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?)
Friday, February 16, 2007
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.
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..
Thursday, February 15, 2007
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?
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?
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
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?
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)
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...
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...
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
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...
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...
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