Hey everyone, want to give a shot at where I've been this past Monday, Friday, and Thursday?
If you guessed "at a warehouse that distributes large containers of lubricant" congratulations! That is where I have been.
I've recently reconciled myself to the reality that I cannot sustain my way of living based purely on Direct Support Work. Therefor, I have hit up the temp agencies for the first time in two years.
Even if it's a different direction from what I've been doing, I don't want to give this recent gig a bad review.
When I came in, the office lady gave me a tour, told me the history of the company, which impressed me because she put forth a bit of extra effort
to familiarize me with the place even though it wasn't task related.
Tiny crew. I swear I worked with only two other people. There's one guy I
saw around who was doing his own thing. Then there's a supervisor and two
people in the office.
Got to learn how to use a blowtorch. That's something that seemed really
intimidating, but turns out, it's about as scary as lighting a candle. I
also learned how to grind characters into metal plates. Again, seemed
intimidating, but it's about as scary as writing with a pen that
vibrates.
Job I had, I was vacuuming out containers (cubets), wiping them down,
labeling them, putting them in cages, putting plugs into holes on the
cages, and wrapping them in plastic wrap.
When describing my job to my neighbour, she noted that all I was talking about was lube, plugging holes, and vibrating pens.
But even though this was one of the best manufacturing positions I've ever been a part of, I still wanted to whine and moan.
Before resorting to temp work, I decided to try applying for any position on charityvillage.com, which is basically the Job Bank for social workers. Unfortunately, every single position required a full driver's license. After this, I tried applying at every group home, which is known to be the basic entry-level position to the developmental services, even though my old crowd refers to them as belonging to the "Old Story". I got three callbacks, but each of them rejected me based on the driver's license thing.
So now the tenuous plan is to get ongoing industrial work, hold onto at least three of my current Direct Support contracts, apply for University, and if successful, take another three year vacation doing post secondary education, pretending like I won't have to go back to factories.
Not going to lie, where I'm going right now is exactly everything I've fought to avoid. I have to give up all my daytime contracts in favour of industrial work. And I don't even know if I'm going to get ongoing work yet. So I'm gambling on my nightmare coming true, so I can continue my existence in this fashion.
And it also sucks because it's Christmas, and everyone's on vacation and wants you to be celebrating when you want to be focusing on survival and employment. And all my contracts are canceling during my time of need, because it's the holidays. So no income.
I'd say this was the worst Christmas ever, but my friend Tyler died by suicide near Christmas back in highschool, so I think that still takes it.
I got a good luck amulet recently, though. I was supporting someone last Sunday, we were waiting for the bus, some lady asks if I've got an extra bus ticket. I tell her I have a bus pass and don't use tickets, but I give her change for the bus. She tells me I really saved her and the only way she can think to repay me is by giving me the heart-shaped luck amulet that has always done her well. Found it a little odd that she would give something with an implied personal value to some random at a bus station that gave her change, so I ask her if she's got a lot of crystals. She assures me she does, then she says she wants to buy me a coffee if she sees me around.
Yo, give me odds on whether or not that chick was hitting on me. Regardless, I need the luck, so I'm putting the amulet to use, keeping it on my person.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Christmas Season
Ugggggh... I'm not too into the Christmas season this year. Having spent three months without a roommate, and therefore paying double rent in the meanwhile, I'm in a financial situation where I have to be careful how I step forward. For the past few years, I've told people to not expect anything from me, and even though I meant it when I said it, I wound up spending heavily anyway. This would kind of even out, since honestly, most Christmases I wind up receiving more than I give. This year feels a bit harder than the previous ones, though.
I've joked about how I was going to go back to my roots... Like when you're a kid, and all the adults give you whatever expensive toys you want, and you give some kind of craft in return, because it's the thought that counts. Everyone's getting paper mache from me this year!
I've joked about this enough that two of my impoverished friends actually took up this line of thinking. They're giving away drawings and paintings in lieu of nothing. So I think I might actually take up this tact, would be better than showing up empty-handed. Just need some creative avenue that might be a bit interesting. Not actually paper mache.
When I joked about this at home, my mother told me she wished I'd learned how to whittle, just because it would "suit me". I thought about how I came home with those wood carvings from Mali, how they were seen as acceptable gifts, and how the Malian craftsmen boasted at how fast they could make their sculptures. If I'd learned wood carving, that would be unlimited cheap custom-made gifts! Not going to learn that skill before Christmas, though.
We've got winter in Kitchener! Usually when I'm down in the dumps, I'll say something about how the weather represents my state of mind. So here, I might say the weather reflects the "frozen aspect of my heart" but I gotta tell you, this weather is lifting my spirits! Last year, we didn't even really seem to get a winter. It just feels right, as a Canadian, to get some snow. It might be burdensome, but it's right.
The world looks beautiful covered in billowy white snow dunes. My winter fashion is on point, too. Today I cracked out my winter coat, which was a gift from my brother two birthdays back. When I paid a complement to someone's jacket, he noted that I never pay attention to clothes, and so he found it in him to get a replica. With my coat and it's fake fur lined hood, beard, flannel, toque, and blue jeans, I looked like a creature in my element today.
Choked on a snowflake! Really enjoyed the weather today, let's hope it stays around for a bit!
Last Thursday, I got to run the WALES Group. I've done this once before. Staff were required to go to a meeting, and so they needed someone to cover. I thought I might be doing this all on my own, but they pulled in the current placement student as well as a good friend of mine, someone who did her second year placement when I was doing my first, and who shared last year of Summer Program with me. When I said I thought I would be alone running the organization, she was like "Can you imagine?" I was like, "Yeah, I was".
Day went fine. We set the place up with Christmas decorations.
My neighbour's daughter had a bake sale, and me and my roommate took a few orders. We got ours in today. I'd ordered some cronuts (croissant doughnut hybrid) and some bacon-wrapped jalapeno banditoes (jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon) while my roommate got the Portuguese custard tarts and loaded potato soup. I think my roommate won out on wise choice selection. The cronuts were good, but they were in all honesty not much more than glazed croissants, and the Banditoes were delicious but it would have been easy enough to get some peppers, cream cheese and bacon and make my own for cheaper. The tarts he got were good (we shared everything out, so it's not like I missed out on food, just salty I didn't score the best deals). The real prize was the soup. I didn't get soup because I thought it would "Spill". But he got the dry ingredients wrapped in a layered format with instructions. Very cool. If this sale comes though again, I'll be getting some soup.
Did you know they rent video games at the library? I ran into someone at the library recently and when I asked him what he was doing, he was like "You know me Gryphon, loaded up on movies and video games". I knew that the age of book-only libraries was finished, and they were now used primarily for their resources. My local library has an Internet service, printing, photocopying, scanning, 3D Printing, virtual reality simulator, cafe, audio book, and movie selection but video games seemed to branch a bit further from the spirit of everything than I was prepared for. But yeah. they have a video game selection. And it's not like, educational video games either. It's just a random assortment of slightly older in-demand video games.
I've joked about how I was going to go back to my roots... Like when you're a kid, and all the adults give you whatever expensive toys you want, and you give some kind of craft in return, because it's the thought that counts. Everyone's getting paper mache from me this year!
I've joked about this enough that two of my impoverished friends actually took up this line of thinking. They're giving away drawings and paintings in lieu of nothing. So I think I might actually take up this tact, would be better than showing up empty-handed. Just need some creative avenue that might be a bit interesting. Not actually paper mache.
When I joked about this at home, my mother told me she wished I'd learned how to whittle, just because it would "suit me". I thought about how I came home with those wood carvings from Mali, how they were seen as acceptable gifts, and how the Malian craftsmen boasted at how fast they could make their sculptures. If I'd learned wood carving, that would be unlimited cheap custom-made gifts! Not going to learn that skill before Christmas, though.
We've got winter in Kitchener! Usually when I'm down in the dumps, I'll say something about how the weather represents my state of mind. So here, I might say the weather reflects the "frozen aspect of my heart" but I gotta tell you, this weather is lifting my spirits! Last year, we didn't even really seem to get a winter. It just feels right, as a Canadian, to get some snow. It might be burdensome, but it's right.
The world looks beautiful covered in billowy white snow dunes. My winter fashion is on point, too. Today I cracked out my winter coat, which was a gift from my brother two birthdays back. When I paid a complement to someone's jacket, he noted that I never pay attention to clothes, and so he found it in him to get a replica. With my coat and it's fake fur lined hood, beard, flannel, toque, and blue jeans, I looked like a creature in my element today.
Choked on a snowflake! Really enjoyed the weather today, let's hope it stays around for a bit!
Last Thursday, I got to run the WALES Group. I've done this once before. Staff were required to go to a meeting, and so they needed someone to cover. I thought I might be doing this all on my own, but they pulled in the current placement student as well as a good friend of mine, someone who did her second year placement when I was doing my first, and who shared last year of Summer Program with me. When I said I thought I would be alone running the organization, she was like "Can you imagine?" I was like, "Yeah, I was".
Day went fine. We set the place up with Christmas decorations.
My neighbour's daughter had a bake sale, and me and my roommate took a few orders. We got ours in today. I'd ordered some cronuts (croissant doughnut hybrid) and some bacon-wrapped jalapeno banditoes (jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon) while my roommate got the Portuguese custard tarts and loaded potato soup. I think my roommate won out on wise choice selection. The cronuts were good, but they were in all honesty not much more than glazed croissants, and the Banditoes were delicious but it would have been easy enough to get some peppers, cream cheese and bacon and make my own for cheaper. The tarts he got were good (we shared everything out, so it's not like I missed out on food, just salty I didn't score the best deals). The real prize was the soup. I didn't get soup because I thought it would "Spill". But he got the dry ingredients wrapped in a layered format with instructions. Very cool. If this sale comes though again, I'll be getting some soup.
Did you know they rent video games at the library? I ran into someone at the library recently and when I asked him what he was doing, he was like "You know me Gryphon, loaded up on movies and video games". I knew that the age of book-only libraries was finished, and they were now used primarily for their resources. My local library has an Internet service, printing, photocopying, scanning, 3D Printing, virtual reality simulator, cafe, audio book, and movie selection but video games seemed to branch a bit further from the spirit of everything than I was prepared for. But yeah. they have a video game selection. And it's not like, educational video games either. It's just a random assortment of slightly older in-demand video games.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Charger Cable
My laptop's been down for a bit. The charger cable has been acting up for awhile. It wouldn't charge while plugged in, and would only do so if I had the cable sit kind of half-in half-out of the plug. It was giving me flashbacks to my old cell phone, which after gradual deterioration ultimately required me to tape a pen to a charger, then wrap rubber bands around the pen and phone to create a consistent charge. I didn't have any rubber bands large enough to stretch around my beast of a laptop, though.
However, I have a younger version of the same laptop as my brother, so any issue his develops likely happens with me as well. His laptop's charge cable had worn out and he had needed to get it replaced, which gave me hope that I wouldn't need to be getting a new computer or have it repaired in a serious way.
When I was in Guelph for Moss' funeral, we tried my brother's charger with my computer, and it worked fine, which seemed to confirm it was an issue with my charger.
It hit it's last when I was doing a job search. I'd picked up a number of leads, bookmarked them and was ready to start sending applications when I noticed it had stopped charging. I fiddled around with the cable, but couldn't get its sweet spot. Eventually I decided to power it off while it still had a bit of charge and accept that the cable no longer worked.
I went to Wal Mart the next day to see if they had anything. They had a universal charger that was supposed to work with any laptop, and it specified Toshiba. Brought it home and tried each tip. Only one fit, and it wasn't one of the tips that was supposed to work with Toshiba. But even though it fit, it didn't work. Brought it back the next day and went to Best Buy. Asked somebody about cables and described the situation. I'd brought my cable and my laptop but didn't want to show it, because it's so primitive and you know those guys are going to start pitching upgrades, and because they seem so much smarter than you, you often wind up walking away with some fancy thing that isn't all that functional. Happened to me at a Staples where I'd asked for something I knew was reliable and got talked into taking away something more expensive which broke inside a year.
Anyway, so the guy shows me a universal cable that specifies Toshiba. I tell him that I'd just tried a universal cable that specifies Toshiba, but he points out that this one is "Guaranteed Compatibility" and fully refundable. So I bring it home and it doesn't work. I get my brother (who is smarter than me at this type of thing) to look up which type of cable might work. He gives me a name and says it's in stock at the Best Buy I got the last cable at. I return the cable and go to the charger section (I know they're actually called adapters but I can't get used to the word so I'm not using it). I'm staring at the section when an employee walks up and offers her service. I puff myself up, determined to get exactly what I've come for. I tell her I need a very specific charger. She says I'm probably right next to it. I tell her the name and she points to exactly where I'd been staring.
Those displays are so mesmerizing. Too much information, my brain just shorts out. I probably would have stared at that wall, trying to comprehend what I was looking at for another thirty minutes before realizing what I was looking at.
Anyway, that charger didn't work either.
When my brother's had stopped working, he had brought it into an old computer parts store, the guy had looked at his cable, tried a bunch of different chargers, found one that fit and had given it to him at half the price that these chargers were. But I couldn't go to this place because I generally work every day of the week and without a vehicle I can't casually drive to Guelph.
So last Friday I looked up used computer parts stores in Kitchener-Waterloo, choose the highest rated, and head over. They ask if I've got my laptop and they try each charger but none fit. They ask if I've got the cable handy, and the guy gets excited "It's a bullet!"
Apparently my charge cable is rare because there's usually a little piece of metal in the middle that sticks into the computer, but mine is just the casing, like a bullet shell. Back of my mind I'm wondering if this is why mine and my brother's both developed issue.
So they contact the supplier and offer to order one for me, which I accept.
I like these people because they actually looked at my computer, worked out a solution, and described it to me. They also are ordering the cable, but don't require purchase until they know it works, meaning that if it doesn't, they've spent money on a rare cable that they may never need. The guy is very enthusiastic, and in my mind I wonder how a person can stay so excited about everything, but then I remember that my job requires me to be constantly in high spirits and focused on who I'm working with. So it's not that odd.
Met a couple getting something for their son, Gryffin. Poor kid, even with my spelling, the easy observation people always make about my name is that it sounds like "Gryffindor". This kid has the exact spelling. Apparently someone misspelled this guy's name. After they give the correct spelling, I lean over, stick my thumb to my chest and say "G. R. Y. P. H. O. N." They don't get it at first, thought I was trying to correct them. Little awkward. They ask me if I've ever met another Gryphon (All-inclusive on spelling, but I'm sticking to my version for the blog) I say that I've met plenty of people who have known a Gryphon, but not once in my life have I spoken with someone with the same name. Which is true.
I've always wondered how people with the same name relate with one another, if it's a unifying quality that draws people together, or if it's divisive, with each person somewhere inside wanting to be the more prominent example of their namesake. I've always felt like I'd hate meeting another Gryphon, as if it would take away from my uniqueness. That said, supposedly people with unique names do less well professionally, statistically, and not for reasons applying to demographics. Supposedly just entering a job interview and having the boss unsure on how to pronounce your name creates a feeling of vulnerability in people who generally enjoy a feeling of authority, and even just that can be damaging. Plus I could see having a common name creating a feeling of familiarity and comfort.
But after being required to remember as many people as I have, I've grown thankful for the Habibas and Nyadukus of the world. There's too much name overlap, and that can actually get confusing. At one time I was working with a Chris, Chrissy, Christy, Christine, Christina, and a Tina. Maddening. I know way too many James', Michelles, Dans, Dannys, Daniels and Danielles.
Anyway, that's unimportant. Back to the charger story. It's ordered on Friday and shows up Monday. But I don't have the foresight to pack my laptop that day and don't have time to drop by my place after work and get to the store before it closes. This means I have to pick it up and can't test it at the store. So I spend all my work shift thinking about this cable, go to the store, pick it up, and start heading back, the suspense just killing me. I run into a friend downtown and he wants some support doing something. Not complicated, I just need to be a presence. But it still requires me to postpone getting home, and the suspense thickens. As I come back, I miss my bus and I have to wait another thirty minutes. Thoughts are running through my head about how I think it's the cable but I never confirmed it. It's weird that the computer light is shining that says it's plugged in when it actually isn't. I'd powered down my computer when it still had charge but it wouldn't turn on again anyway. Maybe there's a deeper problem. Finally get back and...
...It works. Jeez, this whole saga can't have been more than a week, but it's felt like a year. I'm typing from my laptop right now.
You remember how I said I wanted to get a poster for my door, to cover up a hole that got kicked into it by my old roommate, but that all the posters I could find were too tacky? I eventually settled for a map of North America, which was neutral enough. Went to an art supply store. Everything I liked was a horizontal image when I needed vertical (map of the world, that Japanese tsunami painting with the rowing boat, and some abstract art) and it came down to the map of North America or an image of the Eiffel Tower. There were three takes on the Eiffel Tower, and I couldn't bring myself to do that one that said "See You In Paris". I've technically been to Paris France, but only in the airport. Sometimes I mention having been to Paris casually in conversation and pretend to be surprised that the person I'm talking to has never been, before admitting to only having transferred at their airport. Would be a kind of cute in-joke but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Then they had an image of the building specifics of the Eiffel Tower, which was really cool, but let's be real, I'm no architect and it means nothing to me. Then they had a neutral image of the Tower, but on closer inspection, there were some stars and frills and it was just too gaudy. So I took the map of North America.
But recently I came across a Gryffindor poster! It's great because it's the most common observation of my name, but it's also cool because I put it on my door. So Gryffindor is on Gryphon's door! Hahahaha!
I've had a time getting it to stay up though! I tried Scotch tape, masking tape, and duct tape. first with masking tape rolls in the corners, then with rolls of duct tape dotting the entire frame of the back side with Scotch tape bordering the entire thing, but it just wouldn't stay up! Almost as upsetting as the charge cord thing.
Four rolls of masking tape was enough to keep up my map of North America, even when I pulled it off one side of the door and placed it on the other. The rolls of duct tape fastened strong enough to the poster that I couldn't pull them off without causing damage, but they wouldn't fasten to the door. Thumb tacks wouldn't go in the door, either. Eventually I sucked it up and just framed the whole poster with duct tape. Didn't like the idea of the tape being visible, but it's a deep purple masking tape, which kind of goes with the deep red and gold of the Gryffindor image. It's all royal colours, at least.
Borrowed the duct tape from my roommate after he caught me cussing loudly at the poster, which snapped me back to reality.
Recently, this blog has been having record traffic. Which is pretty cool because I've been neglecting it and when I have posted, it's been done quickly and without much thought. But some recent posts have over 130 views! WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!
My highest viewed post was the one about Jenga, and the second highest was the one about those 15 guys who showed up in unmarked vans with assault rifles, who took away three guys from the community. That's actually super intimidating, I hope they aren't monitoring this blog now!
However, I have a younger version of the same laptop as my brother, so any issue his develops likely happens with me as well. His laptop's charge cable had worn out and he had needed to get it replaced, which gave me hope that I wouldn't need to be getting a new computer or have it repaired in a serious way.
When I was in Guelph for Moss' funeral, we tried my brother's charger with my computer, and it worked fine, which seemed to confirm it was an issue with my charger.
It hit it's last when I was doing a job search. I'd picked up a number of leads, bookmarked them and was ready to start sending applications when I noticed it had stopped charging. I fiddled around with the cable, but couldn't get its sweet spot. Eventually I decided to power it off while it still had a bit of charge and accept that the cable no longer worked.
I went to Wal Mart the next day to see if they had anything. They had a universal charger that was supposed to work with any laptop, and it specified Toshiba. Brought it home and tried each tip. Only one fit, and it wasn't one of the tips that was supposed to work with Toshiba. But even though it fit, it didn't work. Brought it back the next day and went to Best Buy. Asked somebody about cables and described the situation. I'd brought my cable and my laptop but didn't want to show it, because it's so primitive and you know those guys are going to start pitching upgrades, and because they seem so much smarter than you, you often wind up walking away with some fancy thing that isn't all that functional. Happened to me at a Staples where I'd asked for something I knew was reliable and got talked into taking away something more expensive which broke inside a year.
Anyway, so the guy shows me a universal cable that specifies Toshiba. I tell him that I'd just tried a universal cable that specifies Toshiba, but he points out that this one is "Guaranteed Compatibility" and fully refundable. So I bring it home and it doesn't work. I get my brother (who is smarter than me at this type of thing) to look up which type of cable might work. He gives me a name and says it's in stock at the Best Buy I got the last cable at. I return the cable and go to the charger section (I know they're actually called adapters but I can't get used to the word so I'm not using it). I'm staring at the section when an employee walks up and offers her service. I puff myself up, determined to get exactly what I've come for. I tell her I need a very specific charger. She says I'm probably right next to it. I tell her the name and she points to exactly where I'd been staring.
Those displays are so mesmerizing. Too much information, my brain just shorts out. I probably would have stared at that wall, trying to comprehend what I was looking at for another thirty minutes before realizing what I was looking at.
Anyway, that charger didn't work either.
When my brother's had stopped working, he had brought it into an old computer parts store, the guy had looked at his cable, tried a bunch of different chargers, found one that fit and had given it to him at half the price that these chargers were. But I couldn't go to this place because I generally work every day of the week and without a vehicle I can't casually drive to Guelph.
So last Friday I looked up used computer parts stores in Kitchener-Waterloo, choose the highest rated, and head over. They ask if I've got my laptop and they try each charger but none fit. They ask if I've got the cable handy, and the guy gets excited "It's a bullet!"
Apparently my charge cable is rare because there's usually a little piece of metal in the middle that sticks into the computer, but mine is just the casing, like a bullet shell. Back of my mind I'm wondering if this is why mine and my brother's both developed issue.
So they contact the supplier and offer to order one for me, which I accept.
I like these people because they actually looked at my computer, worked out a solution, and described it to me. They also are ordering the cable, but don't require purchase until they know it works, meaning that if it doesn't, they've spent money on a rare cable that they may never need. The guy is very enthusiastic, and in my mind I wonder how a person can stay so excited about everything, but then I remember that my job requires me to be constantly in high spirits and focused on who I'm working with. So it's not that odd.
Met a couple getting something for their son, Gryffin. Poor kid, even with my spelling, the easy observation people always make about my name is that it sounds like "Gryffindor". This kid has the exact spelling. Apparently someone misspelled this guy's name. After they give the correct spelling, I lean over, stick my thumb to my chest and say "G. R. Y. P. H. O. N." They don't get it at first, thought I was trying to correct them. Little awkward. They ask me if I've ever met another Gryphon (All-inclusive on spelling, but I'm sticking to my version for the blog) I say that I've met plenty of people who have known a Gryphon, but not once in my life have I spoken with someone with the same name. Which is true.
I've always wondered how people with the same name relate with one another, if it's a unifying quality that draws people together, or if it's divisive, with each person somewhere inside wanting to be the more prominent example of their namesake. I've always felt like I'd hate meeting another Gryphon, as if it would take away from my uniqueness. That said, supposedly people with unique names do less well professionally, statistically, and not for reasons applying to demographics. Supposedly just entering a job interview and having the boss unsure on how to pronounce your name creates a feeling of vulnerability in people who generally enjoy a feeling of authority, and even just that can be damaging. Plus I could see having a common name creating a feeling of familiarity and comfort.
But after being required to remember as many people as I have, I've grown thankful for the Habibas and Nyadukus of the world. There's too much name overlap, and that can actually get confusing. At one time I was working with a Chris, Chrissy, Christy, Christine, Christina, and a Tina. Maddening. I know way too many James', Michelles, Dans, Dannys, Daniels and Danielles.
Anyway, that's unimportant. Back to the charger story. It's ordered on Friday and shows up Monday. But I don't have the foresight to pack my laptop that day and don't have time to drop by my place after work and get to the store before it closes. This means I have to pick it up and can't test it at the store. So I spend all my work shift thinking about this cable, go to the store, pick it up, and start heading back, the suspense just killing me. I run into a friend downtown and he wants some support doing something. Not complicated, I just need to be a presence. But it still requires me to postpone getting home, and the suspense thickens. As I come back, I miss my bus and I have to wait another thirty minutes. Thoughts are running through my head about how I think it's the cable but I never confirmed it. It's weird that the computer light is shining that says it's plugged in when it actually isn't. I'd powered down my computer when it still had charge but it wouldn't turn on again anyway. Maybe there's a deeper problem. Finally get back and...
...It works. Jeez, this whole saga can't have been more than a week, but it's felt like a year. I'm typing from my laptop right now.
You remember how I said I wanted to get a poster for my door, to cover up a hole that got kicked into it by my old roommate, but that all the posters I could find were too tacky? I eventually settled for a map of North America, which was neutral enough. Went to an art supply store. Everything I liked was a horizontal image when I needed vertical (map of the world, that Japanese tsunami painting with the rowing boat, and some abstract art) and it came down to the map of North America or an image of the Eiffel Tower. There were three takes on the Eiffel Tower, and I couldn't bring myself to do that one that said "See You In Paris". I've technically been to Paris France, but only in the airport. Sometimes I mention having been to Paris casually in conversation and pretend to be surprised that the person I'm talking to has never been, before admitting to only having transferred at their airport. Would be a kind of cute in-joke but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Then they had an image of the building specifics of the Eiffel Tower, which was really cool, but let's be real, I'm no architect and it means nothing to me. Then they had a neutral image of the Tower, but on closer inspection, there were some stars and frills and it was just too gaudy. So I took the map of North America.
But recently I came across a Gryffindor poster! It's great because it's the most common observation of my name, but it's also cool because I put it on my door. So Gryffindor is on Gryphon's door! Hahahaha!
I've had a time getting it to stay up though! I tried Scotch tape, masking tape, and duct tape. first with masking tape rolls in the corners, then with rolls of duct tape dotting the entire frame of the back side with Scotch tape bordering the entire thing, but it just wouldn't stay up! Almost as upsetting as the charge cord thing.
Four rolls of masking tape was enough to keep up my map of North America, even when I pulled it off one side of the door and placed it on the other. The rolls of duct tape fastened strong enough to the poster that I couldn't pull them off without causing damage, but they wouldn't fasten to the door. Thumb tacks wouldn't go in the door, either. Eventually I sucked it up and just framed the whole poster with duct tape. Didn't like the idea of the tape being visible, but it's a deep purple masking tape, which kind of goes with the deep red and gold of the Gryffindor image. It's all royal colours, at least.
Borrowed the duct tape from my roommate after he caught me cussing loudly at the poster, which snapped me back to reality.
Recently, this blog has been having record traffic. Which is pretty cool because I've been neglecting it and when I have posted, it's been done quickly and without much thought. But some recent posts have over 130 views! WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!
My highest viewed post was the one about Jenga, and the second highest was the one about those 15 guys who showed up in unmarked vans with assault rifles, who took away three guys from the community. That's actually super intimidating, I hope they aren't monitoring this blog now!
Sunday, November 13, 2016
RIP Moss
So today my family in Guelph's pet rabbit, Moss, passed away. He was quite an elderly rabbit, I remember adopting him from a friend when I was in Grade Eleven, which was eleven years ago. At that time he was already several years old and since dwarf rabbits have an average lifespan of 7-10 years, so he showed a strong amount of longevity
I was the one who named him Moss. I'm not very good at giving names. We have a cat named Blackavar, which was my favourite rabbit in the book Watership Down. So we had a cat named after a rabbit, and a rabbit named after a plant because of me.
But his name was also Watership Down based, as most of the rabbits were named after plants (Hazel, Blackberry, Dandelion, Buckthorn, Strawberry, Bluebell etc.) Because his origins were a bit rough, I named him Moss because he was able to grow and develop as a fine rabbit despite the craggy, hard, inhospitable circumstances on which he was born.
(Also because I had a rabbit themed online roleplay character named Moss. Nothing too weird, I swear, but I've put that behind me so don't bring it up. Same naming criteria for the character, though)
Moss didn't live in a cage. For some reason, he enjoyed his little section of boxes and carpet to the point he refused to explore further. So we didn't have to worry about him chewing on electrical cords unless they fell on his turf. He even had a kitty liter box on his territory, where he would defecate. He was a free and organized rabbit.
The cats never bothered him. Of note, he had one cat friend who would share his treats with him fairly. He loved broccoli more than anything else, and Luna, his cat companion, would sit side-by-side with him and the two would share their broccoli. Luna also played with him, rolling on her back and batting at him. When she walked on his territory, Moss would bounce up to her and tuck his face in her fur.
In the end, his passing was gracious. I wasn't there, but the night before he passed, he apparently suffered what appear to be a stroke. He wasn't able to stand up and his eyes were clouded over. He accepted liquid food as a dropper from a syringe, administered by my brother.
One of our cats, Thor, apparently lay beside him until the moment of his passing.
Tonight is the night of the Supermoon, a full moon that is brighter and larger than any other for the past sixty years. In some of Eastern Asia, including Japan, China, and Korea, as well as the ancient Aztec civilization, they see what we interpret as the Man in the Moon, formed by shadows created by craters, as the image of a rabbit.
I might be reaching, since Moss wasn't Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or Aztec, but the brightest symbol in the past sixty years representing a rabbit shines on the night of his passing. Let me feel this is significant. who I woul,
Let me hit you with this. The Chinese moon-rabbit is grinding the elixir for eternal life. Let me think this represents Moss's longevity, and the reminder that this event is not a symbol of an end, but a celebration of life and new beginnings.
By the by, I can't help but take notice in regard to my readers from the United States, that you have elected Donald Trump as your president. It's not much my business, since I'm from a separate nation, but because of our geographic proximity and trade agreements, I can't help but feel this choice in leadership will impact us as well.
Since I'm not all that politically savvy, I trust in you voters as having perceived some stronger qualities within President Elect Trump than I have. After all, I've only known Trump as a guy who ran a reality TV Show, where he tried to trademark the common phrase "You're fired". When he tried to build a golf course on marked Scotland soil. When he was attacked by a bald eagle, representing everything virtuous about the United States.
Hope the decisions of our neighbors leave us well enough alone!
I was the one who named him Moss. I'm not very good at giving names. We have a cat named Blackavar, which was my favourite rabbit in the book Watership Down. So we had a cat named after a rabbit, and a rabbit named after a plant because of me.
But his name was also Watership Down based, as most of the rabbits were named after plants (Hazel, Blackberry, Dandelion, Buckthorn, Strawberry, Bluebell etc.) Because his origins were a bit rough, I named him Moss because he was able to grow and develop as a fine rabbit despite the craggy, hard, inhospitable circumstances on which he was born.
(Also because I had a rabbit themed online roleplay character named Moss. Nothing too weird, I swear, but I've put that behind me so don't bring it up. Same naming criteria for the character, though)
Moss didn't live in a cage. For some reason, he enjoyed his little section of boxes and carpet to the point he refused to explore further. So we didn't have to worry about him chewing on electrical cords unless they fell on his turf. He even had a kitty liter box on his territory, where he would defecate. He was a free and organized rabbit.
The cats never bothered him. Of note, he had one cat friend who would share his treats with him fairly. He loved broccoli more than anything else, and Luna, his cat companion, would sit side-by-side with him and the two would share their broccoli. Luna also played with him, rolling on her back and batting at him. When she walked on his territory, Moss would bounce up to her and tuck his face in her fur.
In the end, his passing was gracious. I wasn't there, but the night before he passed, he apparently suffered what appear to be a stroke. He wasn't able to stand up and his eyes were clouded over. He accepted liquid food as a dropper from a syringe, administered by my brother.
One of our cats, Thor, apparently lay beside him until the moment of his passing.
Tonight is the night of the Supermoon, a full moon that is brighter and larger than any other for the past sixty years. In some of Eastern Asia, including Japan, China, and Korea, as well as the ancient Aztec civilization, they see what we interpret as the Man in the Moon, formed by shadows created by craters, as the image of a rabbit.
I might be reaching, since Moss wasn't Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or Aztec, but the brightest symbol in the past sixty years representing a rabbit shines on the night of his passing. Let me feel this is significant. who I woul,
Let me hit you with this. The Chinese moon-rabbit is grinding the elixir for eternal life. Let me think this represents Moss's longevity, and the reminder that this event is not a symbol of an end, but a celebration of life and new beginnings.
By the by, I can't help but take notice in regard to my readers from the United States, that you have elected Donald Trump as your president. It's not much my business, since I'm from a separate nation, but because of our geographic proximity and trade agreements, I can't help but feel this choice in leadership will impact us as well.
Since I'm not all that politically savvy, I trust in you voters as having perceived some stronger qualities within President Elect Trump than I have. After all, I've only known Trump as a guy who ran a reality TV Show, where he tried to trademark the common phrase "You're fired". When he tried to build a golf course on marked Scotland soil. When he was attacked by a bald eagle, representing everything virtuous about the United States.
Hope the decisions of our neighbors leave us well enough alone!
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Halloween 2016
So, a couple of days ago it was Halloween. I decided to try giving out candy this year. Last year, I tried to do this, but wound up watching a horror movie with my roommates, then we had a few friends over, and we wound up eating all the candy I was going to give out.
This year, day of, I decide to give it another go. I figured my area wouldn't be a hot spot for trick-or-treaters. We have enough kids in the area, but I remember when I was a kid, it was pretty common knowledge which areas were more profitable. Generally, it was better to travel out to the higher income neighbourhoods, and so I thought the children living here would take a beeline out of the complex, and I'd only catch them on their cycle back home.
Besides, after they caught that murderer here, I'm pretty sure the kids are like "Let's go to the places where it's only fake scary".
I go to the local grocery to pick up some candy. Usually they have those boxes of fun sized candy bars, little bags of chips, and twizzler packets. Last year I picked up candy bars and twizzlers. I'm sure I've said it before, but as a kid, I'd hate getting those little bags of chips, because there's so much air in them and it's just wasted space. A pillow sack full of candybars was a real prize. The twizzlers were because I wanted a nut-free option, and Twizzler was the only type that could guarantee that.
My grocery had absolutely nothing and I didn't have time to go to another. I tried a nearby dollar store, and they were stacked. Last year, I obviously overdid it with the candy (since no children came), but this year was even worse. I dropped $40 on candy! I wish somebody was with me, to tell me when to stop. I'm a cheap but festive person, which leads me to spend hard and then moan about it afterwards. It was nostalgic, because there were all those cheap little candies, like the tinfoil-wrapped chocolate balls with the Jack-o-Lanterns on them, caramel squares, toffee pieces etc, that you tend to forget because they aren't bad, but they also aren't the prize of the night. Yet, you usually only see them on Halloween, and they add to the atmosphere. I finally learned where all those adults were getting their festive, mediocre candy. The dollar store.
The dollar store is far better than the grocery when it comes to nut-free candy. Last year, only the twizzlers were nut-free. Even candy without nuts would get that little warning (may contain peanuts and tree nuts) This years, two thirds of my candy was nut-free, and honestly, the nut-free stuff was generally better. My weakness was the fruit chews.
I left the door open with the light on to signal to prospective Trick-or-Treaters that I was available. One of my neighbours, an older woman, shouted into my door "Don't eat all the candy Gryphon!" I said "Do I hear a Trick-or-Treater?" and went to try and make her take some candy. She called out both the children in her unit, who had retired early, and they picked out some candy. Then I pushed some candy on all the adults living in that unit, too. I'd never managed to hand out Halloween candy before, so I was wondering if this counted. But then some kids with costumes came by and walked up to us.
I was so awkward. I was like, "Uhhhh, how do you want to do this? You want to pick the candy or should I just give you a handful?" My roommate came out with the second bowl of candy, so it looked like he was from another unit, and he managed to give out a second serving.
So I managed to give a kid going door-t-door on Halloween night some candy. Cross that off my bucket list. But the children didn't say "Trick or Treat" so I'm not sure it counts. Drat!
This year, day of, I decide to give it another go. I figured my area wouldn't be a hot spot for trick-or-treaters. We have enough kids in the area, but I remember when I was a kid, it was pretty common knowledge which areas were more profitable. Generally, it was better to travel out to the higher income neighbourhoods, and so I thought the children living here would take a beeline out of the complex, and I'd only catch them on their cycle back home.
Besides, after they caught that murderer here, I'm pretty sure the kids are like "Let's go to the places where it's only fake scary".
I go to the local grocery to pick up some candy. Usually they have those boxes of fun sized candy bars, little bags of chips, and twizzler packets. Last year I picked up candy bars and twizzlers. I'm sure I've said it before, but as a kid, I'd hate getting those little bags of chips, because there's so much air in them and it's just wasted space. A pillow sack full of candybars was a real prize. The twizzlers were because I wanted a nut-free option, and Twizzler was the only type that could guarantee that.
My grocery had absolutely nothing and I didn't have time to go to another. I tried a nearby dollar store, and they were stacked. Last year, I obviously overdid it with the candy (since no children came), but this year was even worse. I dropped $40 on candy! I wish somebody was with me, to tell me when to stop. I'm a cheap but festive person, which leads me to spend hard and then moan about it afterwards. It was nostalgic, because there were all those cheap little candies, like the tinfoil-wrapped chocolate balls with the Jack-o-Lanterns on them, caramel squares, toffee pieces etc, that you tend to forget because they aren't bad, but they also aren't the prize of the night. Yet, you usually only see them on Halloween, and they add to the atmosphere. I finally learned where all those adults were getting their festive, mediocre candy. The dollar store.
The dollar store is far better than the grocery when it comes to nut-free candy. Last year, only the twizzlers were nut-free. Even candy without nuts would get that little warning (may contain peanuts and tree nuts) This years, two thirds of my candy was nut-free, and honestly, the nut-free stuff was generally better. My weakness was the fruit chews.
I left the door open with the light on to signal to prospective Trick-or-Treaters that I was available. One of my neighbours, an older woman, shouted into my door "Don't eat all the candy Gryphon!" I said "Do I hear a Trick-or-Treater?" and went to try and make her take some candy. She called out both the children in her unit, who had retired early, and they picked out some candy. Then I pushed some candy on all the adults living in that unit, too. I'd never managed to hand out Halloween candy before, so I was wondering if this counted. But then some kids with costumes came by and walked up to us.
I was so awkward. I was like, "Uhhhh, how do you want to do this? You want to pick the candy or should I just give you a handful?" My roommate came out with the second bowl of candy, so it looked like he was from another unit, and he managed to give out a second serving.
So I managed to give a kid going door-t-door on Halloween night some candy. Cross that off my bucket list. But the children didn't say "Trick or Treat" so I'm not sure it counts. Drat!
Saturday, October 29, 2016
New Roommate
My new roommate moved in today! I feel like this one's a keeper, or at least, I feel like he'll be sticking around a bit. As opposed to that last couple's five day stay.
He had more stuff than he'd estimated, which is to be expected. People generally don't realize how much stuff they own. I remember mentioning on this blog how, moving into student housing, all I had were two suitcases and a backpack, but moving out, I had three suitcases, two backpacks, like six garbage bags full of clothing, and several bins. And this is when my only living space was one room and a kitchen cabinet. I'd stated before that I only ever owned what I could carry on my back, and this was still true, but there's no way I could carry all that on my back at once. I even abandoned a mattress, night stand, and bookshelf (I'd later get my mattress back)
I moved that couch bed into my room. For the past few years, I've only been sleeping on a mattress on the floor. This seems to be an indicator of your socioeconomic status. Soon after we first got our furniture at the place I'm staying at, I ran into someone I knew, whom I'd seen when I didn't have furniture, and told her the good news. Her first question was "Do you have a bedframe?" When I told her I didn't, she said "That's okay, I don't either" kind of like saying that I'd risen to her socioeconomic status but hadn't surpassed it.
And I know a couch bed isn't the same as a proper bedframe, but I was talking to a friend who is a floor-sleeper like me, and she was quite proud of having adopted a couch bed as well (through the same people who were moving out), denouncing the mattress she'd been sleeping on. This tells me that a couch bed is a step up from a mattress, even if it isn't the same as a bed that was constructed to be a bed.
But to be honest, I don't know what society's obsession is with slightly elevating yourself above the floor. Me and my old roommates got some furniture from a secondhand store, and they disassembled the legs. We never bothered to put them on. Why would we? Just creates a trap for dust and miscellaneous items that might get kicked under there. Same concept for a bed, why do people need to feel like they're hovering above the floor?
But the truth is, with all the new furniture being moved in, as well as the influx of furniture I received not long ago, it's hard to find a place for everything. So just in the interest of space, it makes sense for me to use the couch bed.
Moving the couch bed was pretty exhilarating. I don't tend to ask for help when I need it, and moving a couch up a flight of stairs with a landing in the middle is easily a multi-person effort. But somehow someway I managed it on my lonesome.It isn't something I brag about much on this blog, because I've done little to maintain my bragging rights, but I'm pretty physically powerful just naturally. Even for my body type, which suggests I'm pretty strong, I beat expectations. It almost feels like cheating. Like, I'll look at something like that couch bed and think "I need another guy to do this" and then I'll think of a number of people I might call, and then I'll think "Oh wait, I forgot, I'm Gryphon" and then I'll just do the whole job on my own
I've been looking around for posters to cover the hole in my bedroom door. Wal Mart only had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle poster, and while I've nothing against TMNT, I don't know if I want to put it on my door, telling anyone who may see that I define myself as a TMNT fan. Other places I've seen posters are movie stores for the most part, and the same issue arises. I don't want to define myself by a band or movie. . I've got a number of paintings that are scenic or nature-focused, but posters don't like to do this. But I don't want to fix a painting or mirror to a door, since it's a swinging surface and might come off.
I'm probably going to have to get rid of a couch and loveseat, which is fine. New roommate has better stuff than my older things. I'll get rid of the old batch left from my old roommates and keep my new stuff. With the sudden influx of new furniture as well as the new roommate and his stuff, my place is looking way better than it has a right to, considering my income. I do hate throwing things out though.
After my initial 4 responses to my room for rent after the first night of posting it, my add was pushed back by newer ones, I stopped receiving responses and forgot about it. Recently though, I started getting a bunch of emails, as people became more desperate and started digging through the archives. I admittedly left my advertisement up, seeing how many responses I could get even though I've recently made a commitment. I'm like an unsatisfied and insecure girl on a dating website.
We found out why that one unit got raided a while back. Murderer in Montreal was on the lam and subletting from someone in my complex. Here's an article on the topic:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/ferdinando-belmonte-shooting-death-laval-kitchener-ontario-1.3793623
He had more stuff than he'd estimated, which is to be expected. People generally don't realize how much stuff they own. I remember mentioning on this blog how, moving into student housing, all I had were two suitcases and a backpack, but moving out, I had three suitcases, two backpacks, like six garbage bags full of clothing, and several bins. And this is when my only living space was one room and a kitchen cabinet. I'd stated before that I only ever owned what I could carry on my back, and this was still true, but there's no way I could carry all that on my back at once. I even abandoned a mattress, night stand, and bookshelf (I'd later get my mattress back)
I moved that couch bed into my room. For the past few years, I've only been sleeping on a mattress on the floor. This seems to be an indicator of your socioeconomic status. Soon after we first got our furniture at the place I'm staying at, I ran into someone I knew, whom I'd seen when I didn't have furniture, and told her the good news. Her first question was "Do you have a bedframe?" When I told her I didn't, she said "That's okay, I don't either" kind of like saying that I'd risen to her socioeconomic status but hadn't surpassed it.
And I know a couch bed isn't the same as a proper bedframe, but I was talking to a friend who is a floor-sleeper like me, and she was quite proud of having adopted a couch bed as well (through the same people who were moving out), denouncing the mattress she'd been sleeping on. This tells me that a couch bed is a step up from a mattress, even if it isn't the same as a bed that was constructed to be a bed.
But to be honest, I don't know what society's obsession is with slightly elevating yourself above the floor. Me and my old roommates got some furniture from a secondhand store, and they disassembled the legs. We never bothered to put them on. Why would we? Just creates a trap for dust and miscellaneous items that might get kicked under there. Same concept for a bed, why do people need to feel like they're hovering above the floor?
But the truth is, with all the new furniture being moved in, as well as the influx of furniture I received not long ago, it's hard to find a place for everything. So just in the interest of space, it makes sense for me to use the couch bed.
Moving the couch bed was pretty exhilarating. I don't tend to ask for help when I need it, and moving a couch up a flight of stairs with a landing in the middle is easily a multi-person effort. But somehow someway I managed it on my lonesome.It isn't something I brag about much on this blog, because I've done little to maintain my bragging rights, but I'm pretty physically powerful just naturally. Even for my body type, which suggests I'm pretty strong, I beat expectations. It almost feels like cheating. Like, I'll look at something like that couch bed and think "I need another guy to do this" and then I'll think of a number of people I might call, and then I'll think "Oh wait, I forgot, I'm Gryphon" and then I'll just do the whole job on my own
I've been looking around for posters to cover the hole in my bedroom door. Wal Mart only had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle poster, and while I've nothing against TMNT, I don't know if I want to put it on my door, telling anyone who may see that I define myself as a TMNT fan. Other places I've seen posters are movie stores for the most part, and the same issue arises. I don't want to define myself by a band or movie. . I've got a number of paintings that are scenic or nature-focused, but posters don't like to do this. But I don't want to fix a painting or mirror to a door, since it's a swinging surface and might come off.
I'm probably going to have to get rid of a couch and loveseat, which is fine. New roommate has better stuff than my older things. I'll get rid of the old batch left from my old roommates and keep my new stuff. With the sudden influx of new furniture as well as the new roommate and his stuff, my place is looking way better than it has a right to, considering my income. I do hate throwing things out though.
After my initial 4 responses to my room for rent after the first night of posting it, my add was pushed back by newer ones, I stopped receiving responses and forgot about it. Recently though, I started getting a bunch of emails, as people became more desperate and started digging through the archives. I admittedly left my advertisement up, seeing how many responses I could get even though I've recently made a commitment. I'm like an unsatisfied and insecure girl on a dating website.
We found out why that one unit got raided a while back. Murderer in Montreal was on the lam and subletting from someone in my complex. Here's an article on the topic:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/ferdinando-belmonte-shooting-death-laval-kitchener-ontario-1.3793623
Saturday, October 22, 2016
New Furniture 2
Today I scored a free dining room table, four dining room chairs, two loveseats, with one extending into a bed, and a reclining chair. And later, in the same day, someone offered to deliver me a free Lazyboy chair. I don't know what this is, October 22nd, the Day of Furniture I guess. The unit's going to be crowded, but everything being offered is better than what I currently own, and it's so against my nature to reject opportunities of great value.
I have a roommate for next month. An acquaintance from Conestoga's Social Service Worker program, same as me, but he was from a different year, So now I've got his furniture moving in as well as all the new furniture I just got.
It was kind of fun doing tours of my unit. I've been in the position where I was looking for a place to live inside the second half of the month with no fallback solution twice before, and I gotta say, it's a lot more comfortable being the one offering a space in their home, than it is to be the one hoping to find a space in someone else's home.
Everyone else is like "Please, I need a place ASAP, or I won't have anywhere next month" while I'm all "I need someone by next month, or I won't have a place to stay... in four months."
Okay, it's a little depressing because I can relate with some of the people that I need to reject, but it's still nice to see the challenge present, without addressing itself to me.
I moved into the large room. My first set of roommates were a couple, so even though I found the unit, and even though I was the largest, I got put in the small room. At my interrim sublet place, my roommates called dibs on the larger rooms and I got put in the small room just the same, since I was away for the Extend-a-Family Summer Program Overnight Program when they found the spot. In my current place, after my roommates moved out, I was planning on subletting to an elderly woman in the community, which would have required me to give her the larger room out of respect, but that didn't work out because of lease agreement technicalities, and then after that another couple, but that didn't pan out either. When things turned into me trying to sell the room without leads, I realized it was ridiculous that I was still sleeping in the small room despite having been the only person in the unit for a month and a half. So now I'm in the larger room and I feel like a king. I haven't had such a nice room since I was in highschool.
I still need a coffee table for the living room... And I guess kind of a coffee table for my room. And I need two more paintings of faces in the landing between floors. I have a painting of an elderly Native Canadian man, and a painting of a young African female. I want two more belonging to different demographics so that I've got a hallway of faces.
My old roommate once knocked in his bedroom because he'd locked himself out of it. By the time that I am currently occupying this room, the hole in the door is still a reminder of times past. It was my most difficult explanation for tours of the unit. I found a Bob Marley poster from my old roommates, and wondered what was more acceptable, having a suspicious large hole in your bedroom door, or being a Bob Marley fan. Despite Marley's popularity, I decided to hold off my poster in favour of something a bit more generic.
Remember how I made a big deal out of curtains? How I'd accidentally bought a set that advertised their patterned side, but had a light pink underbelly and were too short for the living room windows to boot?And I had to buy a complete new set for the living room because of this. Well, because the larger bedroom has posts to attach the curtain rod to, it invites curtains to be hung, while the smaller room only has a few bent-up nails in which you can place a curtain rod, but the metal rungs of a curtain will be incompatible. My solution when living in the small room was to sling an elephant-patterned sheet over the curtain rod set by the pair of upturned nails. In the larger room this wasn't an option, so I wound up using those detestable curtains.
I had the choice of setting the curtains so their desirable, advertised side faced me inside the room or alternatively to the rest of the world. I got to choose who would be subjected to the nauseating, Pepto Bismal colour. Would I choose to prioritize how I saw myself, or how the world saw me? It was quite a poetic conflict.
In the end, I chose to set the cool-looking pattern to face inside the room, and the Pepto Bismal to face outwardly. Quite like a Social Service Worker, to take care of what is happening internally as the first place to look
I have a roommate for next month. An acquaintance from Conestoga's Social Service Worker program, same as me, but he was from a different year, So now I've got his furniture moving in as well as all the new furniture I just got.
It was kind of fun doing tours of my unit. I've been in the position where I was looking for a place to live inside the second half of the month with no fallback solution twice before, and I gotta say, it's a lot more comfortable being the one offering a space in their home, than it is to be the one hoping to find a space in someone else's home.
Everyone else is like "Please, I need a place ASAP, or I won't have anywhere next month" while I'm all "I need someone by next month, or I won't have a place to stay... in four months."
Okay, it's a little depressing because I can relate with some of the people that I need to reject, but it's still nice to see the challenge present, without addressing itself to me.
I moved into the large room. My first set of roommates were a couple, so even though I found the unit, and even though I was the largest, I got put in the small room. At my interrim sublet place, my roommates called dibs on the larger rooms and I got put in the small room just the same, since I was away for the Extend-a-Family Summer Program Overnight Program when they found the spot. In my current place, after my roommates moved out, I was planning on subletting to an elderly woman in the community, which would have required me to give her the larger room out of respect, but that didn't work out because of lease agreement technicalities, and then after that another couple, but that didn't pan out either. When things turned into me trying to sell the room without leads, I realized it was ridiculous that I was still sleeping in the small room despite having been the only person in the unit for a month and a half. So now I'm in the larger room and I feel like a king. I haven't had such a nice room since I was in highschool.
I still need a coffee table for the living room... And I guess kind of a coffee table for my room. And I need two more paintings of faces in the landing between floors. I have a painting of an elderly Native Canadian man, and a painting of a young African female. I want two more belonging to different demographics so that I've got a hallway of faces.
My old roommate once knocked in his bedroom because he'd locked himself out of it. By the time that I am currently occupying this room, the hole in the door is still a reminder of times past. It was my most difficult explanation for tours of the unit. I found a Bob Marley poster from my old roommates, and wondered what was more acceptable, having a suspicious large hole in your bedroom door, or being a Bob Marley fan. Despite Marley's popularity, I decided to hold off my poster in favour of something a bit more generic.
Remember how I made a big deal out of curtains? How I'd accidentally bought a set that advertised their patterned side, but had a light pink underbelly and were too short for the living room windows to boot?And I had to buy a complete new set for the living room because of this. Well, because the larger bedroom has posts to attach the curtain rod to, it invites curtains to be hung, while the smaller room only has a few bent-up nails in which you can place a curtain rod, but the metal rungs of a curtain will be incompatible. My solution when living in the small room was to sling an elephant-patterned sheet over the curtain rod set by the pair of upturned nails. In the larger room this wasn't an option, so I wound up using those detestable curtains.
I had the choice of setting the curtains so their desirable, advertised side faced me inside the room or alternatively to the rest of the world. I got to choose who would be subjected to the nauseating, Pepto Bismal colour. Would I choose to prioritize how I saw myself, or how the world saw me? It was quite a poetic conflict.
In the end, I chose to set the cool-looking pattern to face inside the room, and the Pepto Bismal to face outwardly. Quite like a Social Service Worker, to take care of what is happening internally as the first place to look
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Coffee Filter Baskets and Coffee Basket Filters
I've lost the coffee filter basket for my coffee maker. That's the plastic bit that holds the coffee filter. It's different from a coffee basket filter, which is the filter that goes into the basket. Plenty of people sell coffee basket filters, but no one seems to sell coffee filter baskets. I accidentally bought a reusable filter because of the similarity in name. The only place online I've found that sells coffee filter baskets is Mr. Coffee. You can get this part directly through their site, or over ebay. But the part is $3, and they charge $15 shipping and handling. I mean, I can afford the part, but I could buy a whole new coffee maker for that price. My pride won't allow me to buy a part that's transportation fee is five times its value. But I also can't bring myself to buy a whole new machine for a piece of plastic when I've got a perfectly fine machine otherwise.
So in the meanwhile I've bought one of those single-serve coffee things. You put the grinds in and pour boiling water over the top. It's as fast as instant coffee, but it's made from legit grounds. So long as I'm living alone and not entertaining, this is a decent substitute.
I've started advertising for a new roommate a couple days ago. First night, and I get four responses. I've got one view set up next week.
Here, you can take a look at my advertisement. Bump up my views:
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-room-rental-roommate/kitchener-waterloo/looking-for-roommate/1208020922
I started using the bread maker my neighbour gave to me. This thing must be ancient. It's instructions are on a VHS tape, which means it must have been constructed from before DVD technology was introduced. That means it must be over 20 years old! But I'm pretty sure no one has ever used it. It sounds like it kept changing hands between people who liked the idea, but never used it and eventually realized they were never going to. Until it reached me. Just finished my third batch tonight.
From one perspective, it takes four hours to bake one loaf of bread, while I can bake six loaves in half that time by hand. From another perspective, it takes a degree of attnetiveness across several hours to bake a batch by hand, while with the maker, I can literally just put the ingredients in and forget about it. It does all the mixing, kneading, baking, it decides the necessary temperature and amount of time, and it even turns itself off after it's done. You can set a loaf to bake, go to sleep and wake up to the smell of fresh baked bread.
It's pretty cool.
I think in the past, I've mentioned that Kitchener has the largest Oktoberfest celebration in Canada, and second largest in the world. This year, Justin Trudeau came to do the honours at our Tapping of the Keg. I had forgotten that it was Oktoberfest, and I hadn't heard Justin Trudeau was going to be there until day-of. By some quirk of fate, I happened to be in the area he would show up, around when he would show up, when I heard about it. So I dropped by and got to see J.T. Not a great view, I kind of had to squat to see him, and I had to leave to catch a bus for a work shift before he tapped the keg, but at least I got to snap a pic of the crowd where I saw him before leaving for work. Second time I've seen Trudeau in person (first time was at Conestoga, where he did a speach before he was elected).
So in the meanwhile I've bought one of those single-serve coffee things. You put the grinds in and pour boiling water over the top. It's as fast as instant coffee, but it's made from legit grounds. So long as I'm living alone and not entertaining, this is a decent substitute.
I've started advertising for a new roommate a couple days ago. First night, and I get four responses. I've got one view set up next week.
Here, you can take a look at my advertisement. Bump up my views:
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-room-rental-roommate/kitchener-waterloo/looking-for-roommate/1208020922
I started using the bread maker my neighbour gave to me. This thing must be ancient. It's instructions are on a VHS tape, which means it must have been constructed from before DVD technology was introduced. That means it must be over 20 years old! But I'm pretty sure no one has ever used it. It sounds like it kept changing hands between people who liked the idea, but never used it and eventually realized they were never going to. Until it reached me. Just finished my third batch tonight.
From one perspective, it takes four hours to bake one loaf of bread, while I can bake six loaves in half that time by hand. From another perspective, it takes a degree of attnetiveness across several hours to bake a batch by hand, while with the maker, I can literally just put the ingredients in and forget about it. It does all the mixing, kneading, baking, it decides the necessary temperature and amount of time, and it even turns itself off after it's done. You can set a loaf to bake, go to sleep and wake up to the smell of fresh baked bread.
It's pretty cool.
I think in the past, I've mentioned that Kitchener has the largest Oktoberfest celebration in Canada, and second largest in the world. This year, Justin Trudeau came to do the honours at our Tapping of the Keg. I had forgotten that it was Oktoberfest, and I hadn't heard Justin Trudeau was going to be there until day-of. By some quirk of fate, I happened to be in the area he would show up, around when he would show up, when I heard about it. So I dropped by and got to see J.T. Not a great view, I kind of had to squat to see him, and I had to leave to catch a bus for a work shift before he tapped the keg, but at least I got to snap a pic of the crowd where I saw him before leaving for work. Second time I've seen Trudeau in person (first time was at Conestoga, where he did a speach before he was elected).
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Scary Moment
So, remember how I had two roommates moving out, and two roommates moving in? And I wasn't willing to elaborate on the reasons behind my old roommates moving out? Well, my new roommates didn't permanently move in, and I'm unwilling to talk about that, too. So it's just been me in this unit these past three months.
I hate to admit it, but being alone hasn't been very discouraging. The community I live in is very engaging and invested in what everyone is doing. If I come home with groceries, I can expect to be asked what I bought, and to have that information spread around the complex and repeated back to me by someone I hadn't told.
So I don't get lonely. I step outside the door, someone pulls me into conversation. I step inside the door, I'm left to my own thoughts. It's a pretty good balance, from my perspective.
The roommates that didn't stick paid for their stay (they stayed five days). They left behind a pack of pork chops, a pack of bacon, some chicken strips, half a box of those hash brown patties, and a dozen eggs. I didn't know how to cook the pork chops, so I contacted my mother. She sent me a recipe, I put it ina pan, and it exploded into a ball of fire.
I wanted to turn off the heat, but the path to the knob was too covered by flames. I wanted to take the pan off the heated element, but the handle was covered with sizzling, spitting cooking oil. I dumped out the kitchen garbage pail and filled it with water, but as I prepared to toss it on the flames, I noticed the fire was subsiding.
If a camera had been angling at me, and I hadn't dumped a trash bin on itself, the flaming pork chop may have been considered a culinary technique. You known how on those cooking shows, they have those chefs playing with fire in their pans? The end result was a delightful sear, but I chose not to be so adventurous next time, and with the remainder of the chops I just had them heat at the same time as the oil.
I am baffled how my technique wound up the way it did. Apparently my chops erupted because I'd failed to thaw them first. But how could ice, which is solidified water, result in fire? How could more frigid temperatures caused by being frozen, result in unexpected heat? I don't get it.
Recently, I became incapable of making pancakes. I don't understand. I used to find pancakes a fun and natural way to start the morning, especially if I was making them for someone else. But for some reason, now when I try to slide my spatula beneath the pastry, it caves in on itself, unless I burn oneside to a crisp. I just purchased a waffle iron and am experimenting with it, but the first batch hasn't been promising.
My neighbours recently gave me a breadmaker. In the past, I've scoffed at people who own breadmakers (Do I need a breadmaker? I AM a Bread Maker!) but I never gave one of these machines a fair try. I will, and I will let you know.
They also gave me some board games: Connect 4, Monopoly, Snakes & Ladders, Trivial Persuit, and something called Shuttles. I love my neighbours <3 3="" p="">
<3 p="">
I recently applied for several positions. I was accepted today as a Safe Management Instructor. I will be teaching courses on escalation and de-escalation, relationship building, enviro-scans, and self-defense techniques.
Recently, we had a really scary moment in our complex. It started (from my perspective) at the Talize (secondhand story across the street). Somebody walked in who I assumed was a police officer. Put someone to the floor without asking questions or reading their rights, went on pulling their pockets inside out. Person pinned was hollering that they didn't know what was happening, and the person applying force was putting too much pressure on their finger.
Someone I knew from college wandered over there and started listing things on his finger. I wanted to snoop, but they were at the children's section and I had no reason to be there. the authority figure is joined by four other people of his rank. I'm beginning to wonder if it's standard practice to have five people on one guy.
The officers pull him out on the street and pin him. Just so happens a Girl Guide is trying to sell cookies there. As the persecuted is being dealt with, the girl is shouting "Girl Guide cookies, five dollars!". I go up to buy cookies, but hope to overhear something from the commotion nearby. The girl tried to sell me three boxes for five dollars, several nearby people overhear this and take issue, since apparently she'd only given them one box for the same price. I don't know why she did that, maybe she was trying to pad her numbers.
So anyway, I go home with one box of Girl Guide Cookies and notice the same unmarked van and at least two of the same authority figures that were inspecting across the way are in the complex. Someone asks what they're doing and they say it's "So boring, you don't even want to know"
But they're in full defense gear, and they're carrying assault rifles. Apparently at the same time as someone got pinned at Talize, someone else got pinned by the bus stop. Another unmarked van shows up with another group of authorities. In total, 15 authorities armed with assault rifles show up in undercover vehicles.
<3 p="">As soon as I see the rifles, I duck into my unit, deadbolt all the doors, turn off all the lights, curl into the fetal position and pretend I don't exist. I don't even peek out the window, because I'm afraid one of those guys might think I'm a sniper or something. In contrast to this, a group of my neighbors watched it all happen, sipping beer.
<3 p="">
<3 p="">Everyone in the unit got arrested. There's rumors surrounding the reason, but I don't think anyone really know. One of my neighbours who watched it happen while drinking beer on his porch said it was all an act to scare us. I don't really think they would plant undercover cops in a unit for months, then have 15 men show up in full gear to stage a fake raid, so that they could spook some people living in a townhouse complex.
I hate to admit it, but being alone hasn't been very discouraging. The community I live in is very engaging and invested in what everyone is doing. If I come home with groceries, I can expect to be asked what I bought, and to have that information spread around the complex and repeated back to me by someone I hadn't told.
So I don't get lonely. I step outside the door, someone pulls me into conversation. I step inside the door, I'm left to my own thoughts. It's a pretty good balance, from my perspective.
The roommates that didn't stick paid for their stay (they stayed five days). They left behind a pack of pork chops, a pack of bacon, some chicken strips, half a box of those hash brown patties, and a dozen eggs. I didn't know how to cook the pork chops, so I contacted my mother. She sent me a recipe, I put it ina pan, and it exploded into a ball of fire.
I wanted to turn off the heat, but the path to the knob was too covered by flames. I wanted to take the pan off the heated element, but the handle was covered with sizzling, spitting cooking oil. I dumped out the kitchen garbage pail and filled it with water, but as I prepared to toss it on the flames, I noticed the fire was subsiding.
If a camera had been angling at me, and I hadn't dumped a trash bin on itself, the flaming pork chop may have been considered a culinary technique. You known how on those cooking shows, they have those chefs playing with fire in their pans? The end result was a delightful sear, but I chose not to be so adventurous next time, and with the remainder of the chops I just had them heat at the same time as the oil.
I am baffled how my technique wound up the way it did. Apparently my chops erupted because I'd failed to thaw them first. But how could ice, which is solidified water, result in fire? How could more frigid temperatures caused by being frozen, result in unexpected heat? I don't get it.
Recently, I became incapable of making pancakes. I don't understand. I used to find pancakes a fun and natural way to start the morning, especially if I was making them for someone else. But for some reason, now when I try to slide my spatula beneath the pastry, it caves in on itself, unless I burn oneside to a crisp. I just purchased a waffle iron and am experimenting with it, but the first batch hasn't been promising.
My neighbours recently gave me a breadmaker. In the past, I've scoffed at people who own breadmakers (Do I need a breadmaker? I AM a Bread Maker!) but I never gave one of these machines a fair try. I will, and I will let you know.
They also gave me some board games: Connect 4, Monopoly, Snakes & Ladders, Trivial Persuit, and something called Shuttles. I love my neighbours <3 3="" p="">
<3 p="">
I recently applied for several positions. I was accepted today as a Safe Management Instructor. I will be teaching courses on escalation and de-escalation, relationship building, enviro-scans, and self-defense techniques.
Recently, we had a really scary moment in our complex. It started (from my perspective) at the Talize (secondhand story across the street). Somebody walked in who I assumed was a police officer. Put someone to the floor without asking questions or reading their rights, went on pulling their pockets inside out. Person pinned was hollering that they didn't know what was happening, and the person applying force was putting too much pressure on their finger.
Someone I knew from college wandered over there and started listing things on his finger. I wanted to snoop, but they were at the children's section and I had no reason to be there. the authority figure is joined by four other people of his rank. I'm beginning to wonder if it's standard practice to have five people on one guy.
The officers pull him out on the street and pin him. Just so happens a Girl Guide is trying to sell cookies there. As the persecuted is being dealt with, the girl is shouting "Girl Guide cookies, five dollars!". I go up to buy cookies, but hope to overhear something from the commotion nearby. The girl tried to sell me three boxes for five dollars, several nearby people overhear this and take issue, since apparently she'd only given them one box for the same price. I don't know why she did that, maybe she was trying to pad her numbers.
So anyway, I go home with one box of Girl Guide Cookies and notice the same unmarked van and at least two of the same authority figures that were inspecting across the way are in the complex. Someone asks what they're doing and they say it's "So boring, you don't even want to know"
But they're in full defense gear, and they're carrying assault rifles. Apparently at the same time as someone got pinned at Talize, someone else got pinned by the bus stop. Another unmarked van shows up with another group of authorities. In total, 15 authorities armed with assault rifles show up in undercover vehicles.
<3 p="">As soon as I see the rifles, I duck into my unit, deadbolt all the doors, turn off all the lights, curl into the fetal position and pretend I don't exist. I don't even peek out the window, because I'm afraid one of those guys might think I'm a sniper or something. In contrast to this, a group of my neighbors watched it all happen, sipping beer.
<3 p="">
<3 p="">Everyone in the unit got arrested. There's rumors surrounding the reason, but I don't think anyone really know. One of my neighbours who watched it happen while drinking beer on his porch said it was all an act to scare us. I don't really think they would plant undercover cops in a unit for months, then have 15 men show up in full gear to stage a fake raid, so that they could spook some people living in a townhouse complex.
Friday, September 30, 2016
Jenga
Hey hey, so one thing I forgot to mention from my time at Impeesa is that me and a couple other people managed to play a perfect game of Jenga. For anyone that doesn't know, Jenga is a game where a tower of wooden pieces is made on a 3x3 grid is built, and then players are required to remove pieces from the body and transport them to the top until the tower falls. Whoever made the last move loses. It's a pretty pessimistic game, because in most games there is only one winner, whereas in Jenga there is only one loser. Jenga is a game where you can't win, you can only lose.
At Impeesa, they have a giant Jenga set, where the pieces are set 5x5 instead of 3x3 and the pieces are heavy and huge. I played with a couple of people, and when the idea of a perfect game came up, things became more about facilitating this possibility than defeating one another. In the end, we managed to create a tower built entirely on a 2x2 grid. We were further validated when an external member challenged us when we claimed this was the best game. He offered to show us we were wrong, he spilled the tower, and so no one in the team that competed had to make the shameful final move.
I watched Suicide Squad a second time in theaters. The nature of my work puts me in a very advantageous position, in which I see movies for free regularly, but because the people I serve are the ones calling the shots, I often see movies several times if they're trending. I saw Minions three or four times in theaters because of this.
I don't understand Snap Chat people. For the longest time, all I knew about it was that my friends would make really exaggerated expressions into their phones about whatever it was they were doing, and then point their phones at me and tell me to react. I would never react, which would make them react even more strangely into their phones in response to my non-reaction. Eventually one of my friends made me get it, and I promptly forgot I had it.
So I'm complaining about Snap Chatters to my friends, and they're like "But you are on Snap Chat. We all added you." Then I remember my friend making me get it nine months earlier, so they snap chat a picture of me with the text "When you forget you have Snap Chat" and send it out. That's not funny. My expression did not convey an emotion that implied I'd forgotten Snap Chat, it's just an image with the context added on. Then that Snap got a return Snap of my friends laughing. I just don't get it.
At Impeesa, they have a giant Jenga set, where the pieces are set 5x5 instead of 3x3 and the pieces are heavy and huge. I played with a couple of people, and when the idea of a perfect game came up, things became more about facilitating this possibility than defeating one another. In the end, we managed to create a tower built entirely on a 2x2 grid. We were further validated when an external member challenged us when we claimed this was the best game. He offered to show us we were wrong, he spilled the tower, and so no one in the team that competed had to make the shameful final move.
I watched Suicide Squad a second time in theaters. The nature of my work puts me in a very advantageous position, in which I see movies for free regularly, but because the people I serve are the ones calling the shots, I often see movies several times if they're trending. I saw Minions three or four times in theaters because of this.
I don't understand Snap Chat people. For the longest time, all I knew about it was that my friends would make really exaggerated expressions into their phones about whatever it was they were doing, and then point their phones at me and tell me to react. I would never react, which would make them react even more strangely into their phones in response to my non-reaction. Eventually one of my friends made me get it, and I promptly forgot I had it.
So I'm complaining about Snap Chatters to my friends, and they're like "But you are on Snap Chat. We all added you." Then I remember my friend making me get it nine months earlier, so they snap chat a picture of me with the text "When you forget you have Snap Chat" and send it out. That's not funny. My expression did not convey an emotion that implied I'd forgotten Snap Chat, it's just an image with the context added on. Then that Snap got a return Snap of my friends laughing. I just don't get it.
Thursday, September 22, 2016
27
Well, as of yesterday, I am 27. First year of my late twenties (21, 22, 23 are early twenties, 24, 25, 26 are mid twenties, 27, 28, 29 are my late twenties, with the rounded 20 just being what it is). Still the youngest you can be while in your late twenties, though!
I don't know if I really feel like celebrating my twenty-sixth year of life. During this year I moved, I changed roommates, I left Facile, I did another round of Summer Program, arguably the most successful, and I got past my one year anniversary working with two of my contracts. It wasn't really a bunk year, there were some successes, but there was a lot of struggle.
I remember last year on my birthday, I had to be in Kitchener for work but I arranged so I had nothing going on on that day specifically. Kinda tried to avoid people. One of my old roommates made some tickets that were good for a homemade meal of my choosing and stuff like that. Never used those. Should maybe see if they're still good, haha.
Went to a Tim Horton's and there were a couple of elderly women having an existential chat about the concept of mortality. Felt applicable to my own contemplation of the passage of time that day. Had a chat with a coworker about a fairly intense topic, didn't mention my birthday, she found out later through Facebook and said she'd've sung me Happy Birthday if she'd known.
This year I'm in Guelph, actually took a few days off. First time in Guelph since the Summer Program ended.
Got 67 Facebook birthday messages this year, 3 emails, and 4 texts.
You remember how I said my luck was sided against me before the start of the summer, and then it went in my favour for the summer? Then, I knew my charmed season was over when that flood hit. But I don't really know what my luck is looking like right now. My hot water heater got knocked out, but then when I called to ask for it fixed, it turns out there was going to be an inspector later that week so my landlord was eager to fix it as soon as possible. Last Monday, I lost my phone, but yesterday it was found and returned to me.
It's so satisfying to have a shower after you've been living without hot water.
I don't know if I really feel like celebrating my twenty-sixth year of life. During this year I moved, I changed roommates, I left Facile, I did another round of Summer Program, arguably the most successful, and I got past my one year anniversary working with two of my contracts. It wasn't really a bunk year, there were some successes, but there was a lot of struggle.
I remember last year on my birthday, I had to be in Kitchener for work but I arranged so I had nothing going on on that day specifically. Kinda tried to avoid people. One of my old roommates made some tickets that were good for a homemade meal of my choosing and stuff like that. Never used those. Should maybe see if they're still good, haha.
Went to a Tim Horton's and there were a couple of elderly women having an existential chat about the concept of mortality. Felt applicable to my own contemplation of the passage of time that day. Had a chat with a coworker about a fairly intense topic, didn't mention my birthday, she found out later through Facebook and said she'd've sung me Happy Birthday if she'd known.
This year I'm in Guelph, actually took a few days off. First time in Guelph since the Summer Program ended.
Got 67 Facebook birthday messages this year, 3 emails, and 4 texts.
You remember how I said my luck was sided against me before the start of the summer, and then it went in my favour for the summer? Then, I knew my charmed season was over when that flood hit. But I don't really know what my luck is looking like right now. My hot water heater got knocked out, but then when I called to ask for it fixed, it turns out there was going to be an inspector later that week so my landlord was eager to fix it as soon as possible. Last Monday, I lost my phone, but yesterday it was found and returned to me.
It's so satisfying to have a shower after you've been living without hot water.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
New Furniture
So I had two roommates move out, and soon I'll have two more moving in. Don't expect much more explanation.
I've been living on my own for about a month and a half now, and I've bought a stupid amount of new furniture. I'm a pretty cheap person, and having spent as much as I have makes me feel nauseous, especially since I'm minimally employed at the moment. But most of the furnishings left with my old roommates, and I wanted to make a strong first impression for the people moving in. Give the place an impression that somebody lives here.
Finally got my standing lamp. The living room doesn't have an overhead light, closest one is in the connecting hallway. New lamp spreads out light exactly like an overhead would. Got my bookshelf for the living room, which is something I've wanted since moving in. I actually bought a 5-drawer for my bedroom since my 3-shelf was full. Moved the 3-shelf to the living room and put my board games on it. I've got a standing coat rack for the front hall. These three items were what I've been wanting for the living space for a while.
I have a dresser now. Ever since I moved into student housing, I've not had a dresser. I had a 2-drawer nightstand that I inherited from the previous owner, which I put my socks, underwear, shorts, undershirts, bathing suit etc. Then I hung my pants in my closet with my shirts. I abandoned the nightstand when moving, because I got sick of moving things (but then wound up helping a roommate with much more stuff). I got a another nightstand, but it wasn't as big. Turned into a situation where I never had quite enough room to fit everything.
But now I have a dresser. My pants can go in it, my socks, my shirts, my undershirts, my shorts, my bathing suit all have a place where they belong. My closet can be reserved for my shirts.
My old nightstand is in the kitchen, filled with a collection of cook books I somehow developed, and supporting my microwave. Now that's a move that made me feel peculiar, like I was trying to step into a class I didn't belong. But I found it at only $50, when my impression was that microwaves usually cost several hundred. I'm worried I'll feel the need to branch into other household conveniences from here. But the microwave is useful for heating leftover pasta and stirfry.
I feel like everything's cheaper than usual right now, which has helped encourage my spending.
I got a shoe rack, bath rug, floor mat, curtains... Curtains have always been something I've been a bit particular about. When I was in Katimavik, me and another guy puzzled out a way to create a "secret language" where we described curtains, but it actually meant women. And it seemed to work, since the females in the group would become frustrated because they couldn't understand what we were talking about, and al their attempts to interpret our conversations were completely off-base.
Of course, since then, I've learned you can take pretty much any topic and twist it around that way. Still weird that I'm weird about curtains. None of the curtains at any of the generic stores were thick enough. You can see a silhouette of the person from the outside with those, which to me, doesn't really allow for privacy. There was one value store that sold curtains that I'd been satisfied with before. But last time, I'd bought two single-panels that seemed to have the same pattern, but wound up being asymmetrical. Drove me crazy. This time, I found that they had two-panel sets with a price that equaled what two of their one-panels would be. Thought this would be a good way to get thick, symmetrical curtains.
But the inside lining was like, a bubble gum pink. I really don't understand why curtains will have different patterns on either side. I mean, if they were used as a wall hanging, you might put the more decorative side facing the public, with the more plain side against the wall, where nobody is meant to see. But if you hang your curtain against, say, a window, then it is probably meant to be seen from both sides.
So I had to go back and get two single-panels with confirmed symmetrical patterns on both sides. So yeah, now you know I like my curtains thick, patterned the same on both sides, front and back. If you don't know what I'm talking about YOU ARE NOT A MAN.
I went to a Katimavik Alumni Meet yesterday. There were only 4 of us, and I wound up knowing two of the people there. One was someone I've hung out with before, and the other one was someone I've had a professional overlap with, but I didn't know he had done Katimavik. Fourth person was someone new.
We were at Beertown (uninspired name). I got the fish and chips. They asked me if I wanted it with fries. I'd thought that since it's "fish and chips" the "chips" would be half the dish, and you couldn't replace it. Whereas with another meal, if fries were a side, you could swap it out. But I swapped out the chips for sweet potato fries and got a whole bed of them, at the same quantity as if they were chips. Much than if they were a side, but at the same price.
I got rejected to become a member of the Katimavik Board of Directors. They're feeling confident enough that Katimavik may get new funding that they are taking on new board members. I applied, and they sent me a really nice rejection notice. Said they were grateful for my participation in the program and my willingness to volunteer my time, that they were impressed by my resume and cover letter, and that they hoped I would continue to serve, but that they had narrowed the applicants down to a very small number, and that I hadn't made it.
Could have been a copy-paste email since it had no identifying characteristics about me, and it sounds like I didn't even get into the final round of people being considered. Bummer. I felt pretty confident in my application, since they were looking for members who had done the program. I was in the last program to have fully completed it, so I felt that I had more experience than others, and they asked for volunteer history, how the Katimavik program had impacted our lives, how our values corresponded with the organization, and what our proficiency was with French. I was able to say that Katimavik offered me my first opportunity to work with population I would choose tom follow a career with, I was able to state a number of volunteer opportunities I'd taken on, including the Respect Campaign, which reached out to all vulnerable populations which coincides with the values of Katimavik, and I even became a Respect Leader. I was able to say that Katimavik inspired me to do Canada World Youth, which put me in a full French immersion scenario, where it was the dominant language in La Pocatiere, and the language of trade in Karadje. But apparently there's a list of people who finished the program when I did, with more applicable experience.
I've been living on my own for about a month and a half now, and I've bought a stupid amount of new furniture. I'm a pretty cheap person, and having spent as much as I have makes me feel nauseous, especially since I'm minimally employed at the moment. But most of the furnishings left with my old roommates, and I wanted to make a strong first impression for the people moving in. Give the place an impression that somebody lives here.
Finally got my standing lamp. The living room doesn't have an overhead light, closest one is in the connecting hallway. New lamp spreads out light exactly like an overhead would. Got my bookshelf for the living room, which is something I've wanted since moving in. I actually bought a 5-drawer for my bedroom since my 3-shelf was full. Moved the 3-shelf to the living room and put my board games on it. I've got a standing coat rack for the front hall. These three items were what I've been wanting for the living space for a while.
I have a dresser now. Ever since I moved into student housing, I've not had a dresser. I had a 2-drawer nightstand that I inherited from the previous owner, which I put my socks, underwear, shorts, undershirts, bathing suit etc. Then I hung my pants in my closet with my shirts. I abandoned the nightstand when moving, because I got sick of moving things (but then wound up helping a roommate with much more stuff). I got a another nightstand, but it wasn't as big. Turned into a situation where I never had quite enough room to fit everything.
But now I have a dresser. My pants can go in it, my socks, my shirts, my undershirts, my shorts, my bathing suit all have a place where they belong. My closet can be reserved for my shirts.
My old nightstand is in the kitchen, filled with a collection of cook books I somehow developed, and supporting my microwave. Now that's a move that made me feel peculiar, like I was trying to step into a class I didn't belong. But I found it at only $50, when my impression was that microwaves usually cost several hundred. I'm worried I'll feel the need to branch into other household conveniences from here. But the microwave is useful for heating leftover pasta and stirfry.
I feel like everything's cheaper than usual right now, which has helped encourage my spending.
I got a shoe rack, bath rug, floor mat, curtains... Curtains have always been something I've been a bit particular about. When I was in Katimavik, me and another guy puzzled out a way to create a "secret language" where we described curtains, but it actually meant women. And it seemed to work, since the females in the group would become frustrated because they couldn't understand what we were talking about, and al their attempts to interpret our conversations were completely off-base.
Of course, since then, I've learned you can take pretty much any topic and twist it around that way. Still weird that I'm weird about curtains. None of the curtains at any of the generic stores were thick enough. You can see a silhouette of the person from the outside with those, which to me, doesn't really allow for privacy. There was one value store that sold curtains that I'd been satisfied with before. But last time, I'd bought two single-panels that seemed to have the same pattern, but wound up being asymmetrical. Drove me crazy. This time, I found that they had two-panel sets with a price that equaled what two of their one-panels would be. Thought this would be a good way to get thick, symmetrical curtains.
But the inside lining was like, a bubble gum pink. I really don't understand why curtains will have different patterns on either side. I mean, if they were used as a wall hanging, you might put the more decorative side facing the public, with the more plain side against the wall, where nobody is meant to see. But if you hang your curtain against, say, a window, then it is probably meant to be seen from both sides.
So I had to go back and get two single-panels with confirmed symmetrical patterns on both sides. So yeah, now you know I like my curtains thick, patterned the same on both sides, front and back. If you don't know what I'm talking about YOU ARE NOT A MAN.
I went to a Katimavik Alumni Meet yesterday. There were only 4 of us, and I wound up knowing two of the people there. One was someone I've hung out with before, and the other one was someone I've had a professional overlap with, but I didn't know he had done Katimavik. Fourth person was someone new.
We were at Beertown (uninspired name). I got the fish and chips. They asked me if I wanted it with fries. I'd thought that since it's "fish and chips" the "chips" would be half the dish, and you couldn't replace it. Whereas with another meal, if fries were a side, you could swap it out. But I swapped out the chips for sweet potato fries and got a whole bed of them, at the same quantity as if they were chips. Much than if they were a side, but at the same price.
I got rejected to become a member of the Katimavik Board of Directors. They're feeling confident enough that Katimavik may get new funding that they are taking on new board members. I applied, and they sent me a really nice rejection notice. Said they were grateful for my participation in the program and my willingness to volunteer my time, that they were impressed by my resume and cover letter, and that they hoped I would continue to serve, but that they had narrowed the applicants down to a very small number, and that I hadn't made it.
Could have been a copy-paste email since it had no identifying characteristics about me, and it sounds like I didn't even get into the final round of people being considered. Bummer. I felt pretty confident in my application, since they were looking for members who had done the program. I was in the last program to have fully completed it, so I felt that I had more experience than others, and they asked for volunteer history, how the Katimavik program had impacted our lives, how our values corresponded with the organization, and what our proficiency was with French. I was able to say that Katimavik offered me my first opportunity to work with population I would choose tom follow a career with, I was able to state a number of volunteer opportunities I'd taken on, including the Respect Campaign, which reached out to all vulnerable populations which coincides with the values of Katimavik, and I even became a Respect Leader. I was able to say that Katimavik inspired me to do Canada World Youth, which put me in a full French immersion scenario, where it was the dominant language in La Pocatiere, and the language of trade in Karadje. But apparently there's a list of people who finished the program when I did, with more applicable experience.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Chore Day
So the Extend-a-Family chore day wasn't all that exciting. I moved some stuff in the morning, then weeded their garden, then spent the rest of the day filing.
I had one of the strangest experiences of my life when I was weeding the garden, though. Some woman stopped her car next to me, got out, walked up to me, said "Excuse me, can I have one of those?" I was holding a bunch of thistles and cattails, so I offered her a thistle. She said "No, the other one" and took a cattail. She hesitated, then said "Could I have some more?" So I gave her a handful of cattails. She said "Thank you so much!" got in her car, and left.
Huh.
Next day, I was filling in for a guy who supports someone during the day. Circumstances had me meeting the person at the Cambridge Centre. Now, Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge comprise the Tri-City that I live in, and each city has a major mall. Kitchener's is Fairview Mall, Waterloo has Conestoga Mall, and Cambridge has the Cambridge Mall. In the almost-four years I've lived in this area, I've been to Fairview and Conestoga Mall more times than I can count, but this was the first time I'd been to Cambridge Centre. It was pretty typical.
I gotta say, the name "Cambridge Centre" seems pretty uninspired when Kitchener and Waterloo were able to come up with names that weren't the same as their city's.
I went to a Mongolian Buffet a while ago. It was build your own stirfry, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. They have a buffet of raw material that you put into a bowl, and then they have a chef prepare it. The chef stands in the centre of a circular grill with two huge metal paddles. He puts everyone's stirfries in piles around him and proceeds to chop, flip, and shift your stuff as it cooks, moving from serving to serving.
On one hand, I really like stirfries, and getting to choose your own material is fun. On the other hand, when I'm building my own stuff, I feel like it's one step away from leaving me with the paddles and a set of instructions until the only thing I'm paying for is the material. I also thought that the way the chef prepared the food was super awesome and very unique. A number of the chefs were young and since it's a University area, I figured they might be students, and I just had to imagine what training might have looked like, and couldn't imagine having a cooler entry-level position.
On the other hand, they weren't washing their paddles before going to the next meal, and I could see them getting sauce and bits of other meals stuck to them. Everyone gets a bit of everyone's meal. They had vegetarian options at the front, but if you're a vegetarian, you're definitely getting someone else's meat juice in your stirfry. Even for people with food sensitivities or allergies, I can't say the place is safe for them. I wasn't even sure if they should be having raw vegetables and meats together. I remember something from my Safe Food Handling course about cross contamination, where raw material should be separated and different tools should be used or sanitized between uses for different food groups. But my certificate is expired, so maybe I'm forgetting something.
Really undecided about how I felt about the whole experience.
I had one of the strangest experiences of my life when I was weeding the garden, though. Some woman stopped her car next to me, got out, walked up to me, said "Excuse me, can I have one of those?" I was holding a bunch of thistles and cattails, so I offered her a thistle. She said "No, the other one" and took a cattail. She hesitated, then said "Could I have some more?" So I gave her a handful of cattails. She said "Thank you so much!" got in her car, and left.
Huh.
Next day, I was filling in for a guy who supports someone during the day. Circumstances had me meeting the person at the Cambridge Centre. Now, Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge comprise the Tri-City that I live in, and each city has a major mall. Kitchener's is Fairview Mall, Waterloo has Conestoga Mall, and Cambridge has the Cambridge Mall. In the almost-four years I've lived in this area, I've been to Fairview and Conestoga Mall more times than I can count, but this was the first time I'd been to Cambridge Centre. It was pretty typical.
I gotta say, the name "Cambridge Centre" seems pretty uninspired when Kitchener and Waterloo were able to come up with names that weren't the same as their city's.
I went to a Mongolian Buffet a while ago. It was build your own stirfry, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. They have a buffet of raw material that you put into a bowl, and then they have a chef prepare it. The chef stands in the centre of a circular grill with two huge metal paddles. He puts everyone's stirfries in piles around him and proceeds to chop, flip, and shift your stuff as it cooks, moving from serving to serving.
On one hand, I really like stirfries, and getting to choose your own material is fun. On the other hand, when I'm building my own stuff, I feel like it's one step away from leaving me with the paddles and a set of instructions until the only thing I'm paying for is the material. I also thought that the way the chef prepared the food was super awesome and very unique. A number of the chefs were young and since it's a University area, I figured they might be students, and I just had to imagine what training might have looked like, and couldn't imagine having a cooler entry-level position.
On the other hand, they weren't washing their paddles before going to the next meal, and I could see them getting sauce and bits of other meals stuck to them. Everyone gets a bit of everyone's meal. They had vegetarian options at the front, but if you're a vegetarian, you're definitely getting someone else's meat juice in your stirfry. Even for people with food sensitivities or allergies, I can't say the place is safe for them. I wasn't even sure if they should be having raw vegetables and meats together. I remember something from my Safe Food Handling course about cross contamination, where raw material should be separated and different tools should be used or sanitized between uses for different food groups. But my certificate is expired, so maybe I'm forgetting something.
Really undecided about how I felt about the whole experience.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Evaluation Week
Well, it's over. We just finished the last day of the Evaluation Week. During this time we wrote an article for the Extend-a-Family newsletter, we sorted through photos and selected a top 50 to be used in promotional material, we overviewed the year and offered suggestions on potential changes, we did peer evaluations, had performance evaluations done, and wrote personal reflections on the year.
I have to go in tomorrow though, with one other person from the team. I took a day off, and if you miss a day you have to make up for it by spending a day doing chores in the office. I don't really mind. I've never done it before, so I'm excited. I get to move stuff, weed the garden, do filing, and do Ball Hockey flyers. If I finish early, I get to work at WALES for the rest of the day!
Got a free lunch yesterday from a Chinese restaurant called Cameron Seafood. Same place we've ordered from the past two years. Remember how I said that luck had been against me, but had turned in my favour for the summer? Well, looks like my charm's warn off. At the beginning of the year, I went to this Chinese restaurant, and these small children offered me a seat and menu. Thought I might do a full financial transaction from them, but then their mom showed up. At the end of the meal, the kids gave me and the person I was with fortune cookies. Then the mother gave us cookies with our cheque. Then she gave both of us two more.
My fortunes read "Your finances will change for the better" "You will make an advance in your career", "You can conquer all obstacles", "People envy you". Usually I don't like it when fortune cookies compliment you since they're supposed to be fortune cookies, not compliment cookies, but considering the placement of that last fortune, I was okay with it.
With Cameron Seafood, my initial fortune said "Avoid scattering your energies". That's not even a compliment, that's a criticism! Then I got to take home some leftovers, there was another cookie and it said "Kind acts are rewarded". The cookies are like "Concentrate and be nicer".
I baked bread for the team, which I've done the previous two years on the last day. This year the batch came out better than last, I think. Last year, it didn't rise as much as I would have liked. It took a long time to bake, since the hot water is busted in my unit, so I had to boil water and wait for it to cool enough to be warm. Then I found out I'm missing two of my six bread pans, so I had to do two batches instead of one.
I just found out my hot water's busted yesterday. Apparently there was a flood and I wasn't around for it. Like, a serious-business one which caused someone's ceiling to cave in. There's no water damage in my unit, but maybe the hot water malfunctioning lines up with this event.
I was talking to a woman at the bus stop, and she said "That was the worst flood I've seen in this area in the 31 years I've lived here. Of course, there was one some years back that caught a five year old kid in the undertow, dragged him out and drowned him."
I'm just like, "Is this reality?" I've got a host of fears now that I would never have considered otherwise. My complex doesn't feel like a dangerous flood zone.
Also, apparently when somebody was trying to get my landlord to fix some flood damage, my landlord strangled him. I was around to see the police get involved, but came in after the incidence took place.
Yup... My charmed summer is over. I'm half-afraid I'm going to get strangled when I notify someone about my hot water problem now.
Today, my supervisor gave out some "Most likely to" awards. I got "Most likely to become a best-selling author based on stories from his own life".
I dropped some of my better Malian stories. Ones better than I could say on this blog. So that's where that comes from.
Also got a little stand-up glass frame with a photo on either side. One has a picture of us in our original team photo, which says "2016 Extend-a-Family Summer Program" and on the other side it's us after Reverse Paintball, and it says "Through Thick & Thin, Messy & Clean, Together You're Strong, as an Incredible Team". So frickin' cute. I've got one similar from my first year, where the team is doing a pyramid pose, and on the other side I'm getting painted in Reverse Paintball.
Hey, you know that Tree Face painting I showed in my last update? I realized it looks way too much like a variant of the classic "Troll Face", which is used by someone pestering someone else. Even the name sounds like a variant.
Check it,
Noooooo, he looks like a South American troll face that's suffered a stroke! And I was so proud of Tree Face too! I put the painting up over my router and wanted to change the domain name to Tree Face, but I'm letting my neighbours use my Wifi, and I don't feel like explaining why I'd make that change.
I have to go in tomorrow though, with one other person from the team. I took a day off, and if you miss a day you have to make up for it by spending a day doing chores in the office. I don't really mind. I've never done it before, so I'm excited. I get to move stuff, weed the garden, do filing, and do Ball Hockey flyers. If I finish early, I get to work at WALES for the rest of the day!
Got a free lunch yesterday from a Chinese restaurant called Cameron Seafood. Same place we've ordered from the past two years. Remember how I said that luck had been against me, but had turned in my favour for the summer? Well, looks like my charm's warn off. At the beginning of the year, I went to this Chinese restaurant, and these small children offered me a seat and menu. Thought I might do a full financial transaction from them, but then their mom showed up. At the end of the meal, the kids gave me and the person I was with fortune cookies. Then the mother gave us cookies with our cheque. Then she gave both of us two more.
My fortunes read "Your finances will change for the better" "You will make an advance in your career", "You can conquer all obstacles", "People envy you". Usually I don't like it when fortune cookies compliment you since they're supposed to be fortune cookies, not compliment cookies, but considering the placement of that last fortune, I was okay with it.
With Cameron Seafood, my initial fortune said "Avoid scattering your energies". That's not even a compliment, that's a criticism! Then I got to take home some leftovers, there was another cookie and it said "Kind acts are rewarded". The cookies are like "Concentrate and be nicer".
I baked bread for the team, which I've done the previous two years on the last day. This year the batch came out better than last, I think. Last year, it didn't rise as much as I would have liked. It took a long time to bake, since the hot water is busted in my unit, so I had to boil water and wait for it to cool enough to be warm. Then I found out I'm missing two of my six bread pans, so I had to do two batches instead of one.
I just found out my hot water's busted yesterday. Apparently there was a flood and I wasn't around for it. Like, a serious-business one which caused someone's ceiling to cave in. There's no water damage in my unit, but maybe the hot water malfunctioning lines up with this event.
I was talking to a woman at the bus stop, and she said "That was the worst flood I've seen in this area in the 31 years I've lived here. Of course, there was one some years back that caught a five year old kid in the undertow, dragged him out and drowned him."
I'm just like, "Is this reality?" I've got a host of fears now that I would never have considered otherwise. My complex doesn't feel like a dangerous flood zone.
Also, apparently when somebody was trying to get my landlord to fix some flood damage, my landlord strangled him. I was around to see the police get involved, but came in after the incidence took place.
Yup... My charmed summer is over. I'm half-afraid I'm going to get strangled when I notify someone about my hot water problem now.
Today, my supervisor gave out some "Most likely to" awards. I got "Most likely to become a best-selling author based on stories from his own life".
I dropped some of my better Malian stories. Ones better than I could say on this blog. So that's where that comes from.
Also got a little stand-up glass frame with a photo on either side. One has a picture of us in our original team photo, which says "2016 Extend-a-Family Summer Program" and on the other side it's us after Reverse Paintball, and it says "Through Thick & Thin, Messy & Clean, Together You're Strong, as an Incredible Team". So frickin' cute. I've got one similar from my first year, where the team is doing a pyramid pose, and on the other side I'm getting painted in Reverse Paintball.
Hey, you know that Tree Face painting I showed in my last update? I realized it looks way too much like a variant of the classic "Troll Face", which is used by someone pestering someone else. Even the name sounds like a variant.
Check it,
Noooooo, he looks like a South American troll face that's suffered a stroke! And I was so proud of Tree Face too! I put the painting up over my router and wanted to change the domain name to Tree Face, but I'm letting my neighbours use my Wifi, and I don't feel like explaining why I'd make that change.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Impeesa Weeks 1 & 2, Year 3
So I've been gone for the two week overnight camp. I had a weekend off in the middle, but I worked both days and had a few other obligations which distracted me from updating my blog.
Both weeks were at Impeesa, which was the location I did both overnight weeks in my first year, and I did one week there last year as well.
I spoke on this last year, but "Impeesa" is pronounced "Im-pess-ah" and was the nickname of Robert Baden-Powell, who was the founder of Boy Scouts when he was fighting in Southern Africa. His enemies called him this, and he told his friends it meant "The Wolf That Never Sleeps". However, in the Ashanti language, which was the language of the people that named him, it means "Hyena" and is a derogatory term. It's probably still an honour to receive such an insult from your enemy, however. You don't want your enemy cheering for you, right?
Our activities were pretty standard. We had campfires on Tuesday and Thursday nights, movie night on Wednesdays, and a formal dance on Thursdays. We had groups go out on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for swimming at a pool in Paris, Ontario, and we had a reflection painting activity on Thursday. Otherwise, time was pretty free. We ran nature walks, played chess, checkers, othello, did a puzzle (failed to finish it this year), played frisbee, football, soccer, volley ball, etc.
First week, one of our participants brought her collection of DVDs and offered them for movie nights. Our official night was voted in for Wreck It Ralph, which is about a video game villain who would like recognition for his participation in the game he's been involved in for the past thirty years. When he is not accepted, he moves onto other games and the people who took him for granted struggle to find a replacement for him.
It came across as a weird, cartoon, tech-based version of the Hindu mythology surrounding Shiva, the god of destruction, and Parvati, the goddess of creation in Hindu mythology. One participant made the situation more ironic by pointing out that the "Fix It" guy wants to break free, while the "Wreck It" guy wants to build a place for himself.
We also watched Tangled since Wednesday was an indoor camp fire due to weather. Didn't watch most of it since I had other obligations, but I've seen it before. It's based on the "Rapunzel" story, it's animation style, title, and the time of release are similar to the more famous Frozen so the two often get compared.
My cousin visited during this time. She got to meet all the participants, we played the President card game, and she got to meet my coworkers
On my day off, me and the other guy I was spending it with watched Suicide Squad. Like a Superhero flick with the protagonists being former villains. I can appreciate using former villains as heroes, as the path to villainy is more complex than the path to heroism, and thus seems to inspire more creativity for writers. But it felt like there was too much content to be covered in the time length of the movie, and so the Squad members and their relationships with one another felt underdeveloped. I feel like that's the criticism I give every team-based superhero flick. I guess the length of a movie just isn't sufficient to fully develop an entire team. Sucks because I like teams better than standalone heroes. I like the team dynamic, clashing personalities, more specified abilities.
In Suicide Squad, I really wasn't feeling Captain Boomerang, and I wanted more of a psychological break from El Diablo when he first cut loose.
Back at the camp, despite having two dances yearly, I've only been to one. First year, my break was on Thursday evening, night of the dance, both weeks. Next year, I got one dance in but the other was canceled. Third year, one dance was on a scheduled break, and then the next week I was free on the night of the dance but another pair had some errands to run and wanted to trade with us.
There's an established tradition that staff on their night off bring a treat for the rest of the staff after hours. In the first two years, I've been the one tasked with the finishing treat. Because we switched nights off, I got to close the year for the third time in a row.
On our nature trails, I tended to get lost, and therefor we wandered off the beaten trail and came upon a giant ornamental face fixed to a tree. We named this discovery "Tree Face" and it became a regular walking destination. My phone camera wouldn't upload a photo, but here's a painting, done by yours truly.
I'm afraid I turned Tree Face into a bit of a false idol. I asked everyone to tell Tree Face something they were thankful for.
I said "Thank you Tree Face, for the harvest of bagels we dined on this morning"
A participant said "That wasn't Tree Face, that was you!" I said "I am simply a humble servant of Tree Face. Thank you Tree Face, for helping me guide this camp!"
I also thanked Tree Face for protecting us from Drumbo Dan, which is a ghost that supposedly haunts Impeesa because he lost his feet, and St. Pete says he's incomplete (story is told as a rhyming poem). So he needs to cut off someone's feet at night that are the right size so he can attach them and cross the pearly gates. I really think that heaven is inaccessible based on these rules, calling certain people "incomplete" and not letting them in based on a mobility issue. It's like the same people that run Wild Water Works also run Heaven.
I painted the above image of Tree Face during our reflection painting exercise. I have two other paintings from my first year hung on my wall.
During my second break, we went to The Works which is a pretty infamous Ontario-based chain of gourmet burger restaurants. They pride themselves in their bizarre menu options. For example, several options come with peanutbutter as a topping, there's a Kraft Dinner topped burger, they had the infamous Reese Cup burger.
Menu's kind of judgemental. There are "Right" and "Wrong" options. For example, there's a "Plain Jane" burger, "Ho Hum #1", and "Ho Hum #2" which get made fun of in their descriptions. I'd be intimidated to order the "First Date" burger, too. Patties come in beef, chicken breast, ground turkey breast, veggie, mushroom cap, crispy chicken, cheese stuffed beef, bacon & beef, and elk.
I got the Man O' War (onion, horseradish, dijon, and gouda) with an elk patty. It was pretty good.
The treat we brought back was a bottle of non-alcohol champagne and some cream puffs and mini cheese cakes that we plated like hor d'oeurves. We toasted a successful year. Remember how at the beginning I said the year was too easy? Well, it really never got much harder. Aside from a few rough spots, everything went smooth. We championed this year.
Both weeks were at Impeesa, which was the location I did both overnight weeks in my first year, and I did one week there last year as well.
I spoke on this last year, but "Impeesa" is pronounced "Im-pess-ah" and was the nickname of Robert Baden-Powell, who was the founder of Boy Scouts when he was fighting in Southern Africa. His enemies called him this, and he told his friends it meant "The Wolf That Never Sleeps". However, in the Ashanti language, which was the language of the people that named him, it means "Hyena" and is a derogatory term. It's probably still an honour to receive such an insult from your enemy, however. You don't want your enemy cheering for you, right?
Our activities were pretty standard. We had campfires on Tuesday and Thursday nights, movie night on Wednesdays, and a formal dance on Thursdays. We had groups go out on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for swimming at a pool in Paris, Ontario, and we had a reflection painting activity on Thursday. Otherwise, time was pretty free. We ran nature walks, played chess, checkers, othello, did a puzzle (failed to finish it this year), played frisbee, football, soccer, volley ball, etc.
First week, one of our participants brought her collection of DVDs and offered them for movie nights. Our official night was voted in for Wreck It Ralph, which is about a video game villain who would like recognition for his participation in the game he's been involved in for the past thirty years. When he is not accepted, he moves onto other games and the people who took him for granted struggle to find a replacement for him.
It came across as a weird, cartoon, tech-based version of the Hindu mythology surrounding Shiva, the god of destruction, and Parvati, the goddess of creation in Hindu mythology. One participant made the situation more ironic by pointing out that the "Fix It" guy wants to break free, while the "Wreck It" guy wants to build a place for himself.
We also watched Tangled since Wednesday was an indoor camp fire due to weather. Didn't watch most of it since I had other obligations, but I've seen it before. It's based on the "Rapunzel" story, it's animation style, title, and the time of release are similar to the more famous Frozen so the two often get compared.
My cousin visited during this time. She got to meet all the participants, we played the President card game, and she got to meet my coworkers
On my day off, me and the other guy I was spending it with watched Suicide Squad. Like a Superhero flick with the protagonists being former villains. I can appreciate using former villains as heroes, as the path to villainy is more complex than the path to heroism, and thus seems to inspire more creativity for writers. But it felt like there was too much content to be covered in the time length of the movie, and so the Squad members and their relationships with one another felt underdeveloped. I feel like that's the criticism I give every team-based superhero flick. I guess the length of a movie just isn't sufficient to fully develop an entire team. Sucks because I like teams better than standalone heroes. I like the team dynamic, clashing personalities, more specified abilities.
In Suicide Squad, I really wasn't feeling Captain Boomerang, and I wanted more of a psychological break from El Diablo when he first cut loose.
Back at the camp, despite having two dances yearly, I've only been to one. First year, my break was on Thursday evening, night of the dance, both weeks. Next year, I got one dance in but the other was canceled. Third year, one dance was on a scheduled break, and then the next week I was free on the night of the dance but another pair had some errands to run and wanted to trade with us.
There's an established tradition that staff on their night off bring a treat for the rest of the staff after hours. In the first two years, I've been the one tasked with the finishing treat. Because we switched nights off, I got to close the year for the third time in a row.
On our nature trails, I tended to get lost, and therefor we wandered off the beaten trail and came upon a giant ornamental face fixed to a tree. We named this discovery "Tree Face" and it became a regular walking destination. My phone camera wouldn't upload a photo, but here's a painting, done by yours truly.
I'm afraid I turned Tree Face into a bit of a false idol. I asked everyone to tell Tree Face something they were thankful for.
I said "Thank you Tree Face, for the harvest of bagels we dined on this morning"
A participant said "That wasn't Tree Face, that was you!" I said "I am simply a humble servant of Tree Face. Thank you Tree Face, for helping me guide this camp!"
I also thanked Tree Face for protecting us from Drumbo Dan, which is a ghost that supposedly haunts Impeesa because he lost his feet, and St. Pete says he's incomplete (story is told as a rhyming poem). So he needs to cut off someone's feet at night that are the right size so he can attach them and cross the pearly gates. I really think that heaven is inaccessible based on these rules, calling certain people "incomplete" and not letting them in based on a mobility issue. It's like the same people that run Wild Water Works also run Heaven.
I painted the above image of Tree Face during our reflection painting exercise. I have two other paintings from my first year hung on my wall.
During my second break, we went to The Works which is a pretty infamous Ontario-based chain of gourmet burger restaurants. They pride themselves in their bizarre menu options. For example, several options come with peanutbutter as a topping, there's a Kraft Dinner topped burger, they had the infamous Reese Cup burger.
Menu's kind of judgemental. There are "Right" and "Wrong" options. For example, there's a "Plain Jane" burger, "Ho Hum #1", and "Ho Hum #2" which get made fun of in their descriptions. I'd be intimidated to order the "First Date" burger, too. Patties come in beef, chicken breast, ground turkey breast, veggie, mushroom cap, crispy chicken, cheese stuffed beef, bacon & beef, and elk.
I got the Man O' War (onion, horseradish, dijon, and gouda) with an elk patty. It was pretty good.
The treat we brought back was a bottle of non-alcohol champagne and some cream puffs and mini cheese cakes that we plated like hor d'oeurves. We toasted a successful year. Remember how at the beginning I said the year was too easy? Well, it really never got much harder. Aside from a few rough spots, everything went smooth. We championed this year.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Wacky Water Week/Prep Week 3
So I haven't updated since Wacky Water Week, and since then, we've finished with our Prep Week for the Overnight Camp.
Our first day was at WALES, since it was a civic holiday and the school can't host us on holidays. In years previous, we've had a day at WALES for Canada Day during Around the World Week, but this year that fell in one of our Training Weeks, so our WALES day got put off until Wacky Water Week.
We played Water Balloon Toss, where people paired up and threw a water balloon between each other. If you caught it without it breaking, you made it to the next round. If it exploded, you stepped out of the competition.With every successful attempt, contestants had to take steps away from each other to increase difficulty. Of the three rounds, I managed to take one win with my partner.
We did water gun painting this day as well. For this activity, we lined up canvases and participants shot paint at them with water guns. First we had the group make a collaborative effort to donate to Extend-a-Family, then everyone got to make their own individual work to take home with them.
We had a water relay race this day as well. The staff member's team that won this competition had a bucket of water poured over them. For some reason, we found an excuse to pour a bucket of water over another staff member as well.
A number of participants missed this day, since it was technically a holiday, When one member asked what she missed, I said "It was the most fun that Summer Program has ever been, or ever will be" to tease her. When she asked for specifics, I mentioned the water balloon toss, the water gun paintings, and the staff getting soaked with buckets of water. This was enough to convince her I wasn't joking when I said this day was the most fun ever.
We got a lot of paint on the area we did our craft. As we were cleaning up, I jokingly mentioned that it was a good thing that we had forgotten to include "Respect school/organization's property" in our Program Guidelines that week. Of course we cleaned up our paint anyway.
Next day we had Sponge Capture the Flag, which was split into four teams, with bean bags representing flags Sponges and water guns were made available to tag people with. This year, we limited the safe zone to a small area around the flag and made most of the playing area No Man's Land to discourage people from guarding their flags.Staff were given water guns to discourage people from playing safely.
Somehow, participants got ahold of water guns and started shooting staff. Everyone started firing on everyone. Some rules continued to be observed, such as some people shouting "SAFE ZONE" when they were in the area that they were not allowed to be fired on. But otherwise, people seemed to generally forget about the objective of stealing bean bags, and fell on the prerogative of soaking opposing teams even without a point system.
Partway through, I had to refill the water buckets and put the temperature on full cold without thinking about it. After a few complaints, people decided to demonstrate their misery by unloading on to me! So most of the formal rules fell away, but the game was still ridiculously fun. Not sure if that makes it a win or a fail.
Wednesday we had Drum Fit, which is usually our Get Your Game On visitor, but this year we had X-Movement so Drum Fit came at this time. We had a fire drill though, which set things back a bit. When we were outside waiting for things to be sorted out, we decided to play a circle game. Asked the participants what they wanted to play, and someone said "Darling If You Love Me" which received a murmur of praise around the circle. Us staff thought we knew all the circle games, but none of us had heard of it.
Super fun. You have someone in the centre of the circle. They choose someone and say "Darling if you love me won't you please, please smile" The person being spoken to must reply "Darling, you know I love you, but I just can't smile." If the person being spoken to smiles, they must replace the person in the circle and attempt to make someone else smile.
Double edged sword because I wanted to go around telling people to tell me they love me, but I also didn't want to lose. I was a pretty cold hearted snake, with only one person able to make me smile.
Drum Fit was fun, as always. It was a bit shorter because of the fire drill. If you don't remember what Drum Fit is, it's an activity where an instructor guides you through practices including an exercise ball and a set of drum sticks. It just seems fun at first, but slowly weans you into more intensive exercises.
Later on that day we played Air Raid, which is basically Mission Impossible with water guns (how can you go wrong?) and we had a tie dye craft. Tie dye was facilitated by two other program leaders while me and another leader were inside hosting games for the group waiting. We played Huckle Buckle, Crocodile's Treasure, and What Time is it Mr. Wolf.
Thursday I got to host the event of the year, Reverse Paintball! This is another annual event in which participants get to paint the staff, then shoot water guns and throw sponges at us to knock the paint off. In years past, participants have just gone crazy with the paint. This year, I basically had to give them permission to put paint in my hair, beard and on my clothes.
I've got my Reverse Paintball shirts from years previous hung up on my wall. First year I wore a white shirt, second year I sacrificed a staff shirt. I had a big dilemma regarding whether or not I should use an orange staff shirt this year. If I used an orange shirt, it would look different from years previous and sort of complete the collection. But I thought the end result had looked better on the white shirt than the staff one. Of course, we were using orange instead of green this year, and I thought orange might make the colours "pop" more than the green ones. But no way orange beats white. White is basically a canvas waiting to be painted on. And I feel there's something fun and disarming for the participants to see us out of our staff shirts.
So I opted to use white. And now that the shirt is dried, I think it looks too much like my Year 1 shirt to display. Kind of regret not using orange.
Our special Friday trip was to Wild Water Works in Hamilton. This is the third time we've been, you might remember me mentioning they have a wave pool, water slides, and a lazy river. I didn't touch the lazy river or water slides this year, I just supported people in the wave pool. Which is fine, it's a pretty amazing wave pool.
Wacky Water Week was crazy fun.
I got Monday and Tuesday off for Prep Week. During the remaining three days, we developed a meal plan, scheduled activities for the Overnight, went grocery shopping, wrote receipts, looked at client files, and did some team building stuff.
During the past two years, one of my breaks has been on the last night of the year. Since we bring a treat back to the team on the night off, I've had to deal with the pressure of delivering the final treat. Not this year.
Grocery shopping is always so much fun, because you get to buy in bulk. Last year I was on the meat cart, which just made me and the person I was with look like massive carnivores. This year I was on grains which just isn't as exciting. We did a lot better with the budget this year.
Last year we let the new people develop the meal plan without being allowed to see the old one, and they basically replicated it exactly. This year we did the same thing, and it's still pretty similar but we did turn out a few new ideas.
Our team building stuff included a lip sync battle, which was super uncomfortable, they made me be Barbie from Barbie Girl and perform in front of one of the Extend-a-Family higher ups. Sadistic. Then we played a game where you are given the name of someone significant from the Summer Program, but you don't get to see it and everyone else is. Then you go around the table asking questions and see if you can figure it out.
Excited for the Overnight. This year both weeks are at Impeesa. They've got a more accessible ramp this year (inconsequential to us since we don't have anyone in wheelchairs, but it's still nice to see) and they put in a new roof. Looks good.
Our first day was at WALES, since it was a civic holiday and the school can't host us on holidays. In years previous, we've had a day at WALES for Canada Day during Around the World Week, but this year that fell in one of our Training Weeks, so our WALES day got put off until Wacky Water Week.
We played Water Balloon Toss, where people paired up and threw a water balloon between each other. If you caught it without it breaking, you made it to the next round. If it exploded, you stepped out of the competition.With every successful attempt, contestants had to take steps away from each other to increase difficulty. Of the three rounds, I managed to take one win with my partner.
We did water gun painting this day as well. For this activity, we lined up canvases and participants shot paint at them with water guns. First we had the group make a collaborative effort to donate to Extend-a-Family, then everyone got to make their own individual work to take home with them.
We had a water relay race this day as well. The staff member's team that won this competition had a bucket of water poured over them. For some reason, we found an excuse to pour a bucket of water over another staff member as well.
A number of participants missed this day, since it was technically a holiday, When one member asked what she missed, I said "It was the most fun that Summer Program has ever been, or ever will be" to tease her. When she asked for specifics, I mentioned the water balloon toss, the water gun paintings, and the staff getting soaked with buckets of water. This was enough to convince her I wasn't joking when I said this day was the most fun ever.
We got a lot of paint on the area we did our craft. As we were cleaning up, I jokingly mentioned that it was a good thing that we had forgotten to include "Respect school/organization's property" in our Program Guidelines that week. Of course we cleaned up our paint anyway.
Next day we had Sponge Capture the Flag, which was split into four teams, with bean bags representing flags Sponges and water guns were made available to tag people with. This year, we limited the safe zone to a small area around the flag and made most of the playing area No Man's Land to discourage people from guarding their flags.Staff were given water guns to discourage people from playing safely.
Somehow, participants got ahold of water guns and started shooting staff. Everyone started firing on everyone. Some rules continued to be observed, such as some people shouting "SAFE ZONE" when they were in the area that they were not allowed to be fired on. But otherwise, people seemed to generally forget about the objective of stealing bean bags, and fell on the prerogative of soaking opposing teams even without a point system.
Partway through, I had to refill the water buckets and put the temperature on full cold without thinking about it. After a few complaints, people decided to demonstrate their misery by unloading on to me! So most of the formal rules fell away, but the game was still ridiculously fun. Not sure if that makes it a win or a fail.
Wednesday we had Drum Fit, which is usually our Get Your Game On visitor, but this year we had X-Movement so Drum Fit came at this time. We had a fire drill though, which set things back a bit. When we were outside waiting for things to be sorted out, we decided to play a circle game. Asked the participants what they wanted to play, and someone said "Darling If You Love Me" which received a murmur of praise around the circle. Us staff thought we knew all the circle games, but none of us had heard of it.
Super fun. You have someone in the centre of the circle. They choose someone and say "Darling if you love me won't you please, please smile" The person being spoken to must reply "Darling, you know I love you, but I just can't smile." If the person being spoken to smiles, they must replace the person in the circle and attempt to make someone else smile.
Double edged sword because I wanted to go around telling people to tell me they love me, but I also didn't want to lose. I was a pretty cold hearted snake, with only one person able to make me smile.
Drum Fit was fun, as always. It was a bit shorter because of the fire drill. If you don't remember what Drum Fit is, it's an activity where an instructor guides you through practices including an exercise ball and a set of drum sticks. It just seems fun at first, but slowly weans you into more intensive exercises.
Later on that day we played Air Raid, which is basically Mission Impossible with water guns (how can you go wrong?) and we had a tie dye craft. Tie dye was facilitated by two other program leaders while me and another leader were inside hosting games for the group waiting. We played Huckle Buckle, Crocodile's Treasure, and What Time is it Mr. Wolf.
Thursday I got to host the event of the year, Reverse Paintball! This is another annual event in which participants get to paint the staff, then shoot water guns and throw sponges at us to knock the paint off. In years past, participants have just gone crazy with the paint. This year, I basically had to give them permission to put paint in my hair, beard and on my clothes.
I've got my Reverse Paintball shirts from years previous hung up on my wall. First year I wore a white shirt, second year I sacrificed a staff shirt. I had a big dilemma regarding whether or not I should use an orange staff shirt this year. If I used an orange shirt, it would look different from years previous and sort of complete the collection. But I thought the end result had looked better on the white shirt than the staff one. Of course, we were using orange instead of green this year, and I thought orange might make the colours "pop" more than the green ones. But no way orange beats white. White is basically a canvas waiting to be painted on. And I feel there's something fun and disarming for the participants to see us out of our staff shirts.
So I opted to use white. And now that the shirt is dried, I think it looks too much like my Year 1 shirt to display. Kind of regret not using orange.
Our special Friday trip was to Wild Water Works in Hamilton. This is the third time we've been, you might remember me mentioning they have a wave pool, water slides, and a lazy river. I didn't touch the lazy river or water slides this year, I just supported people in the wave pool. Which is fine, it's a pretty amazing wave pool.
Wacky Water Week was crazy fun.
I got Monday and Tuesday off for Prep Week. During the remaining three days, we developed a meal plan, scheduled activities for the Overnight, went grocery shopping, wrote receipts, looked at client files, and did some team building stuff.
During the past two years, one of my breaks has been on the last night of the year. Since we bring a treat back to the team on the night off, I've had to deal with the pressure of delivering the final treat. Not this year.
Grocery shopping is always so much fun, because you get to buy in bulk. Last year I was on the meat cart, which just made me and the person I was with look like massive carnivores. This year I was on grains which just isn't as exciting. We did a lot better with the budget this year.
Last year we let the new people develop the meal plan without being allowed to see the old one, and they basically replicated it exactly. This year we did the same thing, and it's still pretty similar but we did turn out a few new ideas.
Our team building stuff included a lip sync battle, which was super uncomfortable, they made me be Barbie from Barbie Girl and perform in front of one of the Extend-a-Family higher ups. Sadistic. Then we played a game where you are given the name of someone significant from the Summer Program, but you don't get to see it and everyone else is. Then you go around the table asking questions and see if you can figure it out.
Excited for the Overnight. This year both weeks are at Impeesa. They've got a more accessible ramp this year (inconsequential to us since we don't have anyone in wheelchairs, but it's still nice to see) and they put in a new roof. Looks good.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Get Your Game On 3
This past week was Get Your Game On. Our special Wednesday visitor was someone from "X Movement", an Australian based sports-themed session. We imitated Australian animals such as the kangaroo, platypus, and crocodile, merging into our next game, "Crocodile's Treasure" where we had to sneak up and steal a volley ball from him. It was similar to "red light green light" if you consider the times that the crocodile was awake to be "red light" and the times it was asleep to be "green light" and the crocodile's treasure was the finish line.
We learned to play "Netball" a sport similar to Basketball but without the net. We learned to pitch in Cricket. Steps included "Grip, hip, step, point, rock, roll".
One time he said "Grip on" and I thought he said "Gryphon".
Guy was super charismatic, but the activities didn't include equipment we didn't already have, and we probably could have facilitated all of it. Like, the reptile show guy had reptiles, the magician had magic tricks, and the Karate guy had a blackbelt. X-Movement guy had an accent, which just doesn't come across as a special resource.
The Friday trip was bowling and swimming at the Swimplex. You can't really go wrong with a day like that, because most people love bowling, and most people love swimming, but both activities are common enough that it's a bit less special.
I had my first sick day last Wednesday, breaking my perfect attendance over the past three years. That was a bummer.
Otherwise, we had Soccer Baseball, an award's ceremony, a sports circuit, a mason jar monster craft, and I got to facilitate Mission Impossible. That's a game where participants sneak from one end of the gym to the other to steal bean bags from Program Leaders. Hiding places are set up made from mats, benches, hockey nets etc. Program Leaders shout a number of seconds when participants are allowed to move, then turn around and any participants spotted must return to the beginning point to try again. The team that has the most bean bags in the end wins. Super fun.
The school I work at is air conditioned. Don't think I've mentioned that. Two years ago, the school I worked at was not, even though it had the equipment to. Second year, they had air conditioning... except not in the gym, which is where we spent most of our time. This year, at our new location, we've got an air conditioned school with an air conditioned gym. Pretty awesome. The janitors that work here are also super cool. You'd be surprised how much influence a custodial staff has on the impact of a summer program.
The school I work at has blocked Pokemon Go. I mean, this game only started after school had been let out. It's like, someone saw me waiting on my boss to let me into the school, crouched outside, oggling a Jinx near the principle's office, ready to pounce. And this person thought "Before I let them in, I'm going to make sure they can't play Pokemon Go at work"
We learned to play "Netball" a sport similar to Basketball but without the net. We learned to pitch in Cricket. Steps included "Grip, hip, step, point, rock, roll".
One time he said "Grip on" and I thought he said "Gryphon".
Guy was super charismatic, but the activities didn't include equipment we didn't already have, and we probably could have facilitated all of it. Like, the reptile show guy had reptiles, the magician had magic tricks, and the Karate guy had a blackbelt. X-Movement guy had an accent, which just doesn't come across as a special resource.
The Friday trip was bowling and swimming at the Swimplex. You can't really go wrong with a day like that, because most people love bowling, and most people love swimming, but both activities are common enough that it's a bit less special.
I had my first sick day last Wednesday, breaking my perfect attendance over the past three years. That was a bummer.
Otherwise, we had Soccer Baseball, an award's ceremony, a sports circuit, a mason jar monster craft, and I got to facilitate Mission Impossible. That's a game where participants sneak from one end of the gym to the other to steal bean bags from Program Leaders. Hiding places are set up made from mats, benches, hockey nets etc. Program Leaders shout a number of seconds when participants are allowed to move, then turn around and any participants spotted must return to the beginning point to try again. The team that has the most bean bags in the end wins. Super fun.
The school I work at is air conditioned. Don't think I've mentioned that. Two years ago, the school I worked at was not, even though it had the equipment to. Second year, they had air conditioning... except not in the gym, which is where we spent most of our time. This year, at our new location, we've got an air conditioned school with an air conditioned gym. Pretty awesome. The janitors that work here are also super cool. You'd be surprised how much influence a custodial staff has on the impact of a summer program.
The school I work at has blocked Pokemon Go. I mean, this game only started after school had been let out. It's like, someone saw me waiting on my boss to let me into the school, crouched outside, oggling a Jinx near the principle's office, ready to pounce. And this person thought "Before I let them in, I'm going to make sure they can't play Pokemon Go at work"
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Pokemon Go
I'm interrupting the Summer Program formula of having weekly
updates based on themed weeks for this new Pokemon game.
You've likely heard of the new smartphone app, Pokemon Go,
even if you don't have the app and are not a fan of Pokemon. It basically turns
our world into the Pokemon World.
It makes use of the GPS system and places Pokemon
everywhere. By looking through your camera, you can see Pokemon appearing
anywhere on this planet! And it takes environmental factors into equation. For
example, if you're near a body of water, you will find more water-type Pokemon,
if it's at night, there will be more ghost-types, and if it's a thunderstorm,
you will find more electric-types.
Supposedly, Nintendo’s profits have spiked higher than it
has since before I was born. Even the introduction of Pokemon itself was not
this big.
Places where large numbers of people gather become Pokestops
or Gyms. Pokestops allow you to collect random items such as Pokeballs or eggs.
Pokeballs give you the opportunity to catch more Pokemon, and eggs allow you to
place them in incubators that result in them hatching after you've walked a
certain distance. It's pretty fun to find out that the Kitchener Public
Library, the KPL Kids Section, and the sign outside are all Pokestops.
Apparently it’s been leaked that McDonalds branches will all
become Pokestops. Outside of giving people the option to buy Pokecoins with
real money to buy PoGo items, PoGo is hoping to receive income by allowing
large corporations to use themselves as Pokestops to attract customers.
Gyms allow you to fight teams that have been left behind by
other players. Fought in my first Gym today, at the Conestoga Mall Museum. I
didn't know what I was doing and thought I got my team wiped out, but it said I
won.
You can set incense to attract Pokemon to you, or set lures.
At level 5, you can join a team based on one of the three Legendary Birds. The
electric Zapdos of Team Instinct, the icy Articuno of Team Mystic, and the
fiery Moltres of Team Valor. I’m Team Mystic.
It advertises itself as a way of countering our society’s
introverted nature by calling people to go outside, to explore, and interact
with other trainers. It also encourages physical fitness through the
step-counter function of hatching eggs.
However, merging the virtual and real worlds has had its
hazards, with people too focused on one or the other. For people too focused on
the game, there’s been reports of people walking into busy streets or other hazardous
areas because Pokemon have appeared there. People too focused on this world and
how they can exploit a game have set lures in obscure locations, not to lure
Pokemon, but people, resulting in robberies and kidnappings. And the random nature of Pokemon spawning has
had people wandering out into obscure locations and finding dead bodies and the
like.
In Kitchener, a Lapras showed up in Victoria Park.
Apparently some course was taking place there and everyone dipped mid-session
for the opportunity to catch it.
Of the Summer Program team, I am now one of four of us to
have it. Unfortunately, I’m the only one of the four to not have a cell phone
plan with data, That means I can only play in areas with wifi. It really takes
away the feeling of being on a Pokemon hunt, when your friends are out on
nature trails, and you’re wandering around Wal Mart. When I got my new cell
phone plan, I got this righteous deal where I got Canada-wide anytime minutes
and unlimited texting for $10 less from my previous plan, just without data.
The guy pitching it tried really hard to convince me I needed data and I
insisted I didn’t. If I knew that the Pokemon World would become a reality for
people with data, I would have reconsidered. They don’t even let the pedometer run
offline.
My brother got a smartphone just for this game. He’s got a
plan with data.
As it is, I’ve got 20 Pokemon registered in my Pokedex. My
rarest Pokemon is probably my Jinx, since I’ve only run across one and in the
original games they were decently rare. I found a Ghastly in my room, so I
guess my room is haunted.
Your Pokemon Trainer name needs to be unique, meaning no one
else in the world can be using it. After I tried “Gryphon”, I figured any
variation would be taken, so I used MisterAliphant, because my Malian name is “Ali”
and I was called the “Elephant”. Merge those names and you get “Aliphant” but
sinc e”Ali” is often a girl’s name over here, I felt the name was a bit androgynous,
so I made it MisterAliphant. I explained this at lunch at work and the room
exploded into laughter. Don’t really know why it caught such a reaction.
But I really messed up, because I’m the only “GryphonSibbald”
in the world. I had the opportunity to put that on lock when nobody else would
find their names available, and I missed it.
Right now they’re only using the original 150 Pokemon, but
just you wait, they’ll be putting every generation in with time. I guarantee
it.
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