Woah

So, we're a little over a month into school. Apparently I've been pretty busy. Jeez. How did that happen? Thank goodness for profs who postpone assignments and give options to write midterms after practicum. Speaking of which, our first teaching block starts a week from Monday. Woah.

Huzzah

I had a good day today. Started off (kinda) early and went out for breakfast. Always a good start to the day. Then I went with my mom to a couple furniture stores. Saw some really nice stuff. It's too bad I've got expensive taste. All in due time, all in due time. After that, I relaxed at home for a bit and then went out to U of M. I did some around University Centre trying to get a few questions answered and get my ID card replaced. I thought this was a good thing, I'd get to take another (better) picture but it was not to be. They just used the picture they have on file and reprinted the card. Too bad. I then went to the bookstore and debated buying my educational psychology book but decided against it. I want to buy the book used so I can save the $30 but all the used textbooks had writing in them and I'm a book snob who doesn't want writing or highlighting other than my own in my books. Is that so wrong? After getting out of there, I went to a few stores to buy some school supplies without getting ripped off, University Bookstore-style. While at the store, I got a phone call from the guy I've been dealing with at the bank. I got approved for the student line of credit we had applied for at the amount we were hoping for. YAHOOOO! I have money for the school year. I will actually be able to afford school. That's a good feeling. Bring on the debt... Aiight, I'm done for now. Peace.

T-Minus Two Weeks

There's barely two weeks left until school starts. Mostly, i'm pretty excited. Scratch that, really excited.... But part of me is waiting for the inevitable realization that it isn't everything I might've built it up to be. But really, is it that bad? I know school won't be perfect - it is school after all - but in the least it's a means to an end and on its own that's kinda exciting. It's about time.

rules

A week and a half ago I was at the Inward Eye show with a friend and we got to talking about a very serious topic that she had recently been discussing with other friends... What was this important topic, you ask? Band/Tour t-shirts and other music-related fan paraphernilia.

We were talking about the rules surrounding the wearing of said t-shirts to concerts. The question that, I think, started the qhoe discussion:
Q: Is it appropriate to wear a band's t-shirt to that band's show?
A: No.

We did come up with a number of qualifiers, or exceptions, such as: if that shirt is in a foreign language from a tour in a foreign country, it is ok. If the shirt is "old school" and the band is on a reunion type tour, the acceptability of the shirt is questionable, but not out of the question. It's debatable, but you could end up with the dubious image of the burnout that's trying to hang on too long...very questionable.

Another no-no was the wearing of a shirt from one of the artist's former projects. As such, it would not have been acceptable to wear a Tool shirt to an A Perfect Circle show, just as it would not be ok to wear a Big Wreck t to a Thornley show. You get the point. It's like saying "I like your old stuff more, I'm only here because you used to be good (even if that's the truth).

I'm sure we came up with more rules, but really, i can't remember them right now. At the same time, though, just following these easy rules may prevent you from looking like a complete loser at your next show. Enjoy. I'm off to watch Inside Man. I hear it's good.

more familiar than before

Current events are disturbing. I don't want to get into a whole political discourse here, that's not what I'm about. At the same time, though, I have to say, the whole Israel-Lebanon-Hezbollah conflict has definitely strick a chord with me. It's hit me closer to home than any of the other Israeli/Middle East issues have, I think.

There's a really simple explanation for this closeness. When I was in Israel in 2004 (on Birthright), one of the places we went to was a kibbutz near Kiryat Shmona, on the Israeli border with Lebanon. We met a man named Mike, originally from New York. He was now living on that kibbutz, working with the Magen David Adom (the Israeli Red Cross).

Mike from New York, as he was known, was an amazing speaker. He imparted on us some of the feelings he had after choosing to live in that area. He shared with us some of the past dangers they'd experienced on the kibbutz and some history of the area in general. We also learned that the area was fairly calm, at that time, though they knew that it would take very little for conflict to arise again. As they say, history repeats itself, I guess (in some form or another).

We were on that border, the border where so much has gone on over the last few weeks. I have felt much different hearing news about the 'conflict' in Israel and Lebanon that I have felt before. It's different, having been in the very place that rockets are flying over. It's different, almost more personalized, than thinking that it's just some place I'd read about or heard stories of... I remember the feeling I felt looking out over land below us, knowing that I was looking out into Lebanon. A different country, a border barely beyond us, yet such differences on the two sides of that border. It's amazing that two groups can be so physically close yet so far apart in so many ways. This picture was taken near the border. The land behind us is Lebanon.

So much of the region surrounding Israel is like that. So many different people, viewpoints, histories, and ideologies. It's no wonder there's tension in the area. I don't claim to have a solution to the problems of the region. But wow, what a long road ahead...

An insult to his mother?!?!

I got pretty into the FIFA World Cup over the last month or so. Originally I was hoping for England while also pulling for France. Once England got knocked out, it was "Allez Les Bleus" all the way. I was excited to watch them advance into the big final. I was really hoping for them to win, especially as a fitting way for Zinedine Zidane to end his career. Or so I thought. They had a decent game going during extra time, seemingly headed to penalty kicks to decide it all. Then one of the best penalty kickers in the world went ahead and headbutted Marco Materazzi. Along with much of the rest of the world, I was surprised. Very surprised. Wow.

Then, watching the news tonight, Zizou revealed that what set him off was an insult to his mother. Whaaaaa? An insult to his mother (possibly) lost the World Cup for France. Damn. That's a little much, if you ask me. I was prepared to defend Zidane if it was something worse, like being called something like a dirty terrorist... This is a little different. Crappy, crappy deal.

summertime

I don't have much to say, so this ones gonna be a quickie.

It's summer. It's hot (surprise). It's almost 10:00 at night and it's still 30 degrees outside (and almost that hot in my apartment - though I'm not complaining).

I am excited to go back to school in the fall. On Monday, I got my schedule for school next year. Iooks decent, though Mondays could get a little harsh during the first semester. I have class from 8:30 until 5:00 with 20 minute breaks and a half hour for lunch. But, at the same time, I don't have classes on Fridays until second semester. That's a good thing. I can handle that.

Aaaand, I'm done. Told you it was gonna be a short entry.

I chime in...

Wow, I am still loving listening to Panic! At The Disco... I wonder how long it will take for P!ATD to no longer be my flavour of the week. Any other recommendations? Hmm... It's been almost a month now. I guess that's not such a bad thing, but I must say, I am getting not so good at just opening media player and letting it go on random. I'm definitely not giving all my music equal play. Oh well.

At the same time, though, I am enjoying listening to some of the Arctic Monkeys music. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna turn on one of their songs right now... (turns out that it's I Bet You'd Look Good on the Dance Floor, surprise).

Last Friday, I went to the Inward Eye show. Everyone was busy, so I went on my own. Yep, they're good enough to go solo to their show. I'm a bit of a loser, but at least it was a really solid show. Those guys are going to be really good one day, really popular. Can't wait til they finish the recording the've been doing down in L.A... should be really, really good. Watch out for them.

I can't wait for the end of the schol year next week. This last week and a half has been dragggggging. (In our staff room someone put up a sheet of 'Top Ten Reasons You Know It's June in a School'. #5 - The thought of summer (and sleeping in) help you make it through Monday... Isn't that the truth?)

I am so excited to go back to school in September. Hooray for school.

My apartment is so not tidy right now. It's pathetic. I am finding random excuses why I don't want to or won't put away the clean laundry that is sitting on my couch. I've also got a whole bunch of dirty laundry to deal with, too. Darn. Not like it's going to get totally dealt with any time soon. Retirement party for my mom Thursday(What comes before Part B? Par-tay...). Off to Brandon for Junior Provincials on the weekend. Guess stuff's gotta get done tomorrow night - or it won't get done. Oh well.

Enough random ramblin' for me. Time for bed. Goodnight.

In!

I got my letter from U of M yesterday. I got in. I got into an Education program! Needless to say, I'm really, really excited. School starts in September and give me two years and I will be a certified teacher. Coolness. Very, very cool. Finally, I know what I want to do and it's all falling into place.
That's the news of the moment, surprise.

It's Juuuuune.

Sick days are a good thing. I took one today. It ended up being (surprise!) a lazy day. I spent the day alone at my parents' condo being lazy, sleeping and watching TV. Satellite TV is a good way to avoid watching daytime television.

The summer job hunt is going alright. I had one interview earlier this week and have another one scheduled for Monday. I'm hopeful about the interview from earlier this week. I think it could be a pretty good job. We'll see...

We are getting ever closer to the release of admissions decisions from U of M. I could know as early as a week tomorrow. Geez... BUT, knowing is a good thing. (Especially if it's a go)

Listening to my music right now, I'm reminded of a short conversation I had with one of my swimmers. She was wearing a Panic! At the Disco shirt and I commented "good band". Her response was something like, 'yeah, but now all these preppy people like them', to which I laughed and said (only kinda jokingly) 'hey, i'm one of them!"... My question, then, is this: Am I one of those preppies? Am I just a big bandwagon jumper, when it comes to music? I guess it's hard to argue otherwise, especially when I look at the bands that are popping up most often on my playlist lately: Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, James Blunt, Matisyahu, and (not so recently) Coldplay... Also, if I am a music preppy, is that a bad thing? I mean, really, what do I care? Should I care? Do I care?

sitting here.

I am the world's best procrastinator. Not only am I great at task avoidance, I am pretty darn good at convincing myself that the procrastination is OK. Haha. I can pull the wool over my own eyes. That's talent, I tell you. I finally printed off cover letters to get on with my job hunt. It only took 5 tries to get the letter printed without mistakes and whatnot. It's a good thing I have a full package of paper...

Work has been interesting lately, been taking on a lot of responsibility that may or may not be something I should do (depending on who you ask). For the most part, I appreciate the responsibility. It tells me that the people I work with trust me enough. That's good. Job descriptions are mere suggestions, right?

I think that June 9th is never going to come. I want it to be June tomorrow. I want it. I want it now. Too bad life doesn't work that way. I think the week after June 9th is going to be a little nutso. It will start of with waiting to find out if I get into U of M. After that, the next step will be (a) Jubilation and extreme happiness if I get accepted or (b) I don't even want to think about (b). Let's just hope for (a), OK?

My mom and I went to a funeral for the mother of one of my mom's nursery students on Monday. It was hard. It was difficult for me, but I can't imagine what other people go through in these situations. Geez... On the upside, the girl didn't wait five minutes after the funeral to come find my mom and talk to her. It just shows the relationships we can build with our students. This girl could have gone to anyone in the room, yet she chose her teacher, someone she felt comfortable with, someone she could trust. Wow. Talk about positively influencing the kids. Cool.

Final words: Long weekend AND Da Vinci Code this weekend. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Interview => Done.

The interview at U of M was yesterday. I think I got pretty lucky with the writing topic I chose (integration) and the questions we were asked in the interview. I think it all went pretty well. Too bad those two things (written expression exercise/interview) only count for 30 points out of 75. Damn you, GPA. You should not count for 45 of of those points. Makes me wish I'd done a little more school in my undergrad. Ah well, what's done is done. Dunzo. Very much so. Now I get to wait a month before I find out. It could be worse. It could be two months, right?

Tomorrow night I'm going to the Matt Mays/Black Crowes show at the MTS Centre. Got a ticket to the suite my step-dad's office has a part of. Sweet. Hopefully I'll find someone to take the extra ticket I've got within the next 18 hours. If not, well, that sucks. I never realized how many Black Crowes songs I actually know. And to think, I only really wanted to see Matt Mays and El Torpedo. This concert could be cool. Very cool.

On that note, I'm gonna head off to bed, or more accurately, to watch another show in the first season of Entourage. Geez. I could watch TV shows from only two networks and I would be a happy person -- HBO and (shudder) MTV. Wait a sec.... that would mean I'd have to give up watching 24. Scratch that idea. Kill that noise... I'm outta here.

summer job?

It's almost summer. School's almost out -- 2 months from now all the little kiddies will be free for 8 weeks. Hoooooray. The problem is, that means that I will be out of a job. Arrgh. I guess I have to look for a job for the summer. That stinks, I think. I want to get a job, a good (decent) job. I'm looking into different options, but I have to start taking it more seriously. Two months may seem like a long time but, really, I'm starting behind the 8-ball because the university students can already start their jobs right away, now, while I have to wait until June 30th. Doesn't mean I can't get a job, it just means that a lot of the good ones will already be taken. I need to look into jobs that are somewhat related to what I do now - maybe tutoring, maybe respite, something like that. We shall see...

Moreover, it should be one of the last times I have to go through this... Education interview, May 8th. Results, June 9th. Fingers crossed.

Good times

Life has been good lately. Reason number one -- got an interview for U of M's B.Ed program. I'm so excited about that.
Reason number two -- the not-so-good US geography course I was taking is over. Exam is done. Course over. Yay.
Reason number 3 -- well, for that one, you're just gonna have to talk to me personally. Really.

flickr pictures

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what if...

Haha - if only Prof. Brym hadn't completely ruined my sociology aspirations in first year... what a poor excuse for a professor.

You scored as Sociology. You should be a Sociology major! Psychology 83% Anthropology 83% Sociology 83% Theater 75% Linguistics 67% English 67% Philosophy 67% Engineering 58% Journalism 50% Art 50% Dance 42% Mathematics 42% Biology 25% Chemistry 17% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) created with QuizFarm.com