Employment and Financial Stuff

Hey, so I got my final Katimavik reference letter. Apparently, she had no notion of the undertones of four of the other's in the group, either, because she says, "Gryphon was an asset in developing good relations with his host community, the other members of his group, and his project leader", "In many occasion, he opened himself to the group and shared sensitive personal reflections that favour a positive group feedback and dynamic", "Gryphon showed an irrepressible commitment to his group and the program. He maintained a spirit of teamwork and and cooperation and also always seemed preoccupied about everybody's well-being. He showed respect to all his peers at all times which was appreciated by everybody."

She also mentions my bread making, and how I didn't think I could do it at first, but developed confidence and ability at doing it. I'm never sure what to think when reference letters make a statement about you overcoming a challenge. I mean, it gives a better story, and challenges are how you illustrate effective character development, but this isn't a story, it's an advertisement. I'd almost rather it were like "Gryphon is a power-house of bread-making! He totally showed loads of confidence when he nominated himself as the group bread-maker, which was totally warranted!!!!!!"

A lot of reference letters like to make a statement about a challenge you overcame. Maybe it shows adaptability and quick-learning? I'd still kind of rather they imply I know everything, so I have no need to learn or adapt :P

I had to log into my Katimaroute account (that's where they put my data, travel information and stuff) because they accidentally deleted 17 of my questions from my post-Katimavik quiz. At first they were like "Greetings, Katimavik Alumni... Katimavik needs your help!!!" They were like, treating it like I was some superhero, and they were calling for me to rescue them, but then they were like, "We deleted 17 of your questions by mistake. Please, please rewrite them?" and then their dramatic eloquence became logical. Now that I'm on the outside, I don't have to help them, so they better be nice! I still helped them.

Anyway, what I wanted to say was, when I logged in, they had my age listed as 21. I didn't turn 21 until after I graduated. So they keep active, and still update my Katimaroute page, even after I graduate? Kind of weird.

Another thing I noticed was that, Charlottetown has photos of their group displayed on the front page of the gokatimavik website! Yowzers! That's a kind of significant accomplishment, and I almost feel famous by association. They were a fellow group from our first cluster.

I made a second resume. My first one has my temp work separated to individual sections, and my Katimavik work was smashed together in one, as was my professional writing. In my second resume, my Katimavik and professional writing are separated, and my temp work is fused. So one is for more industrial or entry-level positions, and the other is for jobs that specifically call for one of my other credentials. I guess my resume has reached the tailoring stage. It still all fits on one page.

I feel sick. I've got some kind of bad cold. Stuffed nose and throat, fever, coughing, and sneezing. That kind of thing. I didn't go to Karate much last week because of it, and I hope it doesn't impede me this week, but I still feel pretty bad. I'm pretty sure I've explained it on this blog, but I usually get sick once in Fall and once in Spring. It's like a tradition.

One thing that always freaks me out about gaining stellar attendance for Karate is that, because time perception is memory-based, the intensity of that hour and a half can feel like I spend the majority of my life in that dojo, when the rest of my life is uneventful and doesn't hold memories. And since the classes can have a bit of a militant feel, and I dodged the military... Well, I think it's healthy to have some aspect of your life be about physical exertion and taking instruction, but when you feel like it's the majority of your life... It's sort of like eating. Eating is a healthy thing to do, but it's not healthy to be eating for the majority of your life.

So, what I do on a weekly basis now with my old highschool friends every Tuesday is play Dungeons and Dragons. The geekiest thing you can possibly do. Haha, I'm cool with that, though. If you're going to do something, might as well do it right, right? My character is a Warforged Sorcerer, meaning a sentient suit of armor that was made from the soul of a humanoid, torn out and imbued in this mechanical body. He has no memory of his former life. His deal is that he was created as a slave, he's wandering around freeing slaves. That's how he got connected with these guys' story, since they're in a slaving country.

There was never a fight after my character got introduced. He was all chained up on a ship that sails on sand, which had offered to give the main party a ride. The captain thought my character was a construct(a robot that runs on magic instead of electricity, and has no soul) and so he thought his sentiency was some kind of glitch and decided to chain him up and sell him. My character got bought, he wanted to kill the captain because of his freedom thing, and the main party decided to get into it. But instead of starting a fight, they all calmed down long enough to think to intimidate the captain off of the ship when he was alone, leaving him our old cart, and then we had my character transform into the captain with magic, call the crew members, have my character hand ownership over to one of our group members, and then have the "captain" pretend to commit suicide.

So we wound up with a pirate crew and a ship full of riches. We loaded it up to be a moving fortress that glides across the desert, and we didn't get in a single fight.

Let me quickly tell you about Welfare. I applied, they said that we needed to apply as a family, and Mom needed to be the one to do that. Mom applied, they said I needed to apply separately. I applied, and they said I couldn't apply separately! So they finally took me on as a dependent adult. They guarantee to call back within 24 hours, but they never do. It took about two days wait by the phone for every application.

Plus, they grill you something mean.

"Have you ever lived away from home?"
"I was in a six-month program where I was living away from home."
"Is that the only time you've lived away from home?"
"...Yes."
"Are you employed?"
"No."
"Were you employed before you took this program?"
"...I had some temporary employment and was doing odd jobs."
"Is that all?"
"...Yes."
"Have you done any post-secondary?"
"...No."
"Are you married?"
"No."
"Have you ever been married?"
"...No."
"Do you have any children?"
"No." (Okay, maybe that one is kind of responsible)
"Are you single?"
"YES, OKAY!!!"

They totally make your life sound unrewarding and worthless.

I'd also like to point out that you get less money for applying as a family. So families make less money than adults. I don't know, but that sounds kind of backwards.