CWY Meeting Recap

Well, I managed that CWY thing. On my way there, the Greyhound filled up and they couldn't take everyone in one trip. On my way back, it was the same. Both times I made it on, but not by a very wide margin, so I overheard the bus driver telling the passengers who couldn't make the first one what their situation was. For Guelph-to-Toronto, there was a second bus coming. For Toronto-to-Guelph, there was nothing.

Are they... allowed to do that? And why are the buses so packed, anyway? I've taken the Guelph and Toronto Greyhounds many times before, and I've never seen this before. And I can't explain it away as it being a busy time of the week, because I've used them at those times before, too.

Little scary, because both times, I got in line about 20 minutes early, and both times, I almost missed my bus.

The meeting itself was pretty standard. It was five hours long and didn't really offer any new information. Their conception of "fundraising" is a joke. By their standards, when all those people gave me money and gear for Katimavik, that was me "fundraising". They had a lot of high-end ideas about hosting events and getting funding from big organizations and important people, but come on. The mayor's not going to pay for my trip. Are you serious.

We asked them what they did for fundraising and they all basically answered either, "I asked my family and friends" or "I paid for it myself".

I think they want the program to seem accessible to everyone, so they call it "fundraising", but when it comes down to it, they really mean "It costs $3000". Again, not unreasonable for a program that'll cost them $18000, but I wish they wouldn't so extensively detail a fake label they're only using to make themselves look better. Would've saved me a trip if they just told me to pay $3000.

I know that CWY is an actual, government-sponsored organization devoted to doing good, and probably something worth donating to, the one awkward bit being that donating to it is also directly donating to me. But if it were about that, they wouldn't accept payment out of pocket.

Me and one other guy arrived for the meeting at exactly the same time. We were both from Guelph, we were the first ones there, we were the two tallest people at the meeting, and we hung out afterward and then travelled back on the same Greyhound together. He didn't take the Greyhound to Toronto, but in a way, that just makes the coincidences weirder, since they're harder to play out.

I paid $7 for a burger!!! ARGH!!! I mean, it was a pretty good burger, but come on! I can believe airport food being expensive, since rich people travel by plane, but poor people travel by bus, so I'm surprised bus terminal food is similarly priced. That was the best deal I could find there. My friend paid $9 for a burger.

Seemed like a lot of people at the meeting were younger than me. Doing the program fresh out of high school, which I guess is optimal. There were some people younger than me, though. My counterpart will probably be in the 21-25 demographic since that's what I fit into, and they try to match by age.

They asked me what my prioritizations were, and I told them to put me down as "open". That means, put me anywhere. Why not? With a program like this, you have to be ready for anything. No program is the the same. I guess it's best to take a bit of control when it comes across your way, but honestly, I've got no idea what I want.

I'm almost guaranteed a spot inside the four months from June. Last year, everyone that attended one of those meetings got placed, although not necessarily where they wanted.