Yesterday I went to my orientation. Wasn't so bad. The class was bigger than I'd thought it would be. There was like, 100 people, in comparison to Social Service Worker's 30 or so placements. One of the professors said that usually a class in Human Services Foundation is 99 out of 100 people aiming for SSW, but this year is the biggest exception to the rule. There's a lot of people aiming for pre-service firefighter, rec & leisure, and early childhood education. There's even a bunch of people doing HSF because they want to go into something in that field, but aren't sure which one.
There were students who had already done HSF talking to us about it. Every one of them was someone who'd gone into it hoping to go into SSW but had changed over to rec & leisure. Apparently, even though usually everyone is aiming at SSW, there are always some converts into other streams by the end of the year.
They said that almost everyone who aims for SSW on graduation of HSF gets in, but there's always a few that don't.
There were like, seven other male students. That fits the "One guy for every ten women" ratio that I'd heard about. I thought I'd stick out like a sore thumb, but I don't really feel like I did. Integration moved pretty smoothly.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Some Stories and an Angry Rant
Yeah, so orientation for college is this coming Tuesday. There's absolutely no way to get there through public transportation in time. My options would be to show up at 1:00 AM and hang around until orientation at 9:00 AM, or to show up at 8:30 and then be late taking a city bus to the campus. We went to some people who know their way around the system, and they confirmed that it is impossible to make the trip on time. They offered a source to find an individual who might be willing to make the trip for a price.
Kind of sketchy, but even with this method there was only one person doing Guelph-Kitchener, and they even specified my college's campus. This woman was offering regular rides for up to three people starting this September. Sounds like a carpool type deal, probably offered by a student. Well, she probably doesn't have the same orientation day as me, but might as well try.
Turns out, I know her. She's related to someone in this house.
Hey, remember that guy who doesn't ever remember me? Well, I had a big conversation with him about my brother's tree, and he offered to take care of it. He has been, and when he saw my brother, he brought up the tree conversation with him. He remembered the conversation, but he thought he'd had it with my brother, not me. I don't know about this guy. He remembers everyone else, and he's always friendly with me, but he just can't remember who I am! It's so weird!
Do you remember me telling a story about a couple who ran the local convenience store? One where I tried to buy cigarettes (not for myself! or for anyone underage!), the woman tried to card me, and the husband flipped out on her for disrespecting me by underestimating my age? Yeah, well, they retired. The two of them are in their early fifties, but apparently they've amassed quite the sum of money. He said they worked 16-hour days and basically lived at work. He spoke of how many years they'd been in the city, and all the common landmarks they'd never seen. He said he loved the store, but as time passes, it becomes a prison.
So they've passed it on to a pair of younger men. They also gave me a weird time buying cigarettes. One of them asked the other one to guess my age (This was the first time I'd met them, but the first guy knew my age). The other guy guesses that I'm 17-18. The second guy laughs and says that no, I'm 22, and explains that he knew this from my mom, whom he had thought was my sister until she told him otherwise. This made me feel a bit better, because it seemed less inexplicable that he would know my age before I had met him.
Then I asked for cigarettes and the first guy asked for ID. The second guy got all nervous and started putting out excuses for his colleague's behaviour. It really isn't that big a deal, getting ID'd... But now I've experienced it from both generations of shop keepers.
Yo, so this guy did an Ask Me Anything with a third world child from Mali. It garnered an enormous amount of sympathy and attention. This guy managed to fundraise a million dollars for the village, plus a doll for the child. And I hated it.
Don't get me wrong, the money and the doll are just wonderful, but in my opinion, he earned it through lies, disrespect and insincerity. It was very obvious to me that the whole thing was fake on the end of the girl.
"What are your living conditions like?"
"We get our water from a well that is very far away. I have three brothers, three sisters, a mom and dad and two grandparents. We all live in three rooms."
Okay, go ask a six year old what her living conditions are, and tell me if she says "We get our water from a tap that is in our house. I live with my mom, my dad and my brother. We live in a two-story house with three bedrooms."
That Malian girl sure knows all the power-words to tug the heartstrings of first-worlders.
If I'm being charitable, I'll say they at least must have broke it down into smaller questions, like "Where do you get your water from" "How far away is it?" "How many people are in your family?" "How bug is your home?" although it's not proper conduct to reconstruct a question like that without informing us they'd done so.
But let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say they really did ask all those questions and faithfully relayed them to us. You have to consider it was a child who answered them. When you ask "How far away is the well?", of course a child is going to think it's further away than it is. When you're young, everything seems bigger, and she's going to speak from the perspective of a child.
And I know what their "Rooms" are like. They're the size of small houses. Their living room is outside, and the shower room and toilet room are separate constructs. My host family lived in three "Rooms" as well, and it wasn't bad at all. If the translator had translated it as "Three houses" instead of "Three rooms", then I'd like to see how much sympathy it would have gotten.
"What do you do for fun?"
"I don't have time for fun. I have to help my family do chores. But every once in a while, I go outside and dance and sing."
HUH?! "I don't have time for fun"? I never met a kid who would say that. They would play soccer in the day and dance at night. I guess it's a different village, and there's no saying that Mali is the same everywhere, but he donates a soccer ball to the village because their last one broke. Not much point in that if they don't have time for fun. Makes you wonder how they broke their last one, too. Must've been using it as a hammer or something, since they couldn't have been playing with it.
"Sometimes I go outside"? They are only ever inside when they're sleeping!
"Are you happy?"
"I don't know. I think a doll would make me happy."
That's it. Let's raise a million dollars for this kid.
So they get her a doll. You know where they get it from? The village market! There was a doll for sale in the market, priced and marketed for village girls in the area. I guess it's nice that they sprung for the doll, but it wasn't nearly as far out of their reach as what this fool is implying.
The guy was kind of tactless in his delivery, too. He didn't bother saying the girl's age, gender or name in the description, and nobody asks her what her name is. We only see that she's a girl in a follow-up video where they give her the doll
Also, in his video, he describes himself as being "In the middle of nowhere". If he had a proper empathy for the people there, it would feel like a place to him.
And then in his follow-up video, he drives through the village and plays sad music to scenes of the villagers acting normally and going about their daily business. It looks pretty much exactly like Karadie. It is so disrespectful to make their way of life synonymous with tragedies.
Lots of people called this whole thing out as being fishy, myself included, and basically everyone who did call him out was someone who had been to Africa, but it wasn't enough. The masses ate it up.
Whenever you have something like this, there's always a select few people who go "How can they have so many children? It's fucking irresponsible!"
And yeah, when they portray the problems of Africa as centering around food shortages (which they did in this interview, speaking on that non-existant Sahel crisis I've mentioned previously) it does look "Fucking irresponsible" and stupid of them to have so many children.
But it's NOT food shortages! My counterpart said that "Mali is a land where nobody starves" and I never saw a contradiction to this. I can't speak for all of Africa, but right now my neighbourhood is being used as the archetypical place for African starvation sympathy, and it isn't true. The problem is quality, not quantity. It takes ten years to develop a resistance to the water and you're not born with it, so the first ten years of a kid's life is a test to see if he can develop a resistance before the water kills him. I've already described how I was capable of eating less and less of the food by the day, to the point where I could only eat a few spoonfuls before I started vomiting, and I completely lost my appetite to the point that I thought I would starve myself to death if left to my own devices.
We were also plugged full of vaccinations and took Malaria medication, which the locals don't get. We were also covered by CWY in case of a medical emergency, which the locals don't have. Ask any Malian my age, and he will tell you that he's had Malaria like, six times. The girl I was dating almost died of Malaria early on in the program, but she received no medical help because she was a Malian and she couldn't afford treatment for herself.
Now, when the problem is food shortages, then more people means lower quality of life for each individual, and may lead to unnecessary deaths. However, when the problem is the quality of the water and food, then everyone can eat and drink to their hearts content no matter how many children there are.
In fact, it makes sense to have lots of children. Want to know why? Because I lived in a village of 800 adults and 2000 people. The sinister implication is that not very many of those 1200 children become adults. Take into account what I said about each child having an equal shot at growing up regardless of the population, and we come to a place where it's required for them to have that high a number of children in order to maintain their adult population. If they didn't, they would dwindle and die out.
Saying the locals suffer from food shortages and then emphasizing the immensity of their child population makes Africans look like irresponsible dumbasses, and it's not true. I would go so far as to say that they do the best they can given the resources they have.
In fact, they understand the importance of controlling the population and try to discourage sex as a recreational activity. One such method of discouraging this is the ever-unpopular practice of female genital mutilation. I in no way condone this practice (and it isn't nearly as common as Western media makes it out to be), but First Worlders look kind of hypocritical when they say things like "A woman should enjoy sex. But she shouldn't have sex."
It's like how some people put up these big signs in Sirakorola, saying "WEAR A CONDOM". Two problems with that. First is, the sign is written in French, which only a select few in the community will be able to read despite their insistence that Mali is a French-speaking nation, and the second problem is that there are no condoms in Sirakorola! Fucking pointless-ass sign. Malians actually have comparatively little sex, when contrasted with North Americans.
And I really hope that Mr. Interviewer didn't just hand the million dollars over to the villagers in cold, hard cash (and if they did, please, please let it have been in West African Francs and not American dollar bills), because having lots of money doesn't do much when there is nothing to buy! I guess it'd be good for them to be able to send people to the hospital in Bamako when they got sick...
Kind of sketchy, but even with this method there was only one person doing Guelph-Kitchener, and they even specified my college's campus. This woman was offering regular rides for up to three people starting this September. Sounds like a carpool type deal, probably offered by a student. Well, she probably doesn't have the same orientation day as me, but might as well try.
Turns out, I know her. She's related to someone in this house.
Hey, remember that guy who doesn't ever remember me? Well, I had a big conversation with him about my brother's tree, and he offered to take care of it. He has been, and when he saw my brother, he brought up the tree conversation with him. He remembered the conversation, but he thought he'd had it with my brother, not me. I don't know about this guy. He remembers everyone else, and he's always friendly with me, but he just can't remember who I am! It's so weird!
Do you remember me telling a story about a couple who ran the local convenience store? One where I tried to buy cigarettes (not for myself! or for anyone underage!), the woman tried to card me, and the husband flipped out on her for disrespecting me by underestimating my age? Yeah, well, they retired. The two of them are in their early fifties, but apparently they've amassed quite the sum of money. He said they worked 16-hour days and basically lived at work. He spoke of how many years they'd been in the city, and all the common landmarks they'd never seen. He said he loved the store, but as time passes, it becomes a prison.
So they've passed it on to a pair of younger men. They also gave me a weird time buying cigarettes. One of them asked the other one to guess my age (This was the first time I'd met them, but the first guy knew my age). The other guy guesses that I'm 17-18. The second guy laughs and says that no, I'm 22, and explains that he knew this from my mom, whom he had thought was my sister until she told him otherwise. This made me feel a bit better, because it seemed less inexplicable that he would know my age before I had met him.
Then I asked for cigarettes and the first guy asked for ID. The second guy got all nervous and started putting out excuses for his colleague's behaviour. It really isn't that big a deal, getting ID'd... But now I've experienced it from both generations of shop keepers.
Yo, so this guy did an Ask Me Anything with a third world child from Mali. It garnered an enormous amount of sympathy and attention. This guy managed to fundraise a million dollars for the village, plus a doll for the child. And I hated it.
Don't get me wrong, the money and the doll are just wonderful, but in my opinion, he earned it through lies, disrespect and insincerity. It was very obvious to me that the whole thing was fake on the end of the girl.
"What are your living conditions like?"
"We get our water from a well that is very far away. I have three brothers, three sisters, a mom and dad and two grandparents. We all live in three rooms."
Okay, go ask a six year old what her living conditions are, and tell me if she says "We get our water from a tap that is in our house. I live with my mom, my dad and my brother. We live in a two-story house with three bedrooms."
That Malian girl sure knows all the power-words to tug the heartstrings of first-worlders.
If I'm being charitable, I'll say they at least must have broke it down into smaller questions, like "Where do you get your water from" "How far away is it?" "How many people are in your family?" "How bug is your home?" although it's not proper conduct to reconstruct a question like that without informing us they'd done so.
But let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say they really did ask all those questions and faithfully relayed them to us. You have to consider it was a child who answered them. When you ask "How far away is the well?", of course a child is going to think it's further away than it is. When you're young, everything seems bigger, and she's going to speak from the perspective of a child.
And I know what their "Rooms" are like. They're the size of small houses. Their living room is outside, and the shower room and toilet room are separate constructs. My host family lived in three "Rooms" as well, and it wasn't bad at all. If the translator had translated it as "Three houses" instead of "Three rooms", then I'd like to see how much sympathy it would have gotten.
"What do you do for fun?"
"I don't have time for fun. I have to help my family do chores. But every once in a while, I go outside and dance and sing."
HUH?! "I don't have time for fun"? I never met a kid who would say that. They would play soccer in the day and dance at night. I guess it's a different village, and there's no saying that Mali is the same everywhere, but he donates a soccer ball to the village because their last one broke. Not much point in that if they don't have time for fun. Makes you wonder how they broke their last one, too. Must've been using it as a hammer or something, since they couldn't have been playing with it.
"Sometimes I go outside"? They are only ever inside when they're sleeping!
"Are you happy?"
"I don't know. I think a doll would make me happy."
That's it. Let's raise a million dollars for this kid.
So they get her a doll. You know where they get it from? The village market! There was a doll for sale in the market, priced and marketed for village girls in the area. I guess it's nice that they sprung for the doll, but it wasn't nearly as far out of their reach as what this fool is implying.
The guy was kind of tactless in his delivery, too. He didn't bother saying the girl's age, gender or name in the description, and nobody asks her what her name is. We only see that she's a girl in a follow-up video where they give her the doll
Also, in his video, he describes himself as being "In the middle of nowhere". If he had a proper empathy for the people there, it would feel like a place to him.
And then in his follow-up video, he drives through the village and plays sad music to scenes of the villagers acting normally and going about their daily business. It looks pretty much exactly like Karadie. It is so disrespectful to make their way of life synonymous with tragedies.
Lots of people called this whole thing out as being fishy, myself included, and basically everyone who did call him out was someone who had been to Africa, but it wasn't enough. The masses ate it up.
Whenever you have something like this, there's always a select few people who go "How can they have so many children? It's fucking irresponsible!"
And yeah, when they portray the problems of Africa as centering around food shortages (which they did in this interview, speaking on that non-existant Sahel crisis I've mentioned previously) it does look "Fucking irresponsible" and stupid of them to have so many children.
But it's NOT food shortages! My counterpart said that "Mali is a land where nobody starves" and I never saw a contradiction to this. I can't speak for all of Africa, but right now my neighbourhood is being used as the archetypical place for African starvation sympathy, and it isn't true. The problem is quality, not quantity. It takes ten years to develop a resistance to the water and you're not born with it, so the first ten years of a kid's life is a test to see if he can develop a resistance before the water kills him. I've already described how I was capable of eating less and less of the food by the day, to the point where I could only eat a few spoonfuls before I started vomiting, and I completely lost my appetite to the point that I thought I would starve myself to death if left to my own devices.
We were also plugged full of vaccinations and took Malaria medication, which the locals don't get. We were also covered by CWY in case of a medical emergency, which the locals don't have. Ask any Malian my age, and he will tell you that he's had Malaria like, six times. The girl I was dating almost died of Malaria early on in the program, but she received no medical help because she was a Malian and she couldn't afford treatment for herself.
Now, when the problem is food shortages, then more people means lower quality of life for each individual, and may lead to unnecessary deaths. However, when the problem is the quality of the water and food, then everyone can eat and drink to their hearts content no matter how many children there are.
In fact, it makes sense to have lots of children. Want to know why? Because I lived in a village of 800 adults and 2000 people. The sinister implication is that not very many of those 1200 children become adults. Take into account what I said about each child having an equal shot at growing up regardless of the population, and we come to a place where it's required for them to have that high a number of children in order to maintain their adult population. If they didn't, they would dwindle and die out.
Saying the locals suffer from food shortages and then emphasizing the immensity of their child population makes Africans look like irresponsible dumbasses, and it's not true. I would go so far as to say that they do the best they can given the resources they have.
In fact, they understand the importance of controlling the population and try to discourage sex as a recreational activity. One such method of discouraging this is the ever-unpopular practice of female genital mutilation. I in no way condone this practice (and it isn't nearly as common as Western media makes it out to be), but First Worlders look kind of hypocritical when they say things like "A woman should enjoy sex. But she shouldn't have sex."
It's like how some people put up these big signs in Sirakorola, saying "WEAR A CONDOM". Two problems with that. First is, the sign is written in French, which only a select few in the community will be able to read despite their insistence that Mali is a French-speaking nation, and the second problem is that there are no condoms in Sirakorola! Fucking pointless-ass sign. Malians actually have comparatively little sex, when contrasted with North Americans.
And I really hope that Mr. Interviewer didn't just hand the million dollars over to the villagers in cold, hard cash (and if they did, please, please let it have been in West African Francs and not American dollar bills), because having lots of money doesn't do much when there is nothing to buy! I guess it'd be good for them to be able to send people to the hospital in Bamako when they got sick...
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Better Temperature
It's finally gotten down to a reasonable temperature. It's always a relief to wake up and feel cold in the morning.
You know, recently, I have been able to sleep quite well. It might sound weird, but I attribute it to the stress. I've always felt that sleep I don't deserve, is the sweetest sleep of all. My mother contests this. She says that, sleep that she knows she's earned after a hard day's work is the best sleep.
I agree that that is one of the better ways to sleep, but for me, it just doesn't beat the satisfaction of undeserved rest. When I was in high school, I would skip class to take naps in the library.
The other night, I had a dream that I was court-ordered for something that I'm not sure what it was, but I remember that I was innocent, to live in some nature park. During my stay, a herd of elephants walked in and proceeded to rip each other's heads off. Their heads came off like lego pieces, though, and so no harm was done.
My brother completed his progrm and landed his job. Sheesh, first interview leads to first job. How lucky can a guy be?
You know, recently, I have been able to sleep quite well. It might sound weird, but I attribute it to the stress. I've always felt that sleep I don't deserve, is the sweetest sleep of all. My mother contests this. She says that, sleep that she knows she's earned after a hard day's work is the best sleep.
I agree that that is one of the better ways to sleep, but for me, it just doesn't beat the satisfaction of undeserved rest. When I was in high school, I would skip class to take naps in the library.
The other night, I had a dream that I was court-ordered for something that I'm not sure what it was, but I remember that I was innocent, to live in some nature park. During my stay, a herd of elephants walked in and proceeded to rip each other's heads off. Their heads came off like lego pieces, though, and so no harm was done.
My brother completed his progrm and landed his job. Sheesh, first interview leads to first job. How lucky can a guy be?
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Old Breaky
I'm actually pretty lucky that, if the computer was going to break, it would be now. I transferred all of my Canada World Youth photos onto my laptop, because someone requested to see them, and she asked me if I could put them on a laptop or something. If it weren't for that request, I would have lost all those photos. Also, I managed to preserve my Kenabeek photos because, after I transferred them onto the main computer, I failed at deleting them from my memory card.
But our computer should get fixed. Turns out, our warranty is good for another year. This will be the third time we've used our warranty. If everyone were like us, that extra paid warranty would not be netting a profit for the people behind it.
I call our computer Old Breaky. I name it such in honour of our old computer, which I named Old Noisy, because it was quite noisy.
Sorry that I haven't been updating too much. Honestly, when you've come from an exciting part of your life and are entering a new and exciting part of your life, the time inbetween is very uninspiring. Looking so hard backwards and forwards, you don't notice what's right in front of you. I'll probably have a lot more to say in two weeks, once I start school.
But our computer should get fixed. Turns out, our warranty is good for another year. This will be the third time we've used our warranty. If everyone were like us, that extra paid warranty would not be netting a profit for the people behind it.
I call our computer Old Breaky. I name it such in honour of our old computer, which I named Old Noisy, because it was quite noisy.
Sorry that I haven't been updating too much. Honestly, when you've come from an exciting part of your life and are entering a new and exciting part of your life, the time inbetween is very uninspiring. Looking so hard backwards and forwards, you don't notice what's right in front of you. I'll probably have a lot more to say in two weeks, once I start school.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Brother Completed the Program
My brother graduated from his program yesterday. Perfect attendance, punctuation, and he got all his certificates. Apparently, it's pretty rare for everyone in a group to get all their certificates, but both my group and his managed it. He's looking toward six weeks of work, now. The program guarantees six weeks of work, and honestly, that's how it gets it's funding, by proving that it leads to employment for the youth volunteers. Hopefully, he'll be working at a tree farm, which is a place that he volunteered at during the program. Since they already know him and how he performs in a working environment, they seem eager to have him. After his six weeks, though, he's looking toward reentering and completing his schooling.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Residence Packing List
Here's the list of stuff they suggest to bring to Residence:
-Bed linens (suitable for a double-width, queen-size bed)
-Towels (bath, face, dish, etc)
-Laundry soap and fabric softener/dryer sheets
-Shower curtain
-Toaster
-Books, pens, pencils, ruler, stapler, 3-hole punch, tape etc
-Dish soap, mop, bucket, broom, dustpan, rags etc
-Dish soap, glasses, utensils, dish rags etc
-Dishes, glasses, utensils, dish rack, garbage bags etc
-Blankets, comforter, pillows
-Small furniture items (bookshelf, small dresser)
-Toilet paper
-Personal hygiene items
-Kettle
-Iron with board
-Alarm clock
-Pots and pans
What not to bring
-Animals/pets
-Hot pates and deep fryers or appliances with open elements
-Kegs of beer, beer bottles, single serving glass containers
-Hooks or nails that will be placed in the wall
-Weapons: hunting knives, swords, firearms
-Candles and incense
-Drug paraphernalia
-Refrigerators or freezers
I must say, the request for double-width, queen-size bed linens is a little unorthodox, isn't it? I don't know if I've seen that.
It's a little bit funny that they ask me to bring pots and pans, even though "Hot plates and deep fryers or appliances with open elements" are prohibited. The room is supplied with a mini fridge and a microwave, so if I'll be doing most of my cooking via microwave, probably it's better to stock up on microwavable containers.
It's also kind of funny that they tell me to bring a toaster, kettle and ironing board. Not life necessities, if you ask me.
And it's kind of forward of them to ask me to bring furniture. If I'm moving by bus, I doubt I'll be able to bring any.
Well, I sent an email to my future roommate to introduce myself and see what he's going to be bringing with him.
-Bed linens (suitable for a double-width, queen-size bed)
-Towels (bath, face, dish, etc)
-Laundry soap and fabric softener/dryer sheets
-Shower curtain
-Toaster
-Books, pens, pencils, ruler, stapler, 3-hole punch, tape etc
-Dish soap, mop, bucket, broom, dustpan, rags etc
-Dish soap, glasses, utensils, dish rags etc
-Dishes, glasses, utensils, dish rack, garbage bags etc
-Blankets, comforter, pillows
-Small furniture items (bookshelf, small dresser)
-Toilet paper
-Personal hygiene items
-Kettle
-Iron with board
-Alarm clock
-Pots and pans
What not to bring
-Animals/pets
-Hot pates and deep fryers or appliances with open elements
-Kegs of beer, beer bottles, single serving glass containers
-Hooks or nails that will be placed in the wall
-Weapons: hunting knives, swords, firearms
-Candles and incense
-Drug paraphernalia
-Refrigerators or freezers
I must say, the request for double-width, queen-size bed linens is a little unorthodox, isn't it? I don't know if I've seen that.
It's a little bit funny that they ask me to bring pots and pans, even though "Hot plates and deep fryers or appliances with open elements" are prohibited. The room is supplied with a mini fridge and a microwave, so if I'll be doing most of my cooking via microwave, probably it's better to stock up on microwavable containers.
It's also kind of funny that they tell me to bring a toaster, kettle and ironing board. Not life necessities, if you ask me.
And it's kind of forward of them to ask me to bring furniture. If I'm moving by bus, I doubt I'll be able to bring any.
Well, I sent an email to my future roommate to introduce myself and see what he's going to be bringing with him.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Our Computer Broke
Yeah, our computer broke. It happened a few days ago. One night, I just turned it off, and the next day it wouldn't turn on again (I hadn't been doing anything weird on it!). Now, when you try to turn it on, instead of beeping once, it beeps three times rapidly. Maybe that's some sort of clue? When we bought the machine, we sprung a little extra for the warranty, and it's a good thing we did, because we wound up using it like, three times! I think the warranty is just about used up by this time, though. We've had it for about four years.
We still have my laptop, though, and it's what we've been using for our main computer. It's a sturdy little thing that has never needed to be repaired, and it's what I'm using right now. Problem is, I plan to take my laptop with me when I leave (free Internet in Res!)
We still have my laptop, though, and it's what we've been using for our main computer. It's a sturdy little thing that has never needed to be repaired, and it's what I'm using right now. Problem is, I plan to take my laptop with me when I leave (free Internet in Res!)
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Roommate Information
I got the name and email address of my future roommate today. When they first sent the email, they gave me the name of a female. Right when I'd come to grips with the thought that I'd be roommates with someone of the opposite gender, I got an email saying that the information they had sent me was wrong, and that the second email had the correct information. Since that email was the second email I'd received, I assumed the information inside that email was in reference to my future roommate. But it turned out that information was
the information of the person who had sent the email, and they sent a third email, with the correct name and email for my roommate.
My roommate's name is "Dan". Back when I was working in factories, I knew four Dans that I spoke with on a daily basis. I don't need to know any more!
I fixed my backpack. My old backpack bust one of it's shoulder straps, and I stitched it back together. But I stitched it with fishing line. Hopefully, if it's good enough for fish, it will be good enough for 15 lb of textbooks. If not, Conestoga has some pretty good backpacks. Mom still uses the one she bought there, and that was like, six years ago.
the information of the person who had sent the email, and they sent a third email, with the correct name and email for my roommate.
My roommate's name is "Dan". Back when I was working in factories, I knew four Dans that I spoke with on a daily basis. I don't need to know any more!
I fixed my backpack. My old backpack bust one of it's shoulder straps, and I stitched it back together. But I stitched it with fishing line. Hopefully, if it's good enough for fish, it will be good enough for 15 lb of textbooks. If not, Conestoga has some pretty good backpacks. Mom still uses the one she bought there, and that was like, six years ago.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
An Option for the Future
I ran into an old friend from my time doing factory work the other day. He's going to the same college I am, and he's starting this September, just like I am. Looks like I will have a schoolmate. He's going to be commuting to school, via a GO bus. I had thought that I'd gone over my options, but I guess I hadn't done my research properly. At this point in time, I've already paid for my residence, so I'll just go forward with what I've done, but this is something to keep in mind for next year.
The GO bus website is really confused, though. It's not like the Greyhound, where you just plug in your locations and they tell you what your options are. They will tell you what the routes for their major locations are, and they will tell you the locations of their smaller stations, but not their schedule. So I can tell that Kitchener and Guelph both have stations, but I can't figure out if they connect.
If I get a monthly student pass, though, then using a GO bus and living at home is overall less expensive.
The GO bus website is really confused, though. It's not like the Greyhound, where you just plug in your locations and they tell you what your options are. They will tell you what the routes for their major locations are, and they will tell you the locations of their smaller stations, but not their schedule. So I can tell that Kitchener and Guelph both have stations, but I can't figure out if they connect.
If I get a monthly student pass, though, then using a GO bus and living at home is overall less expensive.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Death of Cursive
Mom was surprised at how cheap my textbooks were. She said that she'd have been ready to pay $1000 on any given semester, and she says in university it's even more expensive. Well then, I shouldn't complain.
Did you know that cursive is supposed to be more formal than printing? Since this blog holds an audience with a majority of people at least a generation older than me, I'm willing to bet that you did. It seems like implementing cursive writing was in certain situations was a staple in our society up until recently, as opposed to now when it's almost dead.
Back when I was sending photos to Mali, I wrote a letter to the guy who would be forwarding it to my village. I told Mom that I was self-conscious about sending the letter, not only because I was writing in French, but because I was printing, when I knew the Malians wrote cursive. Mom told me that it's proper to use cursive when writing letters or for anything formal, and I was flabbergasted. Nobody in my CWY group could write cursive. I myself only know how to write my signature, and even then, the writing is pretty illegible.
My education in cursive is limited to a course I took in grade three. This is common among people my age, but looking into this a bit further, even people who are only a few years older than me complain that they were constantly teased by their teachers with the necessity of cursive, which turned out to be an unnecessary skill. "We'll let you print in elementary, but in high school, all assignments will be in cursive." "We'll let you print in highschool, but in college, all assignments will be in cursive." "Papers written in cursive will not be accepted."
There are only two cursive fonts on the word processor on this computer. Sounds like cursive died really fast. Within a human's lifespan. Actually, maybe even within only a couple of decades.
I got enough fiction to last me awhile. I managed to stock up a little while I was up North and came back with a fuller list than what I'd had before.
I already had Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, and Obasan, by Joy Kagawa, but now I've also got Ken Kesey's Sailor Song, Herman Hesse's Glass Bead Game, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Cat's Cradle. That'll keep me busy for a little while
Did you know that cursive is supposed to be more formal than printing? Since this blog holds an audience with a majority of people at least a generation older than me, I'm willing to bet that you did. It seems like implementing cursive writing was in certain situations was a staple in our society up until recently, as opposed to now when it's almost dead.
Back when I was sending photos to Mali, I wrote a letter to the guy who would be forwarding it to my village. I told Mom that I was self-conscious about sending the letter, not only because I was writing in French, but because I was printing, when I knew the Malians wrote cursive. Mom told me that it's proper to use cursive when writing letters or for anything formal, and I was flabbergasted. Nobody in my CWY group could write cursive. I myself only know how to write my signature, and even then, the writing is pretty illegible.
My education in cursive is limited to a course I took in grade three. This is common among people my age, but looking into this a bit further, even people who are only a few years older than me complain that they were constantly teased by their teachers with the necessity of cursive, which turned out to be an unnecessary skill. "We'll let you print in elementary, but in high school, all assignments will be in cursive." "We'll let you print in highschool, but in college, all assignments will be in cursive." "Papers written in cursive will not be accepted."
There are only two cursive fonts on the word processor on this computer. Sounds like cursive died really fast. Within a human's lifespan. Actually, maybe even within only a couple of decades.
I got enough fiction to last me awhile. I managed to stock up a little while I was up North and came back with a fuller list than what I'd had before.
I already had Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, and Obasan, by Joy Kagawa, but now I've also got Ken Kesey's Sailor Song, Herman Hesse's Glass Bead Game, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Cat's Cradle. That'll keep me busy for a little while
Friday, August 3, 2012
College Textbook List
Residence required a couple of passport-style photos in addition to their paperwork. Wasn't really an issue getting them. The place I went looked like a well-established all-purpose photography type place. They took me right away and had them developed inside twenty minutes. It was kind of funny, though, because I saw that they had, like... a LOT of passport photos waiting for pickup. Also, despite their impressive interior, the exterior of the store's main advertisement was for passport photos. And it's not like this is the only place that does passport photos, either. There were at least two other places almost next door to this place that did them.
It all kind of gives the impression that doing passport photos is quite a lucrative business. Since they aren't exactly expensive, it makes one think that there is lots of public demand for these photos. But a passport is good for five years, so I really don't see how this is so...
Well, I've needed passport photos taken for my passport, and then again specifically for my trip to Mali, and now for Residence. I guess there is a number of reasons you might need photos in this style other than for the base passport.
I finally got my course list, and the list of textbooks I'll need for the upcoming September, along with their cost. The price total is $559.25 >:(
That hurts, but I knew it would be pricy. I had no real idea of how much it cost, and while this is something on the steep side, I accounted for worse costs, so it's not like this'll sink me.
It all kind of gives the impression that doing passport photos is quite a lucrative business. Since they aren't exactly expensive, it makes one think that there is lots of public demand for these photos. But a passport is good for five years, so I really don't see how this is so...
Well, I've needed passport photos taken for my passport, and then again specifically for my trip to Mali, and now for Residence. I guess there is a number of reasons you might need photos in this style other than for the base passport.
I finally got my course list, and the list of textbooks I'll need for the upcoming September, along with their cost. The price total is $559.25 >:(
That hurts, but I knew it would be pricy. I had no real idea of how much it cost, and while this is something on the steep side, I accounted for worse costs, so it's not like this'll sink me.
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