enough, Cynthia and I got along really really well at the beginning. Technically, I still have nothing against her despite certain qualities in her personality (will be discussed in the future) but for some strange reasons, she seems to be verbally attacking me these days. And the way she does it is very casual and off-handed, so no one seems to notice it but me (or they do but they don't think that much about it). Oddly enough, I can actually pinpoint a moment where she started doing it. It was the day before the Sault Ste. Marie excursion, and at 11:00 pm ish I went up the attic (where Cynthia/Cheryl/Maxime sleeps) to grab my sleeping bag plus other things...I didn't know she was sleeping so I turned on the light...and instantly she yelled at me (I don't blame her, I disturbed her in her sleep). But since then comments just fly out every now and then.
I don't mind when her criticism is true ("Your snoring kept me up all night") but when she seem to say things out of nowhere ("Yeah Angel sings quite a lot...it doesn't help she is off key")/("I find your view of the world to be limited") then I am just merely confused, because I don't know what her intentions are. One would think I am pissed off, but honestly I am more baffled as to what's going on and why she is behaving this way. I don't think I have pissed her off that she should start disliking me. If I must draw an analogy she is just like a mosquito that keeps flying around me...irritating but easy to deal with, nevertheless. My plan with her - I am going to wait a bit longer and see if her behaviour changes. If not I shall confront her, because who needs BS like this for another 7 months?

Second person - Stephanie. She is even harder to read because she never actually said anything mean to me (except for a couple of days ago where she and I are in the room alone and she told me I was snoring so loud last night that she almost had to wake me up, but that I could understand...man my snoring is a huge problem isn't it?) but I can feel her body language around me being different, especially compared to before. Again I really don't know what went wrong, and this one really could be my imagination...but I find my intuition for stuff like this to be pretty accurate. Again, I am going to observe the situation and if things are still weird I am going to talk to her...oh how convenient we both are house managers next week!

Really...if people have a problem with me they should just tell it to my face, rather than play mind games like this. Now why can't we all just get along?

Valentine's Day

<3 So it is Valentine's Day <3 (what ugly hearts)

Honestly, this day really means nothing to me. I do the usual things that I do, and that's that. However Charles came up with this crazy idea that's similar to speed-dating...he created 2 questionnaires, one for the guys and one for the girls. Somehow the guys get to do their questionnaire first, and they have questions such as "What's your favorite color", "What's your idea of a romantic evening", "What do you find physically attractive in a girl", etc. My favorite one - "Do you have a special request within the group"....HA (Zach, being the wise-ass he is, came up with "a girl with a penis"...)

After that, the girls get to fill in their version of the questionnaire, which is pretty much the same, but instead of getting to answer straight, we had the multiple choices of the guys' responses. Because I saw the answers the three guys (Zach/Mike/Stephen...Charles is serving dinner, the rat) had, I pretty much recognized the whole quiz. So instead I circled the answers, but I wrote my actual response on the side too, which Charles and Stephen made fun of me for (Stephen: "Tom Welling from Smallville...you can't be anymore specific..."). Hey I believe in gender equality and feminism, so there.
And today there will be a romantic dinner with it...we will see how that goes.

Now if my math is correct, with 3 guys and 6 girls...that means 1 guy will have an average of 2 girls, eh? PPPPPFFFFFFFTTTTTTTT (pardon the cynic in me :P)

No-Electricity Week

It is time for me to talk about the eventful "No-Electricity Week"

It all happened on the afternoon of February 5th. I came home from work and took a shower. When I was in the washroom I went to turn on the light, and as I did I saw that the light switch was taped. My thoughts were "what the hell?" but I simply peeled away the tape and turned on the light. When I came out there was Mike and Rebecca, who were working on cleaning up the old dresser someone donated from the hospital (typical Katimavik fashion). Mike saw the light on and said, "we are not allowed to use the light". I immediately gave him an odd look and ask "What do you mean I can't use the light?" Rebecca immediately said, "Oh you haven't heard? Emilie and a bunch of other people agreed that there will be no electricity in this house for one week to save energy and make us think about the people who cannot afford electricity". All good causes, but how come no one told me anything about this???? In total disbelief I replied, "Well I am not formally informed by Emilie, so until I do I will savour the last moments of electricity". And the first thing I did when I went into my room was to frantically dig for my mini flashlight, which disappeared (what a surprise).

That night as we have dinner by the candle light, Emilie did her usual dinner thanks, and then turned to Charles and said "I believe you have an announcement?" Charles immediately pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket and began reading "do you know why we are not using electricity..." which we had a good laugh out of, since he sounded like a bad commercial. But anyways to summarize, we are not to use electricity for one whole week. With the exemption of the stove (god I cannot imagine us cooking without a stove), the fridge, and the washer, everything else is off limits (list include light/clothing dryer/music players/computers/anything that you need to plug into an electric outlet). Phone conversations are limited to half an hour max.

So let me summarize how it was for me:
- the dark makes me sleepy, and everyone went to bed at around 9 to 10 pm because they are tired and they have nothing to do
- writing and reading using candlelight is a bitch to the eyes. I tried writing postcards using candlelight and gave up after the five or six postcard (I had at least 20 something of them to write). Because of that I resorted to asking Sally from work (yes there's actually a new lady who works with me in the afternoon now!) to borrow her flashlight (a good solid red one that became rather popular in the house, since I couldn't find my flashlight until the end of the week) just so I can read and write at night.
- Charles wanted this "no-electricity" thing to be a group bonding thing where people would talk to each other more...and it did for certain people (see blog about me/Cheryl/Stephen in the near future), but it also made people more independent and more into their own personal space, such as Zach...which I think is actually a very good thing.
- The whole washer with no dryer was rather weird...clothes were pretty much hung everywhere and I had lots of clothes from the Sault Ste. Marie excursion plus billeting, so I decided to use my resources and networking skills from town...I resorted to asking the Sisters if I can use their laundry machine and dryer, and they were kind enough to pick me up from the house and drop me off, and they even allowed Stephen (the nice Catholic boy) to come along. The kids were slightly miffed that we did that, and while we did laundry at their house we had ice-cream and watched House (both prohibited in Katimavik, haha).
- The dark did bring out some creativity in our activities...on Tuesday/Wednesday night we had a snowball fight (with a bunch of them piling up on me like football) which ended up as a star-gazing night also. As well, they did this truth or dare thing (I was writing postcards) and a bunch of the answered questions such as "what's the funkiest thing you have sticked in your butthole" (question directed to Zach who wouldn't answer, and he instead did a dare) and dares such as running outside in their boxers (Zach again). I am sure that was fun...they should be so lucky that I wasn't really there or else all their darkest secrets would have been revealed here, muhahahaha
- According to Zach and Cheryl, some people have broken the rule and used electricity. They especially mention Maxime, who is very gung-ho about this (she questioned me when I called my mom) but according to them she actually uses the hair dryer. I of course accidently broke the rule sometimes, when I turn on the light by habit or when I listen to Rebecca's CD player (my damn MP3 is broken), although the personal music thing is a gray area in this event.

Overall, I think the intentions of "no-electricity" for a week was very good, and except for some inconvenience it caused, it was tolerable. However I don't think it should be stretched on further, as some people suggested it should (Thank god it didn't). Because in my opinion, having no electricity in our house does not solve any actual problem with the environment or whatever. If anything we should learn to be more conscious about how we use energy and learn not to waste it. But it is quite an experience...and I think Emilie likes it so much that she just might do it each trimester, haha. And it did teach me that we take things for granted. Lights, hallelujah!

Vegetarianism and no electricity...what a week...

Vegetarianism

Anyways I have told you guys (friends) that the week of February 5 - 11 was an interesting one for me, because of two things - me being a vegetarian and the "no-electricity" thing happening in the house. I shall explain:Vegetarianism - This actually came about during billeting for me. One day at work I was chatting with my friend Hugo on msn (I know, how professional of me) and we were talking about vegetarianism (Hugo is a vegetarian himself). I usually find that vegetarians have a story as to why they are, so he told me his story and we began talking about the effects of food production in the world, with me telling him about what I saw in documentaries such as "Our Daily Bread" and "We Feed the World" - both excellent documentaries. Then I said vegetarianism is a very good idea and concept, and I will probably make more conscious decisions about my food in the future. However, he objected me and said if I know what I know right now, I should start right now. I then objected by saying a) I like eating meat b) I do not have the right economic resources to shop wisely, because of my lifestyle. Besides if I tell my mom that I will become a vegetarian, she would be very, very concerned (my mom is those type of people that think vegetarians are not well-fed). He kind of pointed out that I was being ignorant and hypocriticial between my ideas and actions, and the way he persuaded me made me want to prove myself. So I declared to him right then and there that I would try being a vegetarian for a week, just to have him eat his words. Hugo was very happy about that.For the week, I practiced "Pesco-vegetarianism" (someone who eats plants, dairy products, eggs, and seafood). Ever since I declared this to the house, Charles and Cheryl decided to join me - only they are actually doing it for a month. I would not be able to do that, but because of them I decided to extend it for another week. Maxime was doing it too, but she eventually dropped out (I don't exactly know when though). So far the experience is actually easier than I thought, although I had 3 occasions where I was greatly challenged due to circumstances:

1) Volunteering for the spaghetti dinner on Friday - We were all given free spaghetti meals as volunteers, but since the sauce had meat I couldn't have any. Cheryl and Charles ignored the rule and ate up. I toughed it out and had orange salmon leftovers that night (pat on shoulder)
2) Saturday morning - Free pancake breakfast. Well technically it's not free, since Lorraine paid for us. But they were serving all you can eat pancakes and SAUSAGES! SAUSAGES! I LOVE SAUSAGES! And the serving ladies were so cruel...one of them emptied a fresh batch of sausages right in front of me...damn that was harsh.
3) Sunday night dinner - Pineapple and ham. The one good thing about the whole situation is that I didn't actually have dinner with them (I was in the Travel Center using the computer with Stephen) so I missed dinner. But when I had dinner I saw the ham right at the kitchen, calling out for me...it didn't help that Mike and Maxime ate the ham and taunted me as they do it :P

Anyways one more week to go...

Actual Reference Letter

Betty Ann just dropped by with more things for me to update, and she gave me the final copy of my reference letter. I haven't read it yet, so I will read it as I type it...man I am actually a bit nervous, probably because she told me she made quite a bit of changes...

February 12, 2007

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter of reference is being provided for Angel Tang, a Katimavik participant who worked for the Blind River Chamber of Commerce from December 2006 through to February 2007 as my office assistant. It has been a rewarding experience working with Angel thse past few months.

Angel has good communication skills and presents herself well. She is keen to learn and is not afraid to provide interesting insights to the job at hand.

Angel works very well on her own. This was an important skill for the position with the Chamber as she spent most of her time at the Travel Centre on her own. Angel is organized and uses her time wisely as was evident in the work that was completed on various projects she was involved with. Angel takes instructions and suggestions well whether they be in person, email, or over the phone.

Overall, Angel was an asset for the chamber during the time we had with her. She possesses many traits that would be beneficial to any company. I would highly recommend her to any future employers.

Yours truly,

Betty Ann Dunbar
President
Blind River Chamber of Commerece

Well...that's wasn't so bad at all. However she just made me realize how bad my English grammar is...yikes...

Personality/Sex Quiz

Remember during New Year's Eve party/Coffee House, I said my performance was doing a quiz on everyone? Well I thought you guys may be interested to have it on the blog...here it is:

Dream House

Read the following questions, imagining the scenes in your mind, and write down the FIRST thing that you visualize. Do not think about the questions excessively. This is a relational psychology test and the answers given to the questions have been shown to have a relevance to values and ideals that we hold in our personal lives.

1. You are walking in the woods. Who are you walking with?
2. You are walking in the woods. You see an animal. What kind of animal is it?
3. What interaction takes place between you and the animal?
4. You walk deeper into the woods. You enter a clearing and before you is your dream house. Describe its size.
5. Is your dream house surrounded by a fence?
6. You enter the house. You walk to the dining area and see the dining room table. Describe what you see on and around the table.
7. You exit the house through the back door. Lying in the grass is a cup. What material is the cup made of (ceramic, glass, paper, etc.)?
8. What do you do with the cup?
9. You walk to the edge of the property, where you find yourself standing at the edge of body of water. What type of body of water is it (creek, river, ocean, etc...)
10. How will you cross the water?

Analysis

1. The person who you are walking with is the most important person in your life.
2. The size of the animal is representative of your perception of the size of your problems.
3. The severity of the interaction you have with the animal is representative of how you deal with your problems (passive, aggressive).
4. The size of your dream home is representative of the size of your ambition to resolve your problems.
5. No fence is indicative of an open personality. People are welcome at all times. The presence of a fence is more indicative of a closed personality. You'd prefer people to not drop by unannounced.
6. If your answer did not include food, people, or flowers then you are generally unhappy.
7. The durability of the material with which the cup is made is representative of the perceived durability of your relationship with, the person from number 1. For example, Styrofoam, plastic, and paper are disposable; Styrofoam, paper, and glass (ceramics) are not durable; and metal and plastic are durable.
8. Your disposition of the cup is representative of your attitude toward the person in number 1.
9. The size of the body of water is representative of the size of your sexual desire.
10. How wet you get in crossing the water is indicative of the relative importance of your sex life.

Reference letter

So anyways after the letter/lunch/photo maintenance I am back for more blogging...

Here's the reference I wrote for myself (what a strange concept):

February 12, 2007

To Whom It May Concern:

This reference letter is provided at the request by Angel Tang, a Katimavik participant who worked for me from December 2006 – February 2007 as my office assistant in Chamber of Commerce. My experience with her for these three months has been an interesting one, as I supervise her and learn about her personality and work habits.

At the beginning, Angel presented herself as a person with a good amount of work experience. She had good communication skills and was able to present herself well in the interview. As well, she seemed keen on learning and had interesting insights on her work position.

Through working with Angel, I found her to be someone who can work very well on her own. This is an important skill for her work position, for Angel was in charge of the Blind River Travel Center and she was alone most of the time there. As well, Angel is organized and efficient, as she helped me with several projects and these traits were inevitable in her work performance. Moreover, Angel handles my instructions and suggestions proficiently, despite the fact that I am not always with her in the office. This makes my role as a supervisor easier and simpler.

Overall, Angel was an asset for the Chamber during the time she was working for me. She possesses many traits that would be beneficial to other companies. I therefore would recommend her to future employments.

Yours truly,

Betty Ann Dunbar
PresidentBlind River Chamber of Commerce

I sent the letter to Betty Ann, and now I am just waiting for edits. Hopefully I achieved that fine balance between being a glowing letter for myself and not sounding too cocky, haha.

Random Stuff

So...it's another day of "work"...

I am actually happy about all this freedom and free time I get at work. It really is a sweet deal, me getting to use the computer for 8 hours on almost whatever I want - emailing/msning/working on this blog. In fact if it is not for what I am doing right now, the blog would not be set up so quickly. Anyways not until today does it really hit me that I have only 4 days of work to go; my last day of work is this Thursday, since Betty Ann is going on vacation to Los Cabos (Mexico) next week, and Stephanie and I are the house managers next week. I also can't believe we are almost leaving Blind River. Two more weeks...time really does fly.

When each Katimavik participant finishes their work placement, they are supposed to get a letter of recommendation/reference from their employers. However because this is Betty Ann's first year in actually dealing with Katimavik kids directly (previously it was Ross MacDonald, who was the office manager of the Travel Center plus Betty Ann's assistant who dealt with stuff like this), she doesn't really have an idea of the Katimavik paperwork that she needs to do. Because I suspected that I will not get a letter if I don't say anything, I reminded her today about the letter plus the work portfolio that we have to work on, and I suggested that if she didn't have a letter ready for me, then I would write one and she can edit it. Hahaha, my suspicions were correct - she took my suggestion and asked me to write my own reference letter. So this is what I am going to do right now...and tomorrow morning we will talk about my work portfolio (again it's my idea).

How exactly should I write a reference letter so that I don't sound biased on my account, but still give me an excellent advantage? Moreover how strange it is to write my own reference letter to begin with...

I shall google for ideas...be back later.

First Day of Billeting - Jan 19

Hey guys...

Don't you just hate it when you finish writing an email, and as you are about to send it or do something with it, you just accidentally closes it? Well, that's what happened to me and the Jan 19 email yesterday (Jan 29). Guess I will have to start over...

Jan 19

Well, as far as I can remember, not much happened in the morning time and work, so I will just jump straight into the exciting part of the day, which was for me around 4 pm and everyone pretty much was feverishly packing and preparing themselves for the billeting family, which arrives to pick us all up at 5 pm. So pretty much I only have an hour to pack for 2 weeks, but it wasn't as bad as it seems. In fact, I put all the things I needed into a medium sized suitcase, and I was pretty much done in 30 minutes...although I thought I packed too much though. After I was done, I went to the living room where people who were done hung out, and chillaxed a bit before my billeting family comes to pick me up. Pretty soon the families started arriving...first it was Maxime's family, so she was the first one to go. Before she left, she gave everyone goodbye hugs and when she got to me, she started tearing up...I absolutely could not believe it. I was like "Maxime, why are you crying? It's only 2 weeks!" And Aaron (who is actually Stephen's billeting family) comforted her by saying that because the town is so small, pretty much she will see everyone everyday...

Next it was Zach's family, and then Mike's family and my family came at the same time. It was only Sister Dianne who came to pick me up, and she is this dumpy 60 something year old lady. I said my goodbyes, and off we go to her house...Sister Dianne and Sister Trina live in this nice 3 level house which is too big for them by the travel center (where I work, in case you guys don't remember ;), which is the biggest reason why I was chosen to live with them. When we enter the house, I was greeted by Sister Trina, Dianne's older sister (equally dumpy) who was cooking in the kitchen. And a little farther I could see the cat, a fat black-and-white thing hovering in the distance. (For your interest - the cat actually has no real name. Dianne calls him whatever she wants depending on her mood - aka "fur baby" to "CAT!!" Trina calls him "Maui" majority of the time).

So anyways Dianne shows me my bedroom, which is also Trina's office. It looked strangely like a bed-and-breakfast type of room. I dropped off my things and Dianne continues giving me a tour of the house. Here's what the house consists of:
- Basement: An open area with some old furniture, a laundry machine and dryer, and lots and lots and lots of old Christmas decorations which the ladies hasn't finished packing away yet. As well, this is where the cat sleeps, so there is also a litter box and food.
- Main floor: A big living room with 3 comfortable couch-chairs (think granny chairs), a big TV, fireplace, plus lots of plants
A small/medium kitchen, fully functional
A nice dining room plus another living room
A tiny washroom
Trina's office/my room
- Top floor: A bathroom
Two big bedrooms, one for Trina and one for Dianne
An actual prayer room, complete with bible, pedestal/lecture stand, and statue of Jesus. This room made me slightly queasy and iffy about the Sisters. But then again, they are nuns, so what can I say?

After the tour, I had some time to unpack, and pretty soon dinner was ready. As we ate our meat tarts, the Sisters grilled me with questions...which is different that what I am used to because it's usually me that asks the question instead of the other way around. As well, they told me about this concert that's happening in the French Catholic high school around 7 pm, and they had bought a ticket for me to go with them. So after dinner, that's where we went.

When we got to the concert, Trina and Dianne led me to this row close by the stage where all their friends were sitting (later I found out this row was affectionately dubbed "the nuns' row") and they introduced me to their friends, whom most were senior-aged nuns. As well, Dianne introduced me as the Katimavik student that they got in for billeting...I always find it so funny that people's eyes light up when they find out that I am doing Katimavik and I am from Vancouver...and it doesn't help that Dianne presented me as if I was the newest toy in the market and she is lucky enough to have it in possession. In the concert, I saw Cynthia, who is living with another nun named Sister Bernadette...unfortunately they sat pretty far away from us so the only thing I could do was wave to her. Apparently this concert is a "nuns' event", because the performers are regular church-goers and they are there to support them. The concert that night was to raise money for the Rotary Club, which apparently is an organization that is similar to Katimavik, except it's worldwide and the person is doing it for a year (I am going to look into it when I have time). The whole performance revolves around a band which is a knock-off of the Dixie Chicks, and the performers looks eerily creepy to the Dixie Chicks, except they are much older...in fact this is probably how the Dixie Chicks will look like in 15 years time (No I am not kidding either, there's so much resemblance). Of course, they have a band that plays drums/bango/harmonica at the background, and they are all men (hahaha). For the next 3 hours, the band played mostly country music, especially songs by the Dixie Chicks. Surprisingly, the concert was really really good, even though I don't listen to country music all that much. a) The ladies can really sing and perform b) Who would think this tiny town would have talent, especially from 3 middle-aged ladies? I also really appreciate the fact that the lead singer (Louis) told many many jokes throughout the whole evening. Let's see what I can remember:

1) When God created the first man (aka Adam), God told Adam to spread the human species. Since Adam didn't know how to do that, God gave him a set of instructions - walk through the forest, swim through the river, go down the valley, climb up the mountain, find the cave, enter into the cave, find the woman, and reproduce. Again, because Adam has never done any of these things, God had to explain everything to him, step by step. Finally, Adam was ready to go, and he walks through the forest, swims through the river, goes down the valleu, climbs up the mountain, finds the cave, enters into the cave, and finds the woman. However, something happens, and he turns around and returns to God. When God saw him, he was confused and asks Adam, "why did you return?" Adam then asks God, "What's a headache?"

2) Once there were two sisters/nuns (and Louis adds, "No, they are not Sister Dianne and Sister Trina, hahaha") who were doing grocery shopping. They saw the beer was on sale, and they very much wanted to buy it and drink it up. However, they are nuns, so this makes the situation complicated. "What should we do?" asks nun #1. Nun #2 thinks about the situation, then says, "don't worry about it, let me handle the situation." So she picks up a case of beer and walks to the cash aisle, where the cashier gave her a very weird look but still rang it in. The nun laughs and says, "no no, we are not going to drink the beer, God forbid...it's for washing our hair!" As soon as she finishes saying that, nun#1 comes in and tosses a bag of pretzels next to the beer. "And don't forget our hair curlers," declares nun#1.

3) There was a man who went on a business trip, and he wondered how his home was doing. So he calls home and an obedient servant answers the phone. "How is the house? And how's my wife?" asks the man. "The house is good, sir", answers the servant, "and your wife is good too...she is sleeping with another man upstairs." The man instantly got very furious. "What?? How dare she sleeps with another man other than me...why they both must die!" So the man told the servant to go get his gun and kill both of them, and then report back to him. The obedient servant obediently did exactly what she heard. "Sir, I did what you told me," said the servant. "Good, good...what did you do with the gun?" asks the man. "I got rid of it," said the servant. "Excellent, and what did you do with the bodies?" asks the man. "I threw both of them into the swimming pool," answered the servant. "Good...wait, I have no swimming pool in my house though!" exclaims the man. Then he realized that he did something very, very terrible..."Is this 543-27...???"

So overall, I had an excellent evening, and when the concert ended and we got home, it was around 10:20 ish. Pretty much we wounded down and just watched TV for a bit (20/20: Credit card debts and frauds), while the Sisters continued to grill me with their questions and made comments about the shows. Around 11:30 I started getting sleepy, so I bided the sisters goodnight, took a shower, and went to bed.

Almost Billeting - Jan 18

Jan 18

Hmm...as per usual, I can't really think of what to say about the morning and work...same old same old I guess. So let us jump to after work...

The first thing I did as soon as I went home was to package my cookies that I baked the night before and try and hurry to the post office to send it out before the delivery truck leaves. Just as I thought...Mike and Charles ate a good number of my cookies, but good thing there are still a good number of them. As I was packing my cookies, Emilie was in the dining room preparing 10 packages of paperwork for us and our billeting family

(Ok guys here's a piece of information that you guys probably want to know about. In each trimester of the program, everyone in the group is assigned to a billeting family, whom he/she will live with for 2 weeks. The purpose of this is to allow us to know the local community and assimilate ourselves better, plus it is the only time where we are away from our group = privacy and alone time. This usually happens during the middle of each trimester, so for us it's from January 19 - February 2).

Emilie asked us to sign the paperwork that she prepared, and that's when I found out who my billeting family is - Sister Dianne and Trina, who are this pair of nuns and biological sisters, and they also have a fat cat in their house. I had actually met them a while ago in a party (I probably will write an email about that day, because surprisingly I still remember about it) and they seemed like pretty cool people. I am just not crazy about the fact that they have a cat and hopefully they are not going to try and convert me...

I went into "downtown" (cough cough) and into the post office...mailed the cookies (man, $8.24 for cookies which will take a week to arrive...or $18 something for 2-3 days...that's some expensive cookies), and went back home because apparently dinner will be early tonight since we have a workshop on leadership at Eckat High school. I can't remember much about dinner other than the fact that Zach actually made dessert and it was this chocolate mudslide thing that looks sickeningly sweet but everyone devoured it like there's no end to it...
Emilie couldn't come with us because she had to meet the billeting families for last minute details, so after dinner we ditched our dishes and walked to the high school, which was a 15-20 minute walk. As we walked, it was snowing and it was quite nice walking in the snow at night. Charles and Stephen were as per usual being their usual dickhead selves (haha)and pushed me around during the walk. So pretty much the walk there for me consisted of avoiding them and thinking of ways to revenge...I settled for powder face wash (throwing snow in their face) for both of them inside the building...needless to say I made myself a bigger target for them, but at least I was safe for now.

The person who was doing our workshop was this guy who used to be the principal of the high school, but is now retired. If I remember correctly his name was Jim. Well, let's call him Jim here, whatever...anyways he started off by having us play this game where we choose what animal (unfortunately we can only choose to be mammals, which I have no idea why) we want to be, and what animal we would not want to be. I chose to be the Sasquatch (because I like the privacy and the idea that I am a mystery), which everyone laughed at. Jim finds it interesting that I chose that answer, and that I chose to sit all the way at the back of the classroom. I told him that it's only because I have Stephen and Charles hunting me down (they both located themselves in the row next to me) and I must watch over them, haha. I chose the chicken as an animal I wouldn't want to be (I know that's not a mammal, but Maxime chose the rooster, so I felt I have a right to choose what I want too), because chickens are the most abused animal on earth right now. After he got everyone's answers, he asked "Why do you think I am doing this game and what does this have to do with leadership?"...which lead to his lecture on leadership.
So for the next hour (more like 45 minutes), he talked about what being a leader is about, and he told stories/drew diagrams/asked us questions/etc. I wasn't bored from his lecture, just because he is a charismatic speaker and had a lot of control with his words. As well, he analyzed certain people in the room (he said he bet Maxime is someone who gets going very easily in the morning, which we all laughed at because it's true), which was interesting. In a way, he reminded me a lot of Mr. Mackenzie, my old socials studies teacher in high school whom I had for 3 years and who is very popular in school. The only thing that I didn't agree with him was that a) he was a bit too Christian for me (in the lecture, he said that Jesus Christ is his leader and he is merely a follower, but he uses his power given from Christ to guide others) b) he thought Stephen Harper and Stephan Dion were excellent leaders (COUGH COUGH). But overall it was quite interesting. At the end, he wanted to do an activity of character analysis with us, but since we didn't have enough time (we were only supposed to be there until 8), he gave Rebecca the activity and told us to do it at home. And that's what we did. (The walk back home for me was interesting, because I walked all the way at the back of the group to avoid Stephen and Charles...but they didn't do anything to me, which may be the best revenge because the suspense kills, haha).
So anyways, back to the character analysis test. Pretty much the test is a questionnaire, with 11 questions and we have to pick one person in our group for each question. Now if I can remember what my test looks like (Unfortunately we can only choose one answer per question, no repeats...that sucks):

1) Who would you go to a party with - Zach
2) Who would you bring to your parents? - Rebecca
3) Who would you stay on a deserted island with - Stephanie
4) Who would you do hard work with - Charles
5) Who would you bring to a hospital - Maxime
6) Who would you choose as your best friend - Cheryl
7) Who would you study with - Cynthia
8) Who would you bring to a prison - Mike
9) Who would you have as a parent - Stephen
10) Who would you travel with - Me/Angel
11) Who would you have to teach you things - Emilie
Anyways, we all did that, and majority of the people chose Cheryl and Rebecca as "best friend", Maxime to "party", me and Stephen as "parent" (what???????), Cynthia as "study", Emilie to "teach you things", and me and someone else as "travel" (although that may not count on my part because I chose myself and apparently we are not allowed to do that, haha). Interesting test.

After that Emilie came back from the meeting and we had a little meeting about the billeting period. Pretty much the message is "have fun" and our code word if we were in danger/the family is "jeans" (eg. "How are you doing in the family?"..."My jeans are torn" - they are locking me up in the cellar). As soon as the meeting is done, I took a shower, and then had a loooooong phone conversation with a friend of mine. During the phone conversation Zach/Rebecca/Stephanie bugged me by dancing around me and chanting stupid things over the phone. As well, Cheryl/Charles/Maxime used Stephen's head to create a paper-maiche mohawk cap while I was talking on the phone...it was pretty funny to watch the creation of that as I was chatting, and poor Stephen...he is always used for projects like this. I remember the night where Charles/Stephen/Mike got haircuts and everyone had fun cutting his hair, haha (I didn't join in). Mike ended up getting it buzzed, haha.

I pretty much talked on the phone until almost everyone went to bed (it was 1:00 am?). I hung up the phone and saw Cheryl and Stephen are still in the living room. They must have been chatting and Cheryl ended up falling asleep on Stephen's lap, which was cute. I bided Stephen good night and went to bed.

My adventures with my billeting family starts tomorrow...

After the "Storm" - Jan 17

Jan 17

As per usual, there's not much worth talking about in the morning time or work. So I will just quickly fast-forward to after work...
(sound of tape being fast-forwarded)

After work, I came home and the first thing I did was try and finish writing all my postcards so I can send them out before the post office closes/the truck to send them out leaves. So anyways, I did that, then kind of walked around town a little bit before I returned home. Once I went home the first thing I did (other than refolding my laundry) was to brush my teeth since I didn't do that in the morning because I was so rushed to go to work and the washroom was occupied by someone else showering (yes, the joys of living with 10 other people with only one washroom, haha). So anyways things were fine and dandy until I turned on the tap...that's when I noticed the water was a very murky shade of red/orange/yellow...quite disgusting I know. I filled up a cup of it and went downstairs, and firsted asked Zach about the water, who was in the kitchen doing some kind of great surprise meal for dinner that night and even found a giant cloth to cover the doorway so no one can get in...he said, "yeah the water was like that in the kitchen earlier...but it's better now...and that's the water we are drinking tonight, haHa!" With that, he disappeared behind the curtain and continued with his surprise dinner. I then went to the living room to look for Emilie, who was jamming with Stephen. I showed her the water, and told her that when I flushed the toilet upstairs, the water is the same murky shade of color. She makes a face and then said she will go out to get water for us. As for me, I decided to run the tap a bit longer to let the water clear up a bit, and then brushed my teeth in the same water. That's when I started thinking about Vancouver, because the water there is relatively clean.

Supper rolls around, and it's really quite an affair. Zach and Maxime designed this thing where it's like we are eating in a restaurant, but there's a huge twist. Let me explain this clearly...

So we enter into the "dining hall" (which really consists of a long plain table with two beaches and chairs), which was dark and lit with candles...like a restaurant. Music was played (this celtic flute thing that Cynthia owns and she bought the CD from a museum in Calgary), and then Rebecca turned on the overhead fan and silver strings of graffiti foil started flying around the room from the fan...well more like they dropped from the fan and a huge clump of them fell into my lap...it was quite funny, and Rebecca was like "oops, it was much cooler in my mind"...

Anyways dinner finally happens, and Zach and Maxime comes along with individual menus. The menus however are not your average menus, as there are 16 items and each of them have strange names such as "baked wolf's heart" or "cucumber ice-cream". They told us that we have to order all 16 items, but 4 items will come out per course and our job is to number off what 4 items we want per course. Well because I don't know and I can't even guess what is what, plus since I am so adventurous...I decided to do 1/1/1/1/2/2/2/2/3/3/3/3/4/4/4/4, as did Emilie, who accused me of copying her :P

So after 5 to 10 minutes, our first course arrives...different people have different combinations of different things, ranging from bread/cake/spoon/toothpick to salad/knife/butter/water. This makes things very, very interesting because people may only have a knife to drink their soup, so we see creative ways of eating such was scooping the vegetables with a knife or whatever. For me, first course was such a tease, because I got knife/spoon/fork/teaspoon with no food. Zach and Maxime said everyone has 10 to 15 minutes for a course, so for me it's 15 minutes of watching people eat or trying to eat with their methods...some people speared their food with a knife, while others were rubbing their bread on the amount of margarine they were given. The way Cynthia ate her spaghetti cracked me up, because she would kind of dunk her whole head into the plate of spaghetti and slurp up the spaghetti into her mouth. Mike had a bowl of soup, plus a knife/a cup of juice/toothpick (or something like that). Unfortunately, he wasn't very creative or willing to try eating differently, despite the fact that we were urging him and giving up tips on how he should have his soup. After some "attempts", he just gave up and declared that he had enough...(shakes head)...what a waste of food.

So anyways 2nd course rolls around, but before they came with my 2nd course they took away everyone's 1st course. My 2nd course consists of salad/juice/toothpick/candy...which was cool, except the fact that I had no utensils to eat with, since all my utensils came out on 1st course!! But nothing can stop me from eating my food, so I just ate my salad with my hand, and so did Emilie.

3rd course for me was spaghetti/bread/butter/water...I secretly hid the water under my table because I knew the drinks were done for the 3rd course and I would have nothing to drink for dessert...not something I like.

4th course was carrot cake/extra icing sauce/something/something. This is when I silently pulled out my water from underneath my table and sipped some. People around me were like "where did that water came from?"...they figured that I hid the water and freaking told Zach and Maxime what happened. So they came back and fought with me for my water, with the guys around me helping them...grrrrrr...damn them. And for the rest of my dessert my mouth was filled with a heavy and sickly lingering of sweet taste...yuck. But all in all, the dinner they planned was very good and very creative...(applause)

So after supper we did dishes and house chores (well not everyone) and Aaron comes along with Matt to see Stephen...Emile got really mad that Matt came by when he wasn't supposed to (there's a good story to that which I will tell you all another time) and Aaron talked to her about it. They brought House DVDs to watch on Stephen's laptop, and that's what most of the people did for the evening activity. Me, I went to the convenience store to buy candy chocolates after realizing there were no more chocolate chips in the house (Maxime used them all up for the carrot cake) and I wanted to bake a batch of cookies for my friend who was "malnourished", haha. So anyways I did that, and for a while it was just me in the kitchen baking...and then Zach comes along because he had to make us lunch for the next day. So the two of us were in the kitchen working and casually chatting together for a while...and that's when I decided to ask him "So Zach, are you feeling better now? Is everything ok?"

He started by saying that no, Cheryl and him are not really talking right now, but he doesn't have the anger that he had yesterday...and then he just started talking about his thoughts, his behaviour, how he is with people and in the group, etc. etc. Our conversation lasted almost 3 hours, with him doing most of the talking and me listening to him...I don't really remember everything he said but here are things we talked about:
- his up and down mood swings
- his life in high school...trying to fit in and how he hates high school
- why most his friends are girls rather than guys
- his commitment and trust issues (that's when i was analyzing him)
- him having no personal space in the house (he is not the only one with this problem)
- his relationships (that's when I found out his first boyfriend cheated on him...is that why he has trouble being close to people?)
- how he gets along with certain people in our house more than others...this is where it was really interesting because we talked about a "what if" situation where if the program was to end the next day, he said he probably would lose touch with people within a month...
- Charles...he told me how he and Charles don't really talk in the house and he found out why...Charles wrote him a letter on how he feels uncomfortable around him because of his humour/sarcasm, plus he just doesn't feel like he can click with him (this is one of the ways people in the house communicate with others if they are unhappy with them). He was kind of degrading himself about it (at least that's what I felt), so I argued with him that Charles doesn't mean that, and I can back myself up on that because I actually read the letter (Charles asked me to read it and check the grammar before handing it to Zach, haha)...somehow about discussing this some more, Zach started crying...and to tell you the truth I was glad he cried because he is finally unleashing his emotions in a more helpful way rather than lashing it out negatively
- so so so so much more...i can't remember anymore

Summary: I am sooooo glad Zach and I had this talk, because a) Zach is someone who puts out this showy, happy-go-lucky personality most of the time, but would not really let people get close to him and learn about his "secrets"...pretty much his personality, plus his sarcasm is his defense mechanism to prevent people from getting to know the real him. But he was willing to tell me all these things that even his best friend doesn't really know about, which makes me really sad because he doesn't have an actual friend he can or he is willing to connect to...it must be so lonely.
b) Because he doesn't open himself to people, when it happens...it's like watching a shooting star fly across the sky...a rare event.
c) With this conversation, everything becomes crystal-clear about him...his mood swings, his "talk-behind-people" ways, etc, etc. Cheesily enough, I am going to quote Tyra Banks with her saying "There's no bitch in the world, only people with hurt souls"...Zach is the perfect example of that because beneath his sarcasm and dramatic personality, he is just an insecure person who wants acceptance and change for the better, but it is just unfortunate for him that the one thing our group focus on the most - communication - is his worst problem. So this 9 months will be very interesting and challenging for him.

- The End -....?