I got a message from my PL the other day. She sent it entirely in French, with a small English explanation, saying that she hoped we were resourceful enough to find a way of translating it, either through someone with strong enough French, or through French/English dictionaries. So I copy/pasted it into Google Translate, and this is what I found out.
La Pocatier uses "very little" English, and in Karaj (that's how it's pronounced and an acceptable spelling, it seems) English is "almost nonexistent". All activities and events will be in French.
So it's six months of French immersion for me. In Katimavik, the French participants always complained that us English couldn't understand the psychological barrier of always holding conversation in a language you didn't think in, or of being completely isolated in it. Even when we reached our French placement, it was in Cree Nation, with English as primary, Cree secondary, and French... tertiary? The most us English ever had to complain about was learning to communicate with people who had English as a second language, through English. Now that I'm going into a program with French as the dominant language, and I'm less prepared for it than any of the French participants that I knew,I'll be sure to let them know if their complaints were justified.
My PL also seems to have crazy credentials. She's dealt with people a lot tougher than... me, at least. And from what I've found out about the other participants, and from what I'd expect of students in a program like this, them, too. She's been to a lot of places, and extensively. And she'll be traveling with us.
French is the official language of Mali, but the "language of trade" is Bambara, and MyFile changed my program language to French/Bambara.
I'm starting a new bank account. I hate banking. I don't get it, and people get irritating when they talk about it. When I first started out, the person who was teaching me about banking told me to get an account at some trendy new banking... thing. Then a lot of people got irritated at me, and someone else got me to start an account somewhere else, but that place also got people angry. Every time it starts getting people angry, then the people who reacted positively at first are all like, "It was a bad idea and I always knew it was!" No, you didn't! And then, when you ask why it's a bad idea, or what's bothering people,they start using words I don't understand, and then they start talking about completely random things.
And every time I start somewhere new, there's some complication, and they grill me like a job interview, and everything is just very uncomfortable.
So I'm starting one at the most mainstream bank I can find, and maybe everyone can shut up.
I forgot to say yesterday, Yellow Belt (3rd rank) is, along with Brown (8th rank) the Belt with the highest dropout rate. So getting past Yellow is kind of a big deal. I'm not considered a beginner anymore. I'm now intermediate, and I'm qualified to spar.
1st Degree Black Belt is though, I guess, another one of the belts with the highest dropout rate, if you can count it. Hitting Black Belt is such a goal for everyone that, once they get it, they might say they're going for their 2nd degree, but most people don't feel the motivation to work so hard for something that doesn't get them a new belt.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Got My Orange Belt
I got my Orange Belt! Remember my description of the last grading? All frowns and intensity and pain? And that I was the only white belt grading in a group of all adults going for advanced ranks? Well, this time it was a huge group, with lots of kids. I was one in four Yellows, three of us adults. The two other adult Yellows were the only adults grading this time around.
So, because of that, the super-tough attitude of the last grading didn't come through so much. No, "Who feels like more push-ups?!" "Me sir!" "I can't hear you!" "ME SIR!". Apparently they don't do that so much with kids. I even got to see some kids do that advanced kata that, in the last grading, included a blackbelt beating the tar out of you while you had to keep dancing. It didn't come across as a real beat-down this time around. It was more like, applying pressure to a shoulder here to test their balance, pushing on their fist as it extended to test strength... If that had been the first demonstration of the kata I'd seen, I wouldn't have called it a beat-down... I would have called it a series of technique checks.
But even with the lighter attitude, the endurance testing wasn't any easier. It was slightly humiliating, seeing some of those kids looking better than me during that testing. I broke a couple times on the slow push-up. Last time, I told you that I held a wall sit until my shaking knees shook the wall, and the shaking wall shook a picture frame, and it's clattering attracted the attention of blackbelts. No matter how long and painful, I've never broken on a wall sit. It'd be so dramatic and obvious, while, with a slow push-up, you break, and you're up again in a split second. Plus, you've got things to concentrate on and do, and that might trigger the collapse, whereas a wall sit is just holding one stance. But even so, I feel like I had a bit more lenience with myself this time than last time.
Last time, I thought there was a good chance I wouldn't get the belt if I screwed up, and everyone around me was so pro, I thought I needed to live up to their standard. This time around, even though I was concentrated on doing my best, with more people, and less judges, the focus taken off you, seeing others fail, receiving encouragement and knowing you're going to succeed... It kills that little edge you get from that gut-feeling of adrenalin.
I think I did well, though. At the end, when you go through, shaking hands and bowing with each judge, I got a lot of specific praise outside of the traditional "Congratulations". The guy who let me squeak through let me know ahead of time he'd be paying attention to the stance he almost held me back for. He let me know afterwards that I did way better than I had during striping. The head Sensei said this was my best grading yet, which I didn't honestly feel had too much impact as a complement, since I've only ever graded one time before. It still means I improved more Yellow-Orange than White-Yellow.
In the self-defense section, because there was an uneven number of students, they had me practice on a blackbelt judge. That means I perform twice as much, and I constantly attract the attention of at least one judge. That happened last time, too.
I got corrected once, and a judge caught my eye at one point and gestured a suggestion for one of my stances, but that wasn't too bad. Two advanced ranks needed to be talked through their katas at certain points, and one guy got pulled aside to be given advice on his performance.
On my way to the dojo, a muskrat charged me!It bounced out of the tall grass, ran at me, and then, when it was about two feet from me, it flipped sideways and disappeared into the grass. I guess something must have startled it, it ran out in a panic, ran into me, and booked it in a different direction. Or maybe it was a mother and it's young were nearby, so I just accidentally stepped too close and it tried to scare me off. I was so focused on Karate, I just registered it as a low strike and I automatically moved into my low block. But good luck blocking something that's a foot high! Would've ran right under my fist. It would have been better self-defense just to boot it.
Made an impression though, apparently, because that night I had a dream about a friendly, fuzzy, cute-looking creature biting me, turning into an eight-foot tall body builder, and charging me. I guess it symbolizes something cute and sweet-seeming suddenly gaining an intimidating and ferocious appearance, like it did in real life. Strangely, though, in my dream, a friend of mine kicked it in the back of the knee, causing it to stumble, and I swept it's legs over my shoulder and flipped it, making it tumble down a flight of stairs and be ultimately defeated. I then reached out to it with words and helped it overcome it's psychological problems which caused it to attack me (a raccoon tricked it into thinking something untrue about me), and it turned back from the bodybuilder into it's fuzzy woodland creature self.
Also, that creature wasn't a muskrat. It was a shrew. And the dream started with someone telling me that you can't trust shrews, and me telling them they were wrong. The moral of the dream seemed to be that you can trust shrews, but you need to have good communication.
Well, that doesn't sound so related to my muskrat anymore. Whatever.
So, because of that, the super-tough attitude of the last grading didn't come through so much. No, "Who feels like more push-ups?!" "Me sir!" "I can't hear you!" "ME SIR!". Apparently they don't do that so much with kids. I even got to see some kids do that advanced kata that, in the last grading, included a blackbelt beating the tar out of you while you had to keep dancing. It didn't come across as a real beat-down this time around. It was more like, applying pressure to a shoulder here to test their balance, pushing on their fist as it extended to test strength... If that had been the first demonstration of the kata I'd seen, I wouldn't have called it a beat-down... I would have called it a series of technique checks.
But even with the lighter attitude, the endurance testing wasn't any easier. It was slightly humiliating, seeing some of those kids looking better than me during that testing. I broke a couple times on the slow push-up. Last time, I told you that I held a wall sit until my shaking knees shook the wall, and the shaking wall shook a picture frame, and it's clattering attracted the attention of blackbelts. No matter how long and painful, I've never broken on a wall sit. It'd be so dramatic and obvious, while, with a slow push-up, you break, and you're up again in a split second. Plus, you've got things to concentrate on and do, and that might trigger the collapse, whereas a wall sit is just holding one stance. But even so, I feel like I had a bit more lenience with myself this time than last time.
Last time, I thought there was a good chance I wouldn't get the belt if I screwed up, and everyone around me was so pro, I thought I needed to live up to their standard. This time around, even though I was concentrated on doing my best, with more people, and less judges, the focus taken off you, seeing others fail, receiving encouragement and knowing you're going to succeed... It kills that little edge you get from that gut-feeling of adrenalin.
I think I did well, though. At the end, when you go through, shaking hands and bowing with each judge, I got a lot of specific praise outside of the traditional "Congratulations". The guy who let me squeak through let me know ahead of time he'd be paying attention to the stance he almost held me back for. He let me know afterwards that I did way better than I had during striping. The head Sensei said this was my best grading yet, which I didn't honestly feel had too much impact as a complement, since I've only ever graded one time before. It still means I improved more Yellow-Orange than White-Yellow.
In the self-defense section, because there was an uneven number of students, they had me practice on a blackbelt judge. That means I perform twice as much, and I constantly attract the attention of at least one judge. That happened last time, too.
I got corrected once, and a judge caught my eye at one point and gestured a suggestion for one of my stances, but that wasn't too bad. Two advanced ranks needed to be talked through their katas at certain points, and one guy got pulled aside to be given advice on his performance.
On my way to the dojo, a muskrat charged me!It bounced out of the tall grass, ran at me, and then, when it was about two feet from me, it flipped sideways and disappeared into the grass. I guess something must have startled it, it ran out in a panic, ran into me, and booked it in a different direction. Or maybe it was a mother and it's young were nearby, so I just accidentally stepped too close and it tried to scare me off. I was so focused on Karate, I just registered it as a low strike and I automatically moved into my low block. But good luck blocking something that's a foot high! Would've ran right under my fist. It would have been better self-defense just to boot it.
Made an impression though, apparently, because that night I had a dream about a friendly, fuzzy, cute-looking creature biting me, turning into an eight-foot tall body builder, and charging me. I guess it symbolizes something cute and sweet-seeming suddenly gaining an intimidating and ferocious appearance, like it did in real life. Strangely, though, in my dream, a friend of mine kicked it in the back of the knee, causing it to stumble, and I swept it's legs over my shoulder and flipped it, making it tumble down a flight of stairs and be ultimately defeated. I then reached out to it with words and helped it overcome it's psychological problems which caused it to attack me (a raccoon tricked it into thinking something untrue about me), and it turned back from the bodybuilder into it's fuzzy woodland creature self.
Also, that creature wasn't a muskrat. It was a shrew. And the dream started with someone telling me that you can't trust shrews, and me telling them they were wrong. The moral of the dream seemed to be that you can trust shrews, but you need to have good communication.
Well, that doesn't sound so related to my muskrat anymore. Whatever.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Showing Up in Too Many Searches Nowadays...
Today, I did a little bit of research on Karadjé, and you know what I found out? If you Google, "Karadjé Canada World Youth" the third hit is my blog! Specifically, theGot My Green Stripe entry just prior to this! It's an obscure thing to search, but do you know who would? People in my group looking for info, same as me! Gaah! I hope no one from my group sees it, and blackmails me by threatening to tell Sensei of my underhanded dealings!
Otherwise, it looks like Karadjé only became a CWY placement last year, with only two groups having moved through it before me. Also, it only has a population of 750. These facts help explain why info on it is so difficult to dig up.
I haven't posted in my Reviews blog since coming back. I must have become less critical. That's no good. I just haven't been feeling it. I hope my brain didn't bust from doing that factory work.
I watched a movie in-theater a little while ago... I watched The Simpsons Movie... Watched another movie with a friend... I read Green Grass Running Water by Thomas King... I played Pokemon White... I haven't reviewed anything.
Plus, it's Spring... I have a photo gallery for Winter,Summer and Fall on my Photos blog... Only season left out is Spring... I'm not working, and I've got a digital camera... How lazy have I got?!
I want to copy/paste that stuff I said about Yume Nikki and Plants vs. Zombies. Those were basically reviews, but I did them because it was a slow news day and I still had enough integrity to try and post daily... And because of that, I neglected to appreciate them for what they were... Reviews, ripe for a far more needy blog. But this site doesn't have a convenient serch bar, and I'm kinda too lazy to look for that post manually.
Here's a cat and dolphin playing together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rynvewVe21Y
Cat and barn owl being friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqmba7npY8g
Two otters holding hands:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno
Otherwise, it looks like Karadjé only became a CWY placement last year, with only two groups having moved through it before me. Also, it only has a population of 750. These facts help explain why info on it is so difficult to dig up.
I haven't posted in my Reviews blog since coming back. I must have become less critical. That's no good. I just haven't been feeling it. I hope my brain didn't bust from doing that factory work.
I watched a movie in-theater a little while ago... I watched The Simpsons Movie... Watched another movie with a friend... I read Green Grass Running Water by Thomas King... I played Pokemon White... I haven't reviewed anything.
Plus, it's Spring... I have a photo gallery for Winter,Summer and Fall on my Photos blog... Only season left out is Spring... I'm not working, and I've got a digital camera... How lazy have I got?!
I want to copy/paste that stuff I said about Yume Nikki and Plants vs. Zombies. Those were basically reviews, but I did them because it was a slow news day and I still had enough integrity to try and post daily... And because of that, I neglected to appreciate them for what they were... Reviews, ripe for a far more needy blog. But this site doesn't have a convenient serch bar, and I'm kinda too lazy to look for that post manually.
Here's a cat and dolphin playing together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rynvewVe21Y
Cat and barn owl being friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqmba7npY8g
Two otters holding hands:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno
Got My Green Stripe
I got my green stripe. I'll tell you how I got it, but I really hope Sensei never reads this. See, I went in to Open Practice, ready to beg for an illegal shot for the stripe, and saw that the only sensei there was the one that wasn't there to see me get my black stripe the day before. So I asked to test with him. I did, and he said that I should work on my shutos, but I'd get the stripe next Thursday. I told him next Thursday was Grading. He decided to let me practice a bit, come back, and try again. After he saw my second try at it, he said that if it were any other stripe, any other day, I wouldn't get it, but that he didn't want to hold me back another full month.
So basically, I wasn't eligible to test, and I failed it, but I got the stripe.
What. You think someone's going to notice my stripes and timeline don't quite sync up? We'll see about that.
For CWY, I think that they didn't have a clear idea of our exact locations at first, but then decided to put us down as Agricultural. This makes sense, because La Pocatier is a small town with little to it's name. Perfect farmland. Then, after some research, they found out there's nothing to farm in Karadjé, so they decided to make that rotation a different focus. This makes sense, because Karadjé is a tiny village with almost no information about it on the Internet at all, except that it's in the middle of the desert.
So I'll be farming for three months in Quebec, and I'll be doing something else in Mali, I think.
So basically, I wasn't eligible to test, and I failed it, but I got the stripe.
What. You think someone's going to notice my stripes and timeline don't quite sync up? We'll see about that.
For CWY, I think that they didn't have a clear idea of our exact locations at first, but then decided to put us down as Agricultural. This makes sense, because La Pocatier is a small town with little to it's name. Perfect farmland. Then, after some research, they found out there's nothing to farm in Karadjé, so they decided to make that rotation a different focus. This makes sense, because Karadjé is a tiny village with almost no information about it on the Internet at all, except that it's in the middle of the desert.
So I'll be farming for three months in Quebec, and I'll be doing something else in Mali, I think.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
FML
Canada World Youth has an unfortunate slogan: Face My Limits. It's unfortunate because the acronym, FML, is shared with a more well-known web site named Fuck My Life. On that site, people post unfortunate instances of their lives, and people can vote on whether or not their anguish is valid. The site is popular enough that FML became a commonly recognized form of slang across the Internet. For instance:
"MyFile said they had my Criminal Record Check, but I just found out they don't, and now I can't get it in on time. FML."
"I went in to apply for my Criminal Record Check, but the address on my driver's license was wrong because my family moved when I was in Katimavik. FML."
"I need two stripes to change belt ranks in Karate, but I just found out you can't get more than one in a week, and because striping happens Thursdays and Fridays, and striping is on Thursday, I don't have another chance before grading. And even though I'm there for almost all of next month, I leave right before June's grading, meaning I'll have to wait 7 months to change rank. FML."
Okay, I got a bit too into that. Anyway, yeah, I had to get my address changed on my driver's license so that I could use it to apply for my Criminal Record Check. The reason was so they could verify my address. But when I went to get my driver's license changed, they just took my word for it. What's the point of using a piece of ID to verify your address if that piece of ID never verified your address? It's not like they took a copy of my driver's license or anything... They just filled out a form based on what was written on the license. Whether or not it was written on the license, the only source of information given to them were my words.
And Karate's driving me crazy. I'm going to try to pull some strings, but if I don't manage to, I've been set back 7 months.
It usually takes someone about 6 months to change rank, but because of how my time's been cut up, I spent about 3 months training before Katimavik, then spent 6 months in Katimavik, came back and trained 7 months, set back becaus eof Afternoon and rotating shifts, and now I might have 7 more. That's 23 months as a yellow belt. 24, actually, because it'll take me at least a month to reach grading once I come back.
Hey, one of my senseis was driving me home, and he started talking about the deeper values of studying Karate, in the terms of the principles of the sweatlodge, which I outlined in an email. Now, he didn't say anything about sweatlodges, but he did move into the topic by talking about the things I learned by doing a program like Katimavik, which fills in the holes that regular school leaves.
A bit much of a coincidence, eh? I think he probably read my email, even if he wasn't on the list.
I found out where I'm going in Mali. It's a place called Karadjé. There's almost no info on it online, except that it's a village, and it's smack-dab in the middle of the desert. Also, my program will be an Agricultural/Environmental splice, instead of just a solid Agricultural one. They just put this info down. When I first got placed, there was almost no info, and slowly, they've filled it out. I wonder if they kind of found out what we were doing on the fly. Placed me before there was a cemented placement.
"MyFile said they had my Criminal Record Check, but I just found out they don't, and now I can't get it in on time. FML."
"I went in to apply for my Criminal Record Check, but the address on my driver's license was wrong because my family moved when I was in Katimavik. FML."
"I need two stripes to change belt ranks in Karate, but I just found out you can't get more than one in a week, and because striping happens Thursdays and Fridays, and striping is on Thursday, I don't have another chance before grading. And even though I'm there for almost all of next month, I leave right before June's grading, meaning I'll have to wait 7 months to change rank. FML."
Okay, I got a bit too into that. Anyway, yeah, I had to get my address changed on my driver's license so that I could use it to apply for my Criminal Record Check. The reason was so they could verify my address. But when I went to get my driver's license changed, they just took my word for it. What's the point of using a piece of ID to verify your address if that piece of ID never verified your address? It's not like they took a copy of my driver's license or anything... They just filled out a form based on what was written on the license. Whether or not it was written on the license, the only source of information given to them were my words.
And Karate's driving me crazy. I'm going to try to pull some strings, but if I don't manage to, I've been set back 7 months.
It usually takes someone about 6 months to change rank, but because of how my time's been cut up, I spent about 3 months training before Katimavik, then spent 6 months in Katimavik, came back and trained 7 months, set back becaus eof Afternoon and rotating shifts, and now I might have 7 more. That's 23 months as a yellow belt. 24, actually, because it'll take me at least a month to reach grading once I come back.
Hey, one of my senseis was driving me home, and he started talking about the deeper values of studying Karate, in the terms of the principles of the sweatlodge, which I outlined in an email. Now, he didn't say anything about sweatlodges, but he did move into the topic by talking about the things I learned by doing a program like Katimavik, which fills in the holes that regular school leaves.
A bit much of a coincidence, eh? I think he probably read my email, even if he wasn't on the list.
I found out where I'm going in Mali. It's a place called Karadjé. There's almost no info on it online, except that it's a village, and it's smack-dab in the middle of the desert. Also, my program will be an Agricultural/Environmental splice, instead of just a solid Agricultural one. They just put this info down. When I first got placed, there was almost no info, and slowly, they've filled it out. I wonder if they kind of found out what we were doing on the fly. Placed me before there was a cemented placement.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Birth Certificate Surpisingly Convenient Arrival
Today my birth certificate arrived. This is a huge relief, since if it had taken the worst-case amount of time within their estimate, it would have fallen outside the deadline for getting it in. My Criminal Record Check is going to fall outside the deadline, but since that's only because CWY was slow in finding whether or not they had it, they're going to be cool with that.
I received a friend invite on Facebook, and a message from someone in my up-coming CWY group. He says he'll make a group for us so that we can all get to know each other, and that he'll be passing through Guelph a lot in the next month, so we'll probably get to see each other before the program starts.
I have to get my orange belt in Karate this month, or I won't be able to get it at all. I need two stripes: black and green. Before, you could get your black stripe on Mondays and Tuesdays. Now, you can only get any stripe on Thursdays and Fridays. Also, the Green stripe used to be free (it was for attendance). Now, you need to perform every kata up to where you are. The black stripe is the kata stripe, which you get for performing the katas you learned within your rank. This means that, for the black stripe, I need to perform my Yellow katas, and for my green, I have to perform White and Yellow. Green just went from the easiest stripe to the hardest.
Also, because gradings are on Thursdays, instead of having Monday and Tuesday to get my stripes for two weeks, I only have the Thursday and Friday the week prior.
This means that, by the old system, I would have four chances to get one stripe, whereas, by the new system, I have two chances to get two stripes. And since I failed black stripe in a surprising way last time, I'm not too confident about my chances this time around...
I received a friend invite on Facebook, and a message from someone in my up-coming CWY group. He says he'll make a group for us so that we can all get to know each other, and that he'll be passing through Guelph a lot in the next month, so we'll probably get to see each other before the program starts.
I have to get my orange belt in Karate this month, or I won't be able to get it at all. I need two stripes: black and green. Before, you could get your black stripe on Mondays and Tuesdays. Now, you can only get any stripe on Thursdays and Fridays. Also, the Green stripe used to be free (it was for attendance). Now, you need to perform every kata up to where you are. The black stripe is the kata stripe, which you get for performing the katas you learned within your rank. This means that, for the black stripe, I need to perform my Yellow katas, and for my green, I have to perform White and Yellow. Green just went from the easiest stripe to the hardest.
Also, because gradings are on Thursdays, instead of having Monday and Tuesday to get my stripes for two weeks, I only have the Thursday and Friday the week prior.
This means that, by the old system, I would have four chances to get one stripe, whereas, by the new system, I have two chances to get two stripes. And since I failed black stripe in a surprising way last time, I'm not too confident about my chances this time around...
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Grandparents Visiting
My grandparents were visiting me this past week. I know I didn't update during that time... I guess it's a little uninspiring to write when you know half of your audience (my grandma) is getting the live-action version. Not that the other half (my uncle) missed out on much. I kind of flubbed it. I was silent like a stone through most of the trip.
I guess it's hard to know what to talk about when you've already blogged all your good stories and opinions. Where do you catch up with from there? All I had were my underground stories. And even then... You know... Even if you've got a good, open relationship with your very realistic grandparents, if you haven't had a good heart-to-heart with them since what feels like a different life stage, you don't want to be leaping whole-heartedly into stuff like that in such a short span of time.
This feels weird. It's like I'm speaking directly to my grandmother through a third-person perspective.
Well, anyway, since you're not getting any backroom stories, I'll move on...
Yo... If I take that Personal Support Worker course once I get back, I'm going to be the only heterosexual male in class. I have no delusions about this. Oh well. If I get flak, I'll just tell them it's "Where all the chicks are" and they will have to immediately respect me. That's the loophole response you give anyone for pursuing an interest that falls outside your gender stereotype. Well, if you're a coward, that is.
Before, when I mentioned the course, I said it was a "degree" course. I meant "diploma". I know that in the States, there's no division between College and University, so I don't know if there's a division between degrees and diplomas. I'll explain anyway, although I'm not really an expert on the subject.
Colleges are easier to get into, easier to complete, often take a shorter time to graduate from, and are cheaper to attend. You generally get diplomas for graduating college, although there are a few exceptions. Universities are, conversely, more difficult and more expensive, and you get degrees there.
But I always confuse the words "diploma" and "degree". I think it's because you get a diploma for graduating high school. High school takes at least four years to complete and most post-secondary degree programs take four years or more. So I tend to think, to get another diploma, it would take the same amount of time as it took to get my last diploma.
Also, "diploma" is made of hard, strong sounds. Dip-Low-Ma. Degree floats softly and easily off your tongue... degree. You expect the stronger-sounding word to go with the harder-to-obtain credential.
I guess it's hard to know what to talk about when you've already blogged all your good stories and opinions. Where do you catch up with from there? All I had were my underground stories. And even then... You know... Even if you've got a good, open relationship with your very realistic grandparents, if you haven't had a good heart-to-heart with them since what feels like a different life stage, you don't want to be leaping whole-heartedly into stuff like that in such a short span of time.
This feels weird. It's like I'm speaking directly to my grandmother through a third-person perspective.
Well, anyway, since you're not getting any backroom stories, I'll move on...
Yo... If I take that Personal Support Worker course once I get back, I'm going to be the only heterosexual male in class. I have no delusions about this. Oh well. If I get flak, I'll just tell them it's "Where all the chicks are" and they will have to immediately respect me. That's the loophole response you give anyone for pursuing an interest that falls outside your gender stereotype. Well, if you're a coward, that is.
Before, when I mentioned the course, I said it was a "degree" course. I meant "diploma". I know that in the States, there's no division between College and University, so I don't know if there's a division between degrees and diplomas. I'll explain anyway, although I'm not really an expert on the subject.
Colleges are easier to get into, easier to complete, often take a shorter time to graduate from, and are cheaper to attend. You generally get diplomas for graduating college, although there are a few exceptions. Universities are, conversely, more difficult and more expensive, and you get degrees there.
But I always confuse the words "diploma" and "degree". I think it's because you get a diploma for graduating high school. High school takes at least four years to complete and most post-secondary degree programs take four years or more. So I tend to think, to get another diploma, it would take the same amount of time as it took to get my last diploma.
Also, "diploma" is made of hard, strong sounds. Dip-Low-Ma. Degree floats softly and easily off your tongue... degree. You expect the stronger-sounding word to go with the harder-to-obtain credential.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Nikken PiMag
I got the remainder of the gear I'll need for CWY. I didn't have to get a lot. Just a couple pairs of pants, a canteen, and a sleeping bag. I hit up Value Village. Interestingly, the most expensive item by far was the pants. They went $10.00 apiece. The sleeping bag was $4.00, and I got two reusable water bottles, both priced at $2.00.
I got the more expensive sleeping bag, too. The other one was $3.00. And the water bottles were a bang for their buck, as they are... Nikken PiMag Ionic Filtration Water Bottles.
According to the bottle, which has both that full title and trivia printed directly on it, these bottles are proven technology used by international relief agencies, military units, and organized expeditions.
It eliminates or reduces up to 99.8% of the following:
-Unpleasant taste and odors, sediment and chlorine
-Toxic chemicals: trihalomethanes, PCB, TCE, detergents, pesticides (DDT), MtBE
-Harmful microscopic pathogens: cryptospordium, giardia
-Heavy metals: aluminum, asbestos, cadmiuym, chromium, copper, lead, mercury
-Radon-222
Then it goes on to say how it should be maintained and who it's been certified by.
It even has a manual that came along with it. In that, it details who it's targeted at, and why these people benefit, and it even gives a guide on how to demonstrate the effectivity of the bottle in front of a crowd as if it is a magic trick.
I looked it up online and someone sold one on eBay, the final bid being at $30.
I only took that bottle because it was the most practical one there. I didn't even realize what it was until I noticed the manual inside. Looks like they were being sold new, too.
Of course, if I have dangerous water, I'm not going to trust the Nikken PiMag alone to protect me... I mean, in all honesty, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. If I accidentally drink poison and it protects me, that's great, but I'm not going to rely too heavily on it.
I got into a conversation with the clerk when I was buying it, even. Good thing I'd just finished reading the manual.
I got the more expensive sleeping bag, too. The other one was $3.00. And the water bottles were a bang for their buck, as they are... Nikken PiMag Ionic Filtration Water Bottles.
According to the bottle, which has both that full title and trivia printed directly on it, these bottles are proven technology used by international relief agencies, military units, and organized expeditions.
It eliminates or reduces up to 99.8% of the following:
-Unpleasant taste and odors, sediment and chlorine
-Toxic chemicals: trihalomethanes, PCB, TCE, detergents, pesticides (DDT), MtBE
-Harmful microscopic pathogens: cryptospordium, giardia
-Heavy metals: aluminum, asbestos, cadmiuym, chromium, copper, lead, mercury
-Radon-222
Then it goes on to say how it should be maintained and who it's been certified by.
It even has a manual that came along with it. In that, it details who it's targeted at, and why these people benefit, and it even gives a guide on how to demonstrate the effectivity of the bottle in front of a crowd as if it is a magic trick.
I looked it up online and someone sold one on eBay, the final bid being at $30.
I only took that bottle because it was the most practical one there. I didn't even realize what it was until I noticed the manual inside. Looks like they were being sold new, too.
Of course, if I have dangerous water, I'm not going to trust the Nikken PiMag alone to protect me... I mean, in all honesty, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. If I accidentally drink poison and it protects me, that's great, but I'm not going to rely too heavily on it.
I got into a conversation with the clerk when I was buying it, even. Good thing I'd just finished reading the manual.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Balding
I'm glad of the reception I got in the comments section yesterday. I was worried people would call me an unemployed loser and tell me to stop being a drain on society. Well, not in so many words, but...
I guess that's just how I feel. It was pretty out-of-character for me to quit, but when you've got deadlines rushing you and you keep being denied because of all this free work you're doing... I believe I should benefit society, but it's supposed to be a mutual thing. I benefit society, and in return, society benefits me. That wasn't happening.
...
I think I'm BALDIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
IT'S THE END!!!! THE ENNNNNNNNNNNND!!!!!!!!
I'd like to say it was the stress of working those factory jobs, but I don't think it was. In Katimavik, when we were playing a game where we listed our favourite and least favourite features about ourselves, for my physique, I said "The fact I'm balding". And one of the clients for people with intellectual disabilities where I was working told me that I'm balding. Both those things happened in first rotation.
I remember that, when I graduated high school, I still had a full head of hair. In fact, I had a head of beautiful, flowing hair that fell to the small of my back.
So it was between graduating high school and starting Katimavik. I graduated high school in 2008 and attended Katimavik in 2010. That means it probably started in 2009.
When I was a little kid, my hair was light brown, almost blond. Then it darkened to almost black. Also, it used to be dead straight. Now it's pretty darn wavy. My hair's gone through a lot of transformations in life, but it looks like it's the end of the road...
I think I've spoken about this before, but now I've gotten self-conscious enough about it to wear a bandana to cover up my bald spot.
Hey, have you ever thought about why folding your arms is supposed to be intimidating? In the wild, a creature will try and make itself look larger to frighten away an enemy, but folding your arms is a way of making yourself look smaller. It's also a habit for introverted or insecure people, and it's not a good stance at all for combat. Weird.
CWY lost my criminal record check... I lost my birth certificate, and it turns out vaccinations cost like, $100 a pip.
On my MyFile on the CWY website, under Criminal Record Check, it says "We have received a copy of your criminal record check. Keep the original.", but it didn't have a check mark next to it on the check-off box like the rest of the things I've completed.
I submitted a criminal record check in 2010 when they first asked me to join as a replacement for someone who backed out. Because it was such short notice, I asked them to transfer my file from Katimavik, which they said was okay, since they work out of the same office. I wouldn't have assumed that that was still valid, except it said so directly on the site. Only because of my slight unease due to that little left-out detail did I contact them, and lo and behold, it's not there.
As for my birth certificate... That's maddening. I really thought I'd just go over to my filing cabinet and take it out. I was pretty sure it would be in my new cabinet, because I was pretty sure there must've been something else I'd used it for since then... It seems like one of the staples: Health Card, SIN, Birth Certificate... But it wasn't there so I looked through the old files from the cabinet I had before my family moved. Under "Important Documents" I found the perforated piece of paper that my birth certificate was originall in, but no certificate itself...
And as for the vaccinations, someone told me they were like $10 apiece, but I guess they missed a digit. I needed what, seven vaccinations? $700, I guess.
I guess that's just how I feel. It was pretty out-of-character for me to quit, but when you've got deadlines rushing you and you keep being denied because of all this free work you're doing... I believe I should benefit society, but it's supposed to be a mutual thing. I benefit society, and in return, society benefits me. That wasn't happening.
...
I think I'm BALDIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
IT'S THE END!!!! THE ENNNNNNNNNNNND!!!!!!!!
I'd like to say it was the stress of working those factory jobs, but I don't think it was. In Katimavik, when we were playing a game where we listed our favourite and least favourite features about ourselves, for my physique, I said "The fact I'm balding". And one of the clients for people with intellectual disabilities where I was working told me that I'm balding. Both those things happened in first rotation.
I remember that, when I graduated high school, I still had a full head of hair. In fact, I had a head of beautiful, flowing hair that fell to the small of my back.
So it was between graduating high school and starting Katimavik. I graduated high school in 2008 and attended Katimavik in 2010. That means it probably started in 2009.
When I was a little kid, my hair was light brown, almost blond. Then it darkened to almost black. Also, it used to be dead straight. Now it's pretty darn wavy. My hair's gone through a lot of transformations in life, but it looks like it's the end of the road...
I think I've spoken about this before, but now I've gotten self-conscious enough about it to wear a bandana to cover up my bald spot.
Hey, have you ever thought about why folding your arms is supposed to be intimidating? In the wild, a creature will try and make itself look larger to frighten away an enemy, but folding your arms is a way of making yourself look smaller. It's also a habit for introverted or insecure people, and it's not a good stance at all for combat. Weird.
CWY lost my criminal record check... I lost my birth certificate, and it turns out vaccinations cost like, $100 a pip.
On my MyFile on the CWY website, under Criminal Record Check, it says "We have received a copy of your criminal record check. Keep the original.", but it didn't have a check mark next to it on the check-off box like the rest of the things I've completed.
I submitted a criminal record check in 2010 when they first asked me to join as a replacement for someone who backed out. Because it was such short notice, I asked them to transfer my file from Katimavik, which they said was okay, since they work out of the same office. I wouldn't have assumed that that was still valid, except it said so directly on the site. Only because of my slight unease due to that little left-out detail did I contact them, and lo and behold, it's not there.
As for my birth certificate... That's maddening. I really thought I'd just go over to my filing cabinet and take it out. I was pretty sure it would be in my new cabinet, because I was pretty sure there must've been something else I'd used it for since then... It seems like one of the staples: Health Card, SIN, Birth Certificate... But it wasn't there so I looked through the old files from the cabinet I had before my family moved. Under "Important Documents" I found the perforated piece of paper that my birth certificate was originall in, but no certificate itself...
And as for the vaccinations, someone told me they were like $10 apiece, but I guess they missed a digit. I needed what, seven vaccinations? $700, I guess.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Quit My Job
So, I found out where my money's been going. Mom's Disability adjusts her cheque based on the earnings I make. They expected me to pool all my money into the family, and at $12 an hour, I can't exactly support a family of three. The reason it looked like I was making money at the beginning was because there's a two month gap before they start deducting. And after you stop working, there's a two month gap before they start charging. That means that it's really an illusion that I've saved almost any money. I have to give back what they'll take after I stop working.
I've still saved money, but it's more in the vein of $200 instead of $2000. Five months of work for almost nothing.
So I quit.
I don't like to do it. But right now, everything I've saved came out of my family's pocket, and I've got a lot of stuff to do this month. Most of my preparation deadline's for CWY are due this month, not next.
At the agency, they asked me to do another shift while they prepared my replacement. I hadn't told anyone there that I was leaving, and I knew I wouldn't have it in me to ask the supervisor to sign my paysheet at the end of the day. I wore one of my "Volunteer" shirts that day, and someone called me out on it. He said "You're working for free?" and I said "Yeah, I'm working for free!"
And it was true~ Why not. I've been working for free for five months.
All my workmates must've been baffled at what happened to me. Oh, well. If I'd been closer, I would've felt more obligated to say goodbye, but really, I was only at the "Hey, how's it going?" level with anyone, and it didn't feel worth the awkwardness.
I'll let you in on a secret, one that I don't mind sharing now that I'm not there anymore. When the agency gave me the assignment, they told me it was for a machine operating position. Then they called me back and said that they actually wanted me on general labour. I got there, and while talking to the other people who were starting the same day, found out that the general labour position was only two weeks, while machine operating was ongoing. When they asked me what position I was there for, I said machine operating, and they just put me to work.
It was kind of funny... That place was primarily a training centre, so they had people training there to get jobs like the one I was working at the same location, but without any training.
My trainee got fired, by the way. He didn't show up for mandatory overtime, thought he had an extra day off for a holiday because that's how schools do it, showed up late for his second day, and went home early on his second day, because he was feeling sick.
I've still saved money, but it's more in the vein of $200 instead of $2000. Five months of work for almost nothing.
So I quit.
I don't like to do it. But right now, everything I've saved came out of my family's pocket, and I've got a lot of stuff to do this month. Most of my preparation deadline's for CWY are due this month, not next.
At the agency, they asked me to do another shift while they prepared my replacement. I hadn't told anyone there that I was leaving, and I knew I wouldn't have it in me to ask the supervisor to sign my paysheet at the end of the day. I wore one of my "Volunteer" shirts that day, and someone called me out on it. He said "You're working for free?" and I said "Yeah, I'm working for free!"
And it was true~ Why not. I've been working for free for five months.
All my workmates must've been baffled at what happened to me. Oh, well. If I'd been closer, I would've felt more obligated to say goodbye, but really, I was only at the "Hey, how's it going?" level with anyone, and it didn't feel worth the awkwardness.
I'll let you in on a secret, one that I don't mind sharing now that I'm not there anymore. When the agency gave me the assignment, they told me it was for a machine operating position. Then they called me back and said that they actually wanted me on general labour. I got there, and while talking to the other people who were starting the same day, found out that the general labour position was only two weeks, while machine operating was ongoing. When they asked me what position I was there for, I said machine operating, and they just put me to work.
It was kind of funny... That place was primarily a training centre, so they had people training there to get jobs like the one I was working at the same location, but without any training.
My trainee got fired, by the way. He didn't show up for mandatory overtime, thought he had an extra day off for a holiday because that's how schools do it, showed up late for his second day, and went home early on his second day, because he was feeling sick.
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