Respect

Finished my last midterm today. I think I aced it! First time I've felt like that this year!

We had our monthly Respect meeting today (did I comment on how much they decreased those?). There was barely anyone!  There were nine people who showed up, not including the Respect Leaders, and four more or so showed up partway through. We have Random Act of of Kindness day this Friday, I hope more people show up. Of the people who showed up today, I was the only person who had done it a previous year (not including the Respect Leaders).

I helped one of my teachers from last year in doing a project of his own. Got to see the end product of it today, pretty cool!

I realized the other day that a chicken salad wrap is less than half the price of a chicken salad sandwich at Tim Hortons, so I decided to order one and see how they built it. A sandwich has two scoops of chicken salad, but since a wrap is less than half, I figured it would still be a deal even if they only gave me one. Well, boy was I surprised to see that they put two scoops on! Such an exploit! You can get two wraps equaling four scoops for less than two scoops in a sandwich. Only downside is you don't get tomato in the wraps. They also have a similar situation with the breakfast wrap vs. the breakfast sandwich, but with the breakfast wrap you get a bonus of savoury sauce. The first time, I was so shocked by the bargain that I couldn't think straight when they asked me about the savoury sauce, and I rejected it by reflex. They seemed surprised, so I suspect that sauce must be good. Ha! Far cheaper, plus an additional ingredient? There you go.

Also, you don't have to do this when you're ordering a wrap:

"On white or whole wheat?"
"Whole wheat"
"Toasted?"
"No thank you"

Wraps make for a simpler way of living.

Oh, and those people that came into the house that one time, getting through a locked door and which my roommates knew nothing about? I suspect they were just friends of my roommates. One day, I saw one of them eating breakfast with my roommates. I was just like "What's up, buddy". Didn't really investigate further. He's either a friend, or he tried it again, my roommates ran into him, reacted the same way as me, and he just swung with it again.

Humbled by Midterms

We had another session where we watched the roleplay tapes. This time around, we had a teacher watching with us. She was there to give feedback to the second year students, and she went quite in-depth with them. But she also gave a nod toward the first-year students and her observations of how we behave and the implications of it. I was told I was a "natural actor" and that my ability to put myself in the position of another really shows my level of empathy, and that I should concentrate on putting this skill to use in the future. I was really quite happy.

Remember how I said that watching myself on tape had been a real pain? I was worried that I was too good at playing roles with "An assumption of defeat" and that I might carry that image with me. I also thought my voice was whiny and high pitched. Well, strangest thing. When I was watching the videos the second time around, I did not feel nearly so negatively about either of my characters. Instead, I felt that both of them had a good deal of charisma, and that each of them spoke in a way that gave a strong impact, despite the "assumption of defeat".

I had a midterm today. I won't say whether or not I have confidence in it, because so far, the one I had the most confidence in is the one I've done worst in. This class is the one I'm doing the best in (but thought by most to be the most difficult, go figure), so even if I do fail, I would have to fail by a pretty heavy margin to put me in the red. So far, I've kept my head above water, so I hope that's the pattern I keep up.

When I started this program, I was disappointed at how easy it was. This is because the course load is so much lighter than in HSF, which was only a beginner program. But these past midterms have given me a wake-up call. Even if my course load is lighter, my average is way lower. That's because the teachers in this program grade hard. This is a program that values quality over quantity. I got cocky, and so this midterm was the first that I took seriously.

Everyone else from HSF feels the same. They underestimated the program due to courseload, got humbled, and are now only getting serious at this midterm rush.

I've got another midterm tomorrow for Intro to Professional Practice. Short answer. The type of test I would normally feel confident in, but which I've done worst in this year, so my confidence isn't too great.

Then I've got a multiple choice test in Psych the next day, which, just because of the nature of the program, would normally be easy, except for the fact that I've got such little time to study between my more demanding midterms.

But I have a Social Location paper coming up in two weeks, and I love papers! Just the type of thing I'm into, too. And so far, I've only done poorly on tests. As far as papers and practical application are concerned, I'm still at the top.

Wallet and ESL

One of the presents I got on my birthday was a new wallet, to replace the one I'd been using since I was fourteen (it made a full decade!). It's a weird sensation to change something that you use frequently on a daily basis. It feels strange pulling it out and seeing that it's not the wallet I grew up with. I'm not sure if this one's manly, either. It's too... functional to be manly. It has a slot in the front where I can put a card (I put my student ID) so that it is visible from the outside. On the inside, it has a change pouch, which my old one didn't have, and it's got a zipper on the outside so I can close everything up.

The debate of the manliness of a change pouch has been kicking around for as long as I can remember. But in Canada, where we have one and two dollar coins, I think it's understandable. I often don't bother using the zipper on my wallet, because it's caught a few times on a bill and I fear ripping one at some point. Also, I never felt the need for a zipper before, and why would I bother myself with zipping and unzipping every time if I don't have to? Having a a slot to "decorate" your wallet may be the most intimidating feature. But it's cool, because if I want the student discount at Zehrs or at the Greyhound, I can just hold out my wallet, instead of digging past my debit card, driver's license etc.

All-in-all, it's a much more competent wallet, if I'm being completely honest.

I tried out the beard trimmer. Got a nice, even trim, but somehow gave myself a bit of a beard scar on my right cheek. Nobody noticed the trim, and nobody noticed the scar. Oh well.

Being a speaker at the ESL Leader conference was pretty cool. Not only was I the only speaker, I got a whole section laid out for myself, and it was put on the schedule as "Student Experience--Gryphon". I felt important. Our group photo got put on the front of the Student Life Facebook page, too.

I know who my ESL partner is now. She's someone I know from last year, and the one who convinced me to do ESL again this year. She was the partner of a good friend of mine, but since my friend isn't going to school this year, she can't be partners with her again. So the person in charge of ESL put us together since we already know each other and get along well.

I shouldn't call it ESL. That stands for English as a Second Language. We say English as an Additional Language now. Which makes sense because if someone knows multiple languages before they learn English, than it really isn't their second. And I'm called an English Conversation Partner Leader, while they chop off the "Leader" in the title for my partner. But for some reason, even though nobody says "English as a Second Language" anymore, everyone still uses ESL as the acronym. People just got too used to it, I guess.

I found out that the Connect Workshop I went to last year got put on my transcript. I also found out that there are five more, and if I attend all of them, they will all go on my transcript and I will receive a certificate. It's more respected than I thought it was.

Respect is less frequent this year. Before, we had a meeting every week, and there were two mirrored meetings every week so that you could go to one if you couldn't go to the other. Now there are only two per month, and you only have one chance to go. We still do all the events, though.

Milk

I noticed recently that nobody talks about milk brands. If I go to Zehrs, they sell Neilson, if I go to Food Basics, they sell Beatrice, and if I go to Fresh, they sell Seal Test. But nobody talks about it, nobody has a preference and if you mention the name of a brand of milk, no one will recognize it (except me). Also, each store only has one brand. If you want to get soy milk, then there's "So Good" and "Silk" at least. More people drink regular milk, so why do people pay less attention to it?

I mean, sure, if you want to buy organic milk or something, then in that case you can buy something different. But at the basic level, nobody seems to notice or care.

Last week I got to watch the videos of the roleplays I was in. It was weird!  My voice is too high-pitch, I hate it. It doesn't sound on camera like it sounds to me when it's coming through my mouth. Also, I did a disturbingly good job at acting like kids having difficulty with their mothers. I really sold it. Now I'm worried that I walk around with that kind of presence.

Two More Exams

Okay, so I've done two exams now. First one was for Developmental Psych, and I'm annoyed, because I have no confidence in how I did, but everyone else thought it was easy. My student mentor told me he got a grade in the high nineties and that this class should raise me up. Hmph. Psych was my second-worst grade last year. I guess I'm just not good at it.

Second exam was for Social Service Systems, and I have a bit more confidence in that one, but nobody else felt the same. I'm not elated about this one either, though. I felt better about both my paper, and my presentations. I would far rather like to write papers than do tests.

Hey, remember how I said that my school serves beer on Tuesday mornings? Well, they changed it to Thursday afternoons. A bit more traditional time to be drinking. But one of my teachers instructs a yoga class on Thursdays, so I have to choose between beer and yoga :(

I got something in the mail, giving me an option to get my G1 license extended. This is a real lifesaver, as I thought I wouldn't be able to renew it and would have to wait another year to be eligible for my G2.

I went home last weekend and got some birthday gifts, since my family hadn't been in a financial position to get me gifts on my actual birthday. Got a new keyboard for my laptop, since the one I have is missing a space bar and the A key is weird. I got a hand vacuum.  Same brand as the one that never worked last year, but this one works fine. I got a beard trimmer. I'm looking forward to perfectly uniform beard trims in the future, but so far, I've been scared to try it out.

And, hey!!! My sunflower's head is gone! And so is all of my neghbour's heads!!! I thought my neighbour had harvested them, and thought he'd do mine as well, but I talked to him, and apparently, one morning, they were just all gone. He blames the squirrels. But all in one night???? I sense foul play. And all those zucchini flowers falling off prematurely.... Who's cutting up our flower heads?!

I'm signed up with the Respect Campaign and ESL again. I've been asked to speak on behalf of ESL Leaders this coming Wednesday at our first meeting. It's a bit of an honour, actually.

I've got another exam this Thursday for Group Process and Dynamics.  And then I have a roleplay to do with some Second Year students. That isn't something I will be graded on, but they will be. But I've been assigned to them and if I don't show, I cause trouble. So I might as well consider it mandatory.

In this roleplay, I will be a middle-school boy who is disclosing my homosexuality to my fundamentalist Christian mother. Really going to have to put my acting skills to good use for this one.