Mali Triboard

Last Tuesday, I was up until 4 AM working on a triboard and one-pager for a resource fair for class. Kind of like the Big Brothers Big Sisters resource fair I did last semester, if I ever mentioned that. Difference is, instead of being in a group of four, we were doing it alone. It was a cultural assignment, and I did Mali. I was so prepared for it. I brought in a mask, I brought animal carvings, I brought clothes, and I brought Malian literature.

I spent about $90 on project material. $90!!!!! That's probably the most I've spent on a project. Can't think of anything else that comes near.

But because everyone did it individually, there were four times as many presentations, and it couldn't be free-flow, because everyone had to stand in front of their boards, meaning people couldn't take turns with their partners and walk around while other people stay in charge of their projects.

So we did this thing where six people would present at a time and people would watch maybe two presentations out of the six. So for every one, you missed two. And for every one person to visit you for a presentation, you missed two. Disappointing, after all that time, effort, and money.

We had to have a section on immigration to Canada. Do you know how little information there is available for Mali-Canada relations? If you Google "Mali Canada", on the first page you get a picture of me wearing Malian robes.

My Internet stopped working. It's not my connection, because my roommates' are all not having trouble.  I think my computer is finally biting it. I've already fixed it three times. Why am I so stubborn about holding on to my technology? My cell phone is ancient too, I'm always being teased about it.

Driver's License, Segu, Hair Salon

I got my driver's license renewed. It's just my G1 but I don't have to wait a year before I test for my G2 like I did when my license was fresh. I was worried I was going to "reset". I noticed, though, that they didn't take my photo. If I had thought of that while I was there, I would have asked about it, but I didn't think of it until after-the-fact. They said I'll have my license in two to six weeks.  I guess we'll see what happens. I kind of wanted some photo ID that has me with the beard.

I dropped by Value Village and checked their book section after I got my license. I picked up a copy of Watership Down and Shogun because we don't have copies right now. The real find, though, was a book called Segu. That's a region in Mali where my counterpart lives. It's about the introduction of Islam to the Segu, and one of the protagonists is a Traore, which is my Malian family name. I couldn't believe it. I would not have thought to pick up a book named Segu before that trip, not knowing that Segu was in Mali, or even in Africa. The book's description doesn't even use the name Mali, I figured it out because of my knowledge of their regions, history, and names. This book sounds like it's based pre-colonization, so the term "Mali" was probably not used.

My brother landed a pretty sweet volunteering gig at a hair salon. He had to volunteer for it, and he's got a schedule he's obligated to follow. It feels like a part-time job, except he doesn't get paid. Looks like it might lead somewhere, though.

Reading Week Reviews and Mergansers

So it's Reading Week. I'm back home in Guelph and wow, these days can sure go by fast. Yesterday I woke up, had coffee, exercised, showered, went for a walk, and BOOM! Day's over.

Actually, I managed to write four reviews on my Reviews Blog as well. It's been two years since I've done a review. I reviewed the movies The Hangover and The Dark Knight Rises, and I reviewed the books Good Omens and The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul.

I've been watching popular movies that I hadn't bothered with before so that I undertstand more popular culture references.

I didn't proofread anything... All my reviews are full of spoilers because I'm not writing to an audience that is trying to decide whether or not they want to watch/read something. It's just for myself.

I might review Before The Rain, Gravity. Black Like Me, and Things Fall Apart in my next batch. Whoa, I didn't review any of the serious titles last night. Just noticed that.

Here's my reviews blog

http://gryphonsreviews.blogspot.ca/\

Remember how in Katimavik I saw a duck with a mohawk? It turned out to be a Red  Breasted Merganser. Then in the Speed River in Guelph I saw a bird with a weird shape on it's head and it turned out to be a Hooded Merganser. Meaning the Common Merganser is the only one I haven't seen.

Well, the other day I saw a Red Breasted Merganser and it was with a flock of Merganser-looking birds, although only one was mohawked. I was slow with my camera and this is my only evidence:

I also caught a really large spider. Check that sucker out.

Paper and Midterm Back, Paper and Midterm In

I got a paper and midterm back. Wound up doing well on the paper, FAILED the midterm. First failure I've had so far, but there's a paper coming up in that and I'm fairly confident I can make up for it. Handed in a paper and did a midterm today. Fairly confident in the midterm. The paper was on a community organizer and my teacher knows the person that I chose. That's a good thing, haha.

Student Life is hiring for next year. They have an English Conversation Partner position and a position as a Respect Leader. Both pay $12.50 which is more than I'm making now. I've got almost two years experience in both, and I kind of want to go for it, but since the person in charge of hiring is my boss, I'm feeling a little self-conscious about going for a different position. Worried about looking "disloyal" to my position as Info Desk Staff.

Midterm Return

Got my first midterm back. I've now done two midterms and a paper and I've not had faith in any of them. I can't believe he marked them so fast... I did the test this Monday! Less than four days! And it wasn't scantron or anything like that.

Anyway, by some miracle I did okay. Everyone always says "Oh you'll do fine, you're Gryphon" and I appreciate the faith people have in me, but this seriously feels like a miracle. Now I just need two more.

Is it too early to make an observation surrounding public perception to Bri's passing? I noticed that many, many people took up prayer for her and spoke of religious sentiments "God needed our Earth Angel to be with Him" "I hope the angels know what they have" "It's all a part of God's Plan, though we cannot understand it" and the like. Lovely sentiments and what do I know, they could very well be true. But it was interesting to me because the vast majority of people speaking in this way, I had not realized were connected with religion. Asking around, I realized that the vast, vast majority of people had a Christian background but "Hadn't really been practicing" until Bri's condition became known. I had thought that this nation had been losing it's religious base as of the previous generation, probably because I wasn't raised with religion and the fade seemed to have actually come about a generation previous. But it looks like that change that I perceived as largely taking place two generations ago is actually taking place in this generation.

That being said, I prayed for Bri too. It seemed like the proper thing to do and I didn't want to be the only one not praying. Cynicism seemed tactless, so I took up the practice. I never knew if I was doing it right, though.

 On the bus in Kitchener, they have an automated voice say the name of each bus stop. I don't know if this is common... We don't have that in Guelph. Anyway, there's this one stop called KUNTZ Electroplating. The electronic woman would say KOONTZ Electroplating... And eventually some but not all would pronounce the letters individually "Kay Yu En Tee Zed Electroplating" and I assumed that this was so it would sound less like the C-word, and they didn't do every bus because of budgeting reasons. But recently I've noticed there's a new brand of buses that say... Yeah, they say the C-word. So now whenever I'm on the bus, I never know if it's going to say "Koontz" is it's going to spell it out, or if it's going to cuss.

Bri Articles

My college put up a little piece of writing for my friend who passed:

http://blogs1.conestogac.on.ca/news/2014/01/flags_at_half-mast_in_memory_o_1.php

And they link to the funeral home which also has a piece on her:

http://www.mundellfuneralhome.ca/notice.asp?msg=Y&id=2672

Bri's Funeral

Well, we had a memorial service for Bri. Lots of the class showed up, we lit candles and shared memories of her. Then we threw flowers into a river.

And I went to her funeral in Orillia yesterday. Three hour drive there and back. There was a ceremony in the church with her casket. It wasn't an open casket because apparently the final surgeries left her badly scarred.

I was surprised to see this image in her slideshow.

I was the only male in a group of six called The Cougars which had three older women in it. For anyone who doesn't know, cougar is a slang term meaning an older woman who is into young men. So they thought this was a good photo concept, even though two of the girls are quite young.

Yeah, so the photo is shown over the church and strangers are shooting me glances and giving me these small smiles. Later on people would say "You're the guy from the photo!"

After the ceremony, we go to her old high school where we have an less formal get-together potluck and time for sharing stories of Bri. I guess I never said it, but the first time I met Bri, she said I reminded her of her brother and that she knew we were going to be best friends as soon as she saw me. I found that quite a strong reaction from someone I hadn't met.

Well, her family's the same way. I'm getting hugged and getting my faced rubbed and being told how sweet I am when I've said next to nothing, and people keep giving me food until I've had three plates and they're still giving and telling me to take the leftovers home with me.

Hahaha, really expressive, really warm and open family.

I got to meet the brother she always said I was like. He was cool. I can see it. Pretty complimentary to be compared to him. I kept being told to tell everyone I met about Bri's comparison. When I went on stage to tell my Bri story I mentioned it and everyone laughed. Maybe there's something I'm not getting.

On a less self-involved note, there were a lot of powerful stories. They said that they knew she was going to pass before she did. They didn't report it after the two events of heart failure she survived, but at that point they knew she would not live long, and she knew it too. They read her a poem about death and they read that poem to us during the ceremony. She apparently passed moments after the poem was finished. Wow, the idea that she "let go" is... I don't even know.

Her drama teacher spoke. She was a TA for her drama class throughout high school. Her family spoke, including her brother that resembles me. Lots of strong emotions. I even cried a little. Funny, when I didn't cry at the memorial service, I felt bad about it, and when I cried at the funeral, I felt bad about that.

Well, we're out of this crazy January! I hope this was a bad month, not a bad year! 2014's supposed to be good luck compared to 2013! Jeez!

We went to dinner after and I told my Malian stories. WAHAHAHA! It was perfect luck that when I had them go to my Facebook to look at some of my key photos, the Chick Magnet photo had just been FB "liked" by a Malian girl.

Got two midterm exams next week. Midterms already? Whaaaaa? Oh well, nothing to be done about it. One is tomorrow and I am NOT PREPARED! I have to studyyyy today, I've had too much other stuff going on.