Last Monday my grandparents visited, but since I was doing a 10am-6pm work shift, I didn't get to see them for very long.
I've done my two interviews and I'm meeting up with someone tomorrow to discuss potential work. I should know the results for one position in the middle of next week, and for the other, late next week.
For the position I interviewed today, it was a group interview. I've never done one of those before. There were six of us, and one of them was a friend of mine. Apparently last year they took three people. If they do that again this year, disregarding how well I did inside the interview, numerically I've got a 50% chance.
I don't like to talk in-detail on public media about how an interview went because... well... if they Google my name, they could be reading this and then my blog might become influential in a potential decision... and I feel like I want to leave it at the interview process.
But I'll at least say that the interviews seemed to go fine.
I got to meet my new roommates. And we've got someone else moving in tomorrow. They're all here only for the summer, though.
As of next week, minimum wage is being increased to $11, which means that my pay at Well goes up fifty cents. But because I was making twenty five cents over minimum before, I'm going from being a scratch above minimum to minimum. So it's kind of good and bad to me, I don't know how to feel. I worry that cost of living will go up as the minimum wage goes up.
I'm going to vote for the first time this year. Now that my future career is dependent largely on government funding, I kind of have to support the people who don't want to eliminate jobs in my field. I finally have a team, Team Social Work.
I used to fit the bill of a blue color youth who didn't vote. I guess people who have had little influence don't feel the value of their influence.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
This House
For the camp counselor position, I will be competing with at least one friend, and maybe three more. It's a weird feeling, competing directly with my peers.
I wonder if the girls chose the basement apartments, or if they were assigned them. They're the smallest, so I hope they at least don't have to pay as much.
I'll have to be in Kitchener next Thursday for my interview, and I'll have to stay overnight because it goes to eight. I don't know if I should ring the doorbell and introduce myself to my roommates, or if I should just walk in. It would be weird ringing the doorbell at the place that I've lived for eight months, but I don't want to spook anyone.
This house was only a three bedroom house, but my landlord changed it into a seven-bedroom by renovating it. For example, he built a wall through a dining room. Bam. Two bedrooms. I think my room is a legit bedroom, though.
Something that just occurred to me... Who's taking care of the garden?! We have a pretty sweet flower bed out front, but I didn't have anything to do with it, and certainly my old roommates didn't have any interest in gardening... It was there last year, too, though.
I wonder if the girls chose the basement apartments, or if they were assigned them. They're the smallest, so I hope they at least don't have to pay as much.
I'll have to be in Kitchener next Thursday for my interview, and I'll have to stay overnight because it goes to eight. I don't know if I should ring the doorbell and introduce myself to my roommates, or if I should just walk in. It would be weird ringing the doorbell at the place that I've lived for eight months, but I don't want to spook anyone.
This house was only a three bedroom house, but my landlord changed it into a seven-bedroom by renovating it. For example, he built a wall through a dining room. Bam. Two bedrooms. I think my room is a legit bedroom, though.
Something that just occurred to me... Who's taking care of the garden?! We have a pretty sweet flower bed out front, but I didn't have anything to do with it, and certainly my old roommates didn't have any interest in gardening... It was there last year, too, though.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
New Roommates
I'm in Kitchener this weekend because a friend of mine is having a Stag & Doe. I went back to my house and noticed a few subtle changes. I was expecting some because my landlord was giving it a makeover, but as I looked around, I noticed there were shoes I didn't remember and food in the fridge I didn't remember. Now, my ex-roommates left some stuff behind, so at first I chalked it up to that, but as I looked around, I noticed some different themes in the new housewear.
I shouted out my presence with no response, and I knocked on all the room doors. Three were open and three were locked. I got no response.
I deduced that someone else is living here, and from the shoe and food selection, I determined that they were:
1) East Indian
2) Female
3) Probably vegetarian
Got sick of the suspense and contacted my landlord. He said there are two girls living in the basement.
Wonder if I'll be living in a girl house this year. My previous setup was pretty testosterone-fueled (five guys and two girls)
I think being in an all-female program is giving me a bit of an affectation. Last week, I actually turned down a work shift because I said I needed to get a Greyhound ticket, I needed to make sure my place in Kitchener had a clothing selection, and I needed to buy shoes.
I slotted almost an entire day to shoe shopping.
I came to my senses, called the agency, and asked if they still had the shift, which they did. I told the guys at work and they were all like "But you already have shoes" and I was like "Yeah, but they're not presentable. They're not suitable for a social occasion."
Even though I took the shift, I still managed to buy shoes today. I knew my size and the style I wanted, but when I got there, I wound up trying on all the shoes in my size and then I bought a different pair. And I bought a pair of slippers.
Maybe it's because I've been eating so much soy and tofu lately. I started looking after my health a bit, and I'm not very clever when it comes to understanding the human body, but I know I've managed to drop thirty pounds twice in the past. Once in Katimavik and once in CWY, so I can at least follow the patterns that helped me then. In Katimavik, my poor attempt at trying vegetarianism left me malnourished but still taught me that meat stays in your system, so I've been limiting my intake of it, and I've found that tofu is both cheap and versatile. There's a stigma against it in the "macho man" community (which I belong to) because it gives you estrogen (supposedly). But I was all "Whatever, I'm a testosterone tank, a little estrogen would probably be good for me".
Well, two weeks later and I'm shoe shopping.
That was probably a nutritionally ill-informed and sexist rant.
I just got called back from Extend-a-Family for an interview to be a camp counselor. It would be next Thursday and I have an interview to be a front desk person at 2ndchance next Wednesday. I won't be able to work Wednesday, Thursday or Friday next week (I'll have to stay overnight in Kitchener on Thursday since the interview is 5-8) because I'll be too busy interviewing.
For the front desk job, one of my closer friends is going for it. And because of some circumstances I'm not willing to elaborate on over public media, I would feel just awful to snipe his opportunity. But I have to go for it, because in the end, all us SSW friends will be competing for work, and it would be so condescending for me to act like he couldn't compete with me, and what if I bow out, and then he doesn't get it? I have to still go for it with everything I've got.
I'm wearing red to the interview, and he's wearing blue. I said red speaks to ambition, motivation, energy, and assertion. He said that blue is calming, soothing, gentle, and approachable. He says blue is best for social services, I say red works best no matter what field you're in.
Oh, funny thing. I'm probably a little bit colour blind. I confuse some of the lighter shades of red and brown. All my life, I would argue with people over if certain shades were red or brown, and I would be contested hotly and unanimously. Only when talking it over recently though, did it really come together that I'm literally just a teense colour blind. I looked up if it was possible to be partially colour blind, and it is very, very possible.
It's not a big deal. Just a few shades in the "reddish brown" territory, but it's an interesting tidbit to learn about myself, having lived with it so long and only realizing it now.
I shouted out my presence with no response, and I knocked on all the room doors. Three were open and three were locked. I got no response.
I deduced that someone else is living here, and from the shoe and food selection, I determined that they were:
1) East Indian
2) Female
3) Probably vegetarian
Got sick of the suspense and contacted my landlord. He said there are two girls living in the basement.
Wonder if I'll be living in a girl house this year. My previous setup was pretty testosterone-fueled (five guys and two girls)
I think being in an all-female program is giving me a bit of an affectation. Last week, I actually turned down a work shift because I said I needed to get a Greyhound ticket, I needed to make sure my place in Kitchener had a clothing selection, and I needed to buy shoes.
I slotted almost an entire day to shoe shopping.
I came to my senses, called the agency, and asked if they still had the shift, which they did. I told the guys at work and they were all like "But you already have shoes" and I was like "Yeah, but they're not presentable. They're not suitable for a social occasion."
Even though I took the shift, I still managed to buy shoes today. I knew my size and the style I wanted, but when I got there, I wound up trying on all the shoes in my size and then I bought a different pair. And I bought a pair of slippers.
Maybe it's because I've been eating so much soy and tofu lately. I started looking after my health a bit, and I'm not very clever when it comes to understanding the human body, but I know I've managed to drop thirty pounds twice in the past. Once in Katimavik and once in CWY, so I can at least follow the patterns that helped me then. In Katimavik, my poor attempt at trying vegetarianism left me malnourished but still taught me that meat stays in your system, so I've been limiting my intake of it, and I've found that tofu is both cheap and versatile. There's a stigma against it in the "macho man" community (which I belong to) because it gives you estrogen (supposedly). But I was all "Whatever, I'm a testosterone tank, a little estrogen would probably be good for me".
Well, two weeks later and I'm shoe shopping.
That was probably a nutritionally ill-informed and sexist rant.
I just got called back from Extend-a-Family for an interview to be a camp counselor. It would be next Thursday and I have an interview to be a front desk person at 2ndchance next Wednesday. I won't be able to work Wednesday, Thursday or Friday next week (I'll have to stay overnight in Kitchener on Thursday since the interview is 5-8) because I'll be too busy interviewing.
For the front desk job, one of my closer friends is going for it. And because of some circumstances I'm not willing to elaborate on over public media, I would feel just awful to snipe his opportunity. But I have to go for it, because in the end, all us SSW friends will be competing for work, and it would be so condescending for me to act like he couldn't compete with me, and what if I bow out, and then he doesn't get it? I have to still go for it with everything I've got.
I'm wearing red to the interview, and he's wearing blue. I said red speaks to ambition, motivation, energy, and assertion. He said that blue is calming, soothing, gentle, and approachable. He says blue is best for social services, I say red works best no matter what field you're in.
Oh, funny thing. I'm probably a little bit colour blind. I confuse some of the lighter shades of red and brown. All my life, I would argue with people over if certain shades were red or brown, and I would be contested hotly and unanimously. Only when talking it over recently though, did it really come together that I'm literally just a teense colour blind. I looked up if it was possible to be partially colour blind, and it is very, very possible.
It's not a big deal. Just a few shades in the "reddish brown" territory, but it's an interesting tidbit to learn about myself, having lived with it so long and only realizing it now.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Digital Picking and Putting in the Garden
I finally got trained on digital picking. Now I can use a computer system to navigate the warehouse and fill multiple orders at a time. I had really resigned myself to being permanently a manual picker, since I was the only person in my last batch of temps not to get trained on anything else last year.
Today we put in the garden. We put sunflowers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, peas, and beans. We have zucchini and summer squash growing indoors that are not ready to transplant, too. The sunflowers I grew indoors sprouted in like, two days instead of one to two weeks like they were supposed to, so they got quite a bit taller than my flower last year before I transplanted it. They also seemed overgrown to be indoors because they were so ahead of schedule and therefore kind of sickly. But my flower last year had some close calls and recovered from each so hopefully these will be similarly hardy.
Speaking of which, of all the sunflowers to have grown last year, my flower, the one that returned from the dead twice, was the only one to still be standing after this winter's end. What a testament of its strength of will. It will not soon be forgotten.
Today we put in the garden. We put sunflowers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, peas, and beans. We have zucchini and summer squash growing indoors that are not ready to transplant, too. The sunflowers I grew indoors sprouted in like, two days instead of one to two weeks like they were supposed to, so they got quite a bit taller than my flower last year before I transplanted it. They also seemed overgrown to be indoors because they were so ahead of schedule and therefore kind of sickly. But my flower last year had some close calls and recovered from each so hopefully these will be similarly hardy.
Speaking of which, of all the sunflowers to have grown last year, my flower, the one that returned from the dead twice, was the only one to still be standing after this winter's end. What a testament of its strength of will. It will not soon be forgotten.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
I'm Unmemorable
At work, they changed the method of how we scan in orders. Last year, each of us had our own barcode, but now, we're assigned a barcode at the beginning of each day and record which number we got. So before, it used to say "Gryphon has scanned in order # whatever" but now it will say "Worker 17 has scanned in order # whatever". Feels a bit less personal.Thing is, I still have my barcode from last year. I wonder if I used it, if it would still remember me. And then on the sign out sheet, under the "Worker #" section, I could write "Gryphon".
I must be the most unmemorable person in the world. Only three people from work last year remember who I am. And then I ran into an old friend from Ways2Work and she barely remembered me. And then when I called the agency to see about work the next day, and the person I speak with daily had suddenly forgotten who I was. I'm dying.
Starting up the garden this year. I just want to grow sunflowers, zucchini, and tomatoes, since I know that's what works, but Mom wants to grow peppers and onions and all those things that didn't work last year. She says that just because it didn't work last year doesn't mean it won't this year. But for me, last year was for experimenting... This time I want one that actually flourishes.
And she wants to put my sunflowers in the flower section. A sunflower isn't a flower, it's a crop. It produces a food substance and it only has it's flower out for like five days, anyway. And I don't see the point in segregating flowers and vegetables in the first place.
And her gardening friend tells her to wait until after the Victoria Day weekend, but my gardener friends all started early and told us our garden was weak because we waited too long last year.
I started growing my sunflowers at least, and I started them indoors. Last year's sunflower was a transplant and it did real well, after all. I planted ten, and all ten have sprouted. It's beautiful. I've also prepped our plot of land a bit, dug it up and removed weeds.
I lost my Segu book. I'm mad. I'm really, really mad. Where did it go?
I must be the most unmemorable person in the world. Only three people from work last year remember who I am. And then I ran into an old friend from Ways2Work and she barely remembered me. And then when I called the agency to see about work the next day, and the person I speak with daily had suddenly forgotten who I was. I'm dying.
Starting up the garden this year. I just want to grow sunflowers, zucchini, and tomatoes, since I know that's what works, but Mom wants to grow peppers and onions and all those things that didn't work last year. She says that just because it didn't work last year doesn't mean it won't this year. But for me, last year was for experimenting... This time I want one that actually flourishes.
And she wants to put my sunflowers in the flower section. A sunflower isn't a flower, it's a crop. It produces a food substance and it only has it's flower out for like five days, anyway. And I don't see the point in segregating flowers and vegetables in the first place.
And her gardening friend tells her to wait until after the Victoria Day weekend, but my gardener friends all started early and told us our garden was weak because we waited too long last year.
I started growing my sunflowers at least, and I started them indoors. Last year's sunflower was a transplant and it did real well, after all. I planted ten, and all ten have sprouted. It's beautiful. I've also prepped our plot of land a bit, dug it up and removed weeds.
I lost my Segu book. I'm mad. I'm really, really mad. Where did it go?
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Extend-a-Family Interview
I went to Kitchener today to do my interview with Extend-a-Family. I got to spend some time at WALES too, since it was right across the street. When I showed up, some of the participants saw me ahead of time and ran out to see me. Everyone was so happy to see me, it was very welcoming.
The interview went great. I already knew the person who was interviewing me, she went through job carving with me at the Butterfly Conservatory, and she co-hosted the Inclusion Workshop. Before going in, I found out there was someone else in the office with her name and I thought I might have lost my advantage, but it turned out to be the person I knew. It was very conversational and didn't feel too much like an interview.
Some people are criticizing me for making the potential decision to stay in Kitchener to do contract work, which would pay less than staying in Guelph and doing industrial work, but I really think that paid employment in my field before I even graduate is valuable. Not to mention the networking aspect. And they would also like me to continue working part-time through the school year, so it's kind of an investment. Although since I'm a Respect Leader, I'm really piling my plate high.
My roommates all moved out. I came back and saw a big moving van. I asked who was moving out and they were like "All of us". I knew two of them had moved out, and I thought a third was leaving, but I was told the other three were staying because they have work in the area. The landlord came by and took their keys and everything. They are really gone, and I have the whole house to myself all summer long.
The interview went great. I already knew the person who was interviewing me, she went through job carving with me at the Butterfly Conservatory, and she co-hosted the Inclusion Workshop. Before going in, I found out there was someone else in the office with her name and I thought I might have lost my advantage, but it turned out to be the person I knew. It was very conversational and didn't feel too much like an interview.
Some people are criticizing me for making the potential decision to stay in Kitchener to do contract work, which would pay less than staying in Guelph and doing industrial work, but I really think that paid employment in my field before I even graduate is valuable. Not to mention the networking aspect. And they would also like me to continue working part-time through the school year, so it's kind of an investment. Although since I'm a Respect Leader, I'm really piling my plate high.
My roommates all moved out. I came back and saw a big moving van. I asked who was moving out and they were like "All of us". I knew two of them had moved out, and I thought a third was leaving, but I was told the other three were staying because they have work in the area. The landlord came by and took their keys and everything. They are really gone, and I have the whole house to myself all summer long.
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