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.
Friday, September 30, 2016
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.
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