Okay, so I'm going to have to break the Summer Program standard blogging format in favour of giving two pieces of unique news. Last week should have been "Prep Week Round Four", and it would have been, except that I received some information that I wanted to report but couldn't find the words. Since then, I've been gone for the first week of overnight camp, and there's a lot to talk about surrounding that, but honestly, I don't think I'll get around to it until after I'm back from the next overnight. So my next Summer Program-specific news will be next week, and it will cover Prep Week Round 4, Overnight Week 1 Round 4, and Overnight Week 2 Round 4.
I'm going to start my first piece of news chronologically. Inside the last two weeks, I have been confirmed as the new WALES In-House Facilitator! If you don't remember, WALES (Working Adults Learning Empowerment Skills) was the organization that I did my student placement with. I will be working Tuesday-Thursday. With my Direct Support contract work, I am now for all intents and purposes working full time. I've seen the two previous In-House facilitators upgraded to full-time WALES staff members, so I'll be concentrating on that going forward.
The second piece of news is that someone that I have been working with for the past five years passed away unexpectedly. I'd like to share some pieces of his story, and while I don't expect that I will violate confidentiality, I will use a pseudonym to further protect his identity.
After plugging some background information into a name generator, I got "John (Jack)". I'll call him Jack because that name is traditionally seen as heroic.
Jack was minimally verbal and didn't express himself much with words. During my first student placement, he would pace back and forth moaning and frustrated many. One day I was assigned to teach him computer skills. He indicated that he wanted to go to lunch early, and while I desperately tried to tell him that while I wanted to let him do that, I was bound to the same rules as him, and we had to finish our computer practice. As I was telling him this, he said his first words to me, "You're one of the good guys".
After this, I was able to interpret everything he said. I was excited and my current mentor suggested that I make my student placement goal to be building a relationship with Jack, as I had seen a side of him that no one else had. I was in charge of helping him do his weekly plans after this.
At one point, a PATH and MAP session was built for him. If you don't remember, I have been trained in facilitating these sessions. They basically explore your history and future goals, and a graphic is created for the person being represented. These sessions can become very intimate. When asked who he wanted to attend, Jack said "My sister, and my friend Gryphon".
I taught Jack the secret handshake I had with the Malian children of Karadie. He was the only person I trusted with that.
He also came to most of the Summer Programs that I had a role in facilitating. The more relaxed pacing of the Summer Program did well for his reception, as opposed to the more work-focused expectations of his day program. He was relaxed at Summer Program, didn't express much agitation, and was appreciated by staff and peers.
But this year, he came to Summer Program, and things were a bit different. At the end of the day, we fill out journals. In the past, I was able to draw visual aids that he would point to, which would indicate how his day went. This year he was unable to process any visual cues.
I wound up providing personal care for him which he had never required assistance for before. This would take hours per day, but it didn't really bother me.
It became an issue though, when we were going to African Lion Safari and we needed to get him onto the bus. I was encouraging him to join the rest of the group, and he was receptive, until he decided that he required personal care. I told him that we had already been through this each day this week, that I knew he felt like he needed this care but in reality he wouldn't be able to go, and that he needed to choose whether or not he was going on the trip or going home.
He raised his fist and screamed "MOVE!" This gentle man who almost never spoke. And I told him "You can see me as a bad guy, I don't really care. More frightening people have raised their fist at me."
Those were my last words to him, and as it turns out, he was experiencing a pain that would later kill him.
As he was leaving with his sister, I turned to my On-Site Director and said "I hate that. For all we know, that's the last time we'll ever see him, and those are the words I left him with". I have never speculated on the death of someone I support before, and there were no real reasons for me to think that he would die.
It also sucks because he had, over and over, explained to me that I needed to go back to WALES. He was explaining that to me this year. And the day after I was confirmed that I would be returning to WALES, I learned that he had passed.
Saturday, August 18, 2018
Monday, August 6, 2018
Wacky Water Week Round 4
Well, this past Friday marks the end of day program for this year. All that's left is a week of prep for the overnight, our two overnight weeks, and then an evaluation week.
I didn't mention it, but this year we hosted the day program at a new school. For my first two years, day program was hosted at St. Mary's high school. For my second two years, it was held at St. Dominic Savio elementary, and was also held there last year, which I didn't attend. This year, both St. Mary's and St. Dominic's were under construction, so the day program was held at St. Paul's.
St. Mary's was larger than St. Dominic's, and St. Dominic's was larger than St. Paul's, so every time we've changed location, it's been to a smaller area. St. Dominic's was the only place with an air conditioned gym.
We're at a new overnight location this year as well. Like with day program, I've been at two other locations, Camp Impeesa and Camp Kimbercote. Kimbercote was a rustic location far from the city which was a ton of fun but was eventually deemed too inaccessible for us. Impeesa was a site near the village of Ayr, which was fairly accommodating and accessible, but it's been booked by someone else this year.
So this time around, we'll be going to Camp Everton, a location just outside of Guelph. I've never been, but it looks like their cabins are far larger than what we're used to. We'll have our own outdoor pool, the kitchen looks like it could fit our whole camp into it, and the bedrooms are immense.
For some reason this year, there has been more need for physical interventions than in years past. I've had to perform three hair pull releases (AKA "The Worm"), which is a technique taught in Safe Management for helping someone else escape from a hair pull. Until this year, I have only ever had to perform physical interventions in the group home. Feels weird having to write an Unusual Incident Report at the Summer Program. At least now I know The Worm works in a real-world environment. We can add that with the J-Roll for intervention techniques tested and proved reliable in a real-world setting. I know that there have been interventions that I wasn't involved in as well.
Between the Summer Program and Direct Support, I have been so exhausted. One day, I went out to water my garden, and I fell asleep in a lawn chair! I realized this as I woke with the sun in my face. That means I slept the whole night outside completely unintentionally. Today I am enjoying my first day off for the past seven weeks. I was going to have last Saturday off but someone called me in to be a relief worker. I get tomorrow off too, since Prep Week is only three days long.
I'm spending my days off in Guelph. This would be the first time in seven weeks that I've seen my family, but last week my cousin drove me over and we had dinner with them.
The group home that I used to work at shut down. Not the organization, just the house. I don't know details.
Over the weeks, the Summer Program Coordinator has been bringing in regular treats for the rest of the staff, with little messages with puns based on the treat, such as "You all deserve extra 'BROWNIE' points!". Most of the other staff have given it a go as well, leaving me as one of the ones not to contribute, which was irritating.
All their stuff was store bought though, so I figured that the only way to make up for my late contribution was to put a bit more effort into it.
For Hidden Talents week, I baked banana bread and pumpkin bread, with the message "Sometimes you might feel like you're going 'BANANAS' but I know you 'PUMP-CAN' do it!" and this past week I made a batch of tarts, including blueberry, lemon, cherry, and pumpkin variants, along with the message "Every great day s-'TARTS' with a great team!"
Ha!
...I haven't even talked about this past themed week yet.
The weather was forecasted to have thunderstorms every day last week. It would have fit the theme of the week, as it would be pretty wacky and full of water outside, but it would also be pretty inconvenient as all the water-based activities were scheduled to be held outdoors so as not to get the gym floor wet. Luckily, the forecast was flat wrong, and all we had was a bit of rain on one of the days and it didn't even interfere with our schedule.
Our special guest was a Drum Fit instructor. We have this every year, but we used to have them for Get Your Game On week, which we now have X-Movement for. Our old water week guest used to be a clay art instructor, which we no longer have.
If you haven't heard me talk about it before, Drum Fit is where an instructor gives out exercise balls and drum sticks to people and leads them through a series of exercises based on drumming. It's surprisingly intensive. One highlight this year was when the instructor told us all to jump in the air and shout "YEAH!" and for some reason I was the only one who did it. That was pretty awkward.
Our day trip was to Bingeman's Water Park. We used to go to Wild Water Works in Hamilton, but the trip was always long and there was always something that happened to make us late coming back. One big reason we didn't go to Bingeman's in past years is because it's close enough that it doesn't feel "special". But whether or not the novelty of going somewhere far away is worth the inconvenience is up for debate.
Wild Water Works had three stations: water slides, wave pool, and a lazy river. Bingeman's also has three, but instead of having a lazy river, it has a splash pad. The waves in the wave pool at Bingeman's are also far less intensive. I hit up each station but only went down one water slide.
One stand out activity we had this week was Reverse Paintball, which is also something we do every year. The participants have the opportunity to paint us head to toe, and then they have to shoot us with water guns and throw sponges at us to knock the paint off.
Here's a pic of the team all painted up:
I didn't mention it, but this year we hosted the day program at a new school. For my first two years, day program was hosted at St. Mary's high school. For my second two years, it was held at St. Dominic Savio elementary, and was also held there last year, which I didn't attend. This year, both St. Mary's and St. Dominic's were under construction, so the day program was held at St. Paul's.
St. Mary's was larger than St. Dominic's, and St. Dominic's was larger than St. Paul's, so every time we've changed location, it's been to a smaller area. St. Dominic's was the only place with an air conditioned gym.
We're at a new overnight location this year as well. Like with day program, I've been at two other locations, Camp Impeesa and Camp Kimbercote. Kimbercote was a rustic location far from the city which was a ton of fun but was eventually deemed too inaccessible for us. Impeesa was a site near the village of Ayr, which was fairly accommodating and accessible, but it's been booked by someone else this year.
So this time around, we'll be going to Camp Everton, a location just outside of Guelph. I've never been, but it looks like their cabins are far larger than what we're used to. We'll have our own outdoor pool, the kitchen looks like it could fit our whole camp into it, and the bedrooms are immense.
For some reason this year, there has been more need for physical interventions than in years past. I've had to perform three hair pull releases (AKA "The Worm"), which is a technique taught in Safe Management for helping someone else escape from a hair pull. Until this year, I have only ever had to perform physical interventions in the group home. Feels weird having to write an Unusual Incident Report at the Summer Program. At least now I know The Worm works in a real-world environment. We can add that with the J-Roll for intervention techniques tested and proved reliable in a real-world setting. I know that there have been interventions that I wasn't involved in as well.
Between the Summer Program and Direct Support, I have been so exhausted. One day, I went out to water my garden, and I fell asleep in a lawn chair! I realized this as I woke with the sun in my face. That means I slept the whole night outside completely unintentionally. Today I am enjoying my first day off for the past seven weeks. I was going to have last Saturday off but someone called me in to be a relief worker. I get tomorrow off too, since Prep Week is only three days long.
I'm spending my days off in Guelph. This would be the first time in seven weeks that I've seen my family, but last week my cousin drove me over and we had dinner with them.
The group home that I used to work at shut down. Not the organization, just the house. I don't know details.
Over the weeks, the Summer Program Coordinator has been bringing in regular treats for the rest of the staff, with little messages with puns based on the treat, such as "You all deserve extra 'BROWNIE' points!". Most of the other staff have given it a go as well, leaving me as one of the ones not to contribute, which was irritating.
All their stuff was store bought though, so I figured that the only way to make up for my late contribution was to put a bit more effort into it.
For Hidden Talents week, I baked banana bread and pumpkin bread, with the message "Sometimes you might feel like you're going 'BANANAS' but I know you 'PUMP-CAN' do it!" and this past week I made a batch of tarts, including blueberry, lemon, cherry, and pumpkin variants, along with the message "Every great day s-'TARTS' with a great team!"
Ha!
...I haven't even talked about this past themed week yet.
The weather was forecasted to have thunderstorms every day last week. It would have fit the theme of the week, as it would be pretty wacky and full of water outside, but it would also be pretty inconvenient as all the water-based activities were scheduled to be held outdoors so as not to get the gym floor wet. Luckily, the forecast was flat wrong, and all we had was a bit of rain on one of the days and it didn't even interfere with our schedule.
Our special guest was a Drum Fit instructor. We have this every year, but we used to have them for Get Your Game On week, which we now have X-Movement for. Our old water week guest used to be a clay art instructor, which we no longer have.
If you haven't heard me talk about it before, Drum Fit is where an instructor gives out exercise balls and drum sticks to people and leads them through a series of exercises based on drumming. It's surprisingly intensive. One highlight this year was when the instructor told us all to jump in the air and shout "YEAH!" and for some reason I was the only one who did it. That was pretty awkward.
Our day trip was to Bingeman's Water Park. We used to go to Wild Water Works in Hamilton, but the trip was always long and there was always something that happened to make us late coming back. One big reason we didn't go to Bingeman's in past years is because it's close enough that it doesn't feel "special". But whether or not the novelty of going somewhere far away is worth the inconvenience is up for debate.
Wild Water Works had three stations: water slides, wave pool, and a lazy river. Bingeman's also has three, but instead of having a lazy river, it has a splash pad. The waves in the wave pool at Bingeman's are also far less intensive. I hit up each station but only went down one water slide.
One stand out activity we had this week was Reverse Paintball, which is also something we do every year. The participants have the opportunity to paint us head to toe, and then they have to shoot us with water guns and throw sponges at us to knock the paint off.
Here's a pic of the team all painted up:
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Hidden Talents Round 4
Last week was Hidden Talents themed. Our special guest was a couple of painters who instructed us as we painted a sunset/sunrise with something silhouetted against it. As you may know, I developed a taste for painting last year, and while I'm not much compared to other members of the family (common interest that I picked up late) and I kind of learned to hate the art world (Artworld?) between my Art and Society class, and my project on Malevich (Black Square guy) for Russian Studies, I still have fun. I got absorbed enough in it I felt more like a participant of the program. Participants around me were cheering me on, somebody said "Try not to startle Gryphon, I don't want him to make a mistake when he's doing such a good job" and the instructor wanted to take a picture of me with my painting. That kind of encouragement and acknowledgement is usually directed toward participants, not leaders, so it was a little weird. I really did like my painting though. I did a silhouette of a tree and some birds. I made the colours darker around the sun, though, and made them fade lighter with distance, which doesn't make any sense. Oh well.
Our day trip was bowling and a movie. Last week we did bowling as well, so I was a little more practiced this time around, and I think it showed. Last time, I got one strike which bounced off a bumper, and this time I got four strikes with one that bounced off a bumper. So basically, I got three strikes this time, and I didn't get any last time.
I feel like I hit the bumper more often than I'd get gutter balls if the bumpers weren't there. The security of having the bumpers seems to take away some of the pressure, and it hurts my game.
For some reason, everyone on my team would only use pink bowling balls, so I had to stock up on those. Somebody from the lane next over bounced their bowling ball and it flew our direction. I thought their ball would end up in our lane and stealing someone's turn, but instead it wedged itself behind a bumper. Someone managed to get a gutter ball when the gutters were blocked.
The movie we watched was Ant Man and The Wasp. I'd never seen the original Ant Man, but it didn't hurt the experience too much. They had a kind of creative way of incorporating a synopsis of the previous movie partway into the film, which helped. Definitely one of the more lighthearted of the Marvel superhero movies, and the most obscure superhero that they have decided to highlight.
At the end of the movie, one of our participants pointed to Ant Man and said "I want to be just like him". I said, "Yeah, he's your hero?" and he said "Yeah, I want to be just like Iron Man!"
I flipped, "He's Ant Man! We just watched a whole movie on him!"
I support a guy who is into the Marvel superhero movies, so I've seen most of them. I was depressed to realize that, when one of the participants brought in his extensive collection of Marvel action figures, I was able to identify each one.
A big draw to Hidden Talents week is our talent show, where everybody takes a turn making a performance. 90% of them decide to sing (just like my high school's talent show) but we had that one participant do his action figure show & tell, and we had somebody shoot basketball hoops.
One of our guys wanted to dance to Shake it Off by Taylor Swift, but he wouldn't do it unless I was his backup dancer. And then when we got there, he kind of hid back shyly and I was stuck as the sole dancer. If you don't know Shake it Off, it's a highly energetic song about a woman who gets over negativity by shaking it off on the dance floor. Not something I would volunteer to dance to on stage.
Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h_JM
Thankfully, he got his confidence partway through and started doing somersaults and spinning and breaking out dance moves and I got to fade into the background like a proper backup dancer.
The leaders got put in costumes as well, so this is what I was wearing.
I haven't mentioned it, but in years previous we have had a bus and a van to transport everyone for swimming days and day trips. Depending on the week, we would would sometimes have more 1-to-1 workers, which would make it difficult to arrange transportation. This year, we don't have the van, but we are using two buses to get everywhere. This makes things way more convenient.
One of them is a regular yellow school bus and the other is a white accessibility bus. For whatever reason, I usually wind up on the accessibility bus. I used to shout "WHO'S EXCITED TO GO SWIMMING?", "WHO HAD FUN SWIMMING?", "CAN I GET A BIG THANK YOU FOR OUR BUS DRIVER?" etc., but for whatever reason, the accessibility bus tends to get chosen by quieter types, so I haven't been able to shout.
We used to have a very specific bus driver that we would special request every year. He took the time to get to know the leaders and participants, and would sometimes attend our field trips and would go to the I Choose Dignity rally, so besides being a bus driver, he was also active in our cause. Last year, he wasn't able to work for us, for unknown reasons. So this year, we have two new drivers. Yellow bus driver is more energetic, and white bus driver is more chill.
I forgot to mention, but during our training weeks, we did an Escape Room. That's where you're locked in a room with a bunch of hidden clues and as a team you have to piece them together to escape. We did this in my last year of Summer Program, which was two years ago, and they did it last year, although I wasn't around. You have an hour to complete the challenge. In my previous attempt, we only made it 55% of the way. Last year, they almost made it out but didn't manage it. This year, we made it! We used 58 minutes and fifty three seconds of our hour, but we did it!
Our day trip was bowling and a movie. Last week we did bowling as well, so I was a little more practiced this time around, and I think it showed. Last time, I got one strike which bounced off a bumper, and this time I got four strikes with one that bounced off a bumper. So basically, I got three strikes this time, and I didn't get any last time.
I feel like I hit the bumper more often than I'd get gutter balls if the bumpers weren't there. The security of having the bumpers seems to take away some of the pressure, and it hurts my game.
For some reason, everyone on my team would only use pink bowling balls, so I had to stock up on those. Somebody from the lane next over bounced their bowling ball and it flew our direction. I thought their ball would end up in our lane and stealing someone's turn, but instead it wedged itself behind a bumper. Someone managed to get a gutter ball when the gutters were blocked.
The movie we watched was Ant Man and The Wasp. I'd never seen the original Ant Man, but it didn't hurt the experience too much. They had a kind of creative way of incorporating a synopsis of the previous movie partway into the film, which helped. Definitely one of the more lighthearted of the Marvel superhero movies, and the most obscure superhero that they have decided to highlight.
At the end of the movie, one of our participants pointed to Ant Man and said "I want to be just like him". I said, "Yeah, he's your hero?" and he said "Yeah, I want to be just like Iron Man!"
I flipped, "He's Ant Man! We just watched a whole movie on him!"
I support a guy who is into the Marvel superhero movies, so I've seen most of them. I was depressed to realize that, when one of the participants brought in his extensive collection of Marvel action figures, I was able to identify each one.
A big draw to Hidden Talents week is our talent show, where everybody takes a turn making a performance. 90% of them decide to sing (just like my high school's talent show) but we had that one participant do his action figure show & tell, and we had somebody shoot basketball hoops.
One of our guys wanted to dance to Shake it Off by Taylor Swift, but he wouldn't do it unless I was his backup dancer. And then when we got there, he kind of hid back shyly and I was stuck as the sole dancer. If you don't know Shake it Off, it's a highly energetic song about a woman who gets over negativity by shaking it off on the dance floor. Not something I would volunteer to dance to on stage.
Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h_JM
Thankfully, he got his confidence partway through and started doing somersaults and spinning and breaking out dance moves and I got to fade into the background like a proper backup dancer.
The leaders got put in costumes as well, so this is what I was wearing.
I haven't mentioned it, but in years previous we have had a bus and a van to transport everyone for swimming days and day trips. Depending on the week, we would would sometimes have more 1-to-1 workers, which would make it difficult to arrange transportation. This year, we don't have the van, but we are using two buses to get everywhere. This makes things way more convenient.
One of them is a regular yellow school bus and the other is a white accessibility bus. For whatever reason, I usually wind up on the accessibility bus. I used to shout "WHO'S EXCITED TO GO SWIMMING?", "WHO HAD FUN SWIMMING?", "CAN I GET A BIG THANK YOU FOR OUR BUS DRIVER?" etc., but for whatever reason, the accessibility bus tends to get chosen by quieter types, so I haven't been able to shout.
We used to have a very specific bus driver that we would special request every year. He took the time to get to know the leaders and participants, and would sometimes attend our field trips and would go to the I Choose Dignity rally, so besides being a bus driver, he was also active in our cause. Last year, he wasn't able to work for us, for unknown reasons. So this year, we have two new drivers. Yellow bus driver is more energetic, and white bus driver is more chill.
I forgot to mention, but during our training weeks, we did an Escape Room. That's where you're locked in a room with a bunch of hidden clues and as a team you have to piece them together to escape. We did this in my last year of Summer Program, which was two years ago, and they did it last year, although I wasn't around. You have an hour to complete the challenge. In my previous attempt, we only made it 55% of the way. Last year, they almost made it out but didn't manage it. This year, we made it! We used 58 minutes and fifty three seconds of our hour, but we did it!
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Get Your Game On & Vibrant Volunteers Round 4
Alright, so I know that I haven't updated for the previous two weeks, but let's see if I can get at least three done for this month. One big reason that I haven't updated is because I've had to arrange for a pretty cool interview. I don't think I'll expand on it right now, but I'll go into more details when they get back to me, whether or not I get chosen.
During Get Your Game On week, our special guest was an Australian athlete who went by the name of Naps. He instructed us on how to play Cricket and other Australian games. Our Friday event was bowling and then swimming at the Swimplex in the Rec Centre. My whole life I've been bowling using my thumb, index, and middle fingers, but apparently you're supposed to use your thumb, index, and ring finger, to keep the ball balanced between your index and pinky fingers. I thought this would be my secret weapon and drastically improve my performance, but unfortunately, I only did about as well as usual. We had bumpers up, so you couldn't get gutter balls. I only managed one strike that game, but I got it after it ricocheted off a bumper, so I knew it was actually a gutter ball. Everyone cheered for me, and I couldn't discount my success, because if I did it would discourage those who used the bumpers for support.
The Swimplex was fine. I know I've mentioned it before, but between my roles as a Summer Program Leader and Direct Support Person, during the summers I swim 3-5 times per week. Between all the pools we use, I find the Swimplex a little awkward. The shallow end only reaches my waist. The deepest of the shallow end is in an area called "the horseshoe", which is a transition from their wading pool ramp and wading pool to the regular shallow end. Why would it start shallow, get deep, then become more moderate? Shouldn't it be a consistent graduation of depth?
There is a small deep end, but it isn't attached to the shallow end, and most of it is reserved for lane swimming. The deep end is actually so small that I thought it was just another lane for the longest time. They have a hot tub, but it's huge and not very hot. It's more like a "warm tub". But regardless of what I think, everyone else seems to love the place, so whatever.
To be able to enter the deep end, we were required to do a swim test, which was performing a front crawl from one side of the shallow end to the other without touching the floor. I was mildly proud when I passed the test, as I don't have much in the way of formal training. None of us went to the deep end though, so it was kind of pointless.
During Vibrant Volunteers week, our special guest was a Mennonite group who helped us build care packages for people in third world countries. They couldn't get a person to come in though, so our "special guest" was our Summer Program Coordinator, who relayed their message and instructed the group.
Our day trip was to Hacienda gardening facility. I ran a group that pulled defective lettuce. Then we went to the Swimplex again.
Usually when I work for the Summer Program, I buy a pair of shoes right before it starts, then note the shape they're in before and after the program. This year it was impossible because even though I bought a pair of shoes right before the program started, they only lasted three weeks before falling apart. I had to buy a pair on my way to work one day because the sole completely detached. I'd like to judge my new pair by the same criteria, as they seem to be holding up better, but it wouldn't be right since they got off three weeks easy.
During a game of Mission Impossible, which is an activity where you have to hide behind barriers and steal items while people look for you, I managed to shatter my phone's screen. I had army crawled up to one barrier, and when the moment was right, I sort of sideways summer saulted to the next one. This cause me to hip-check my phone a number of times. It still works, and I know other people use phones with shattered screens, but this is the first time I've cracked the screen before the rest of it broke.
Usually during the Summer Program, something goes wrong with the first paycheque and we have to wait for the second pay period. This time, we were paid on time at first, but they missed the second. This is frightening to me, because I relied on that cheque to pay rent, and the next pay period was past the first of the month. But somehow our On-Site Director twisted their arm and we got paid today.
During the time where I thought I'd have to survive until the next pay period, I broke out my piggy banks. I'm pretty sure I mentioned them once about two years ago. Well, this isn't the first time I've opened them, but it is the most lucrative. I found out I had $557 in change!
My garden is doing well. The cherry tomato plants are beating the regular tomatoes in terms of height. I've got green tomatoes growing on both of them, though. My bell peppers and cucumbers aren't producing right now, but my banana peppers look like it won't be long before harvest time.
During Get Your Game On week, our special guest was an Australian athlete who went by the name of Naps. He instructed us on how to play Cricket and other Australian games. Our Friday event was bowling and then swimming at the Swimplex in the Rec Centre. My whole life I've been bowling using my thumb, index, and middle fingers, but apparently you're supposed to use your thumb, index, and ring finger, to keep the ball balanced between your index and pinky fingers. I thought this would be my secret weapon and drastically improve my performance, but unfortunately, I only did about as well as usual. We had bumpers up, so you couldn't get gutter balls. I only managed one strike that game, but I got it after it ricocheted off a bumper, so I knew it was actually a gutter ball. Everyone cheered for me, and I couldn't discount my success, because if I did it would discourage those who used the bumpers for support.
The Swimplex was fine. I know I've mentioned it before, but between my roles as a Summer Program Leader and Direct Support Person, during the summers I swim 3-5 times per week. Between all the pools we use, I find the Swimplex a little awkward. The shallow end only reaches my waist. The deepest of the shallow end is in an area called "the horseshoe", which is a transition from their wading pool ramp and wading pool to the regular shallow end. Why would it start shallow, get deep, then become more moderate? Shouldn't it be a consistent graduation of depth?
There is a small deep end, but it isn't attached to the shallow end, and most of it is reserved for lane swimming. The deep end is actually so small that I thought it was just another lane for the longest time. They have a hot tub, but it's huge and not very hot. It's more like a "warm tub". But regardless of what I think, everyone else seems to love the place, so whatever.
To be able to enter the deep end, we were required to do a swim test, which was performing a front crawl from one side of the shallow end to the other without touching the floor. I was mildly proud when I passed the test, as I don't have much in the way of formal training. None of us went to the deep end though, so it was kind of pointless.
During Vibrant Volunteers week, our special guest was a Mennonite group who helped us build care packages for people in third world countries. They couldn't get a person to come in though, so our "special guest" was our Summer Program Coordinator, who relayed their message and instructed the group.
Our day trip was to Hacienda gardening facility. I ran a group that pulled defective lettuce. Then we went to the Swimplex again.
Usually when I work for the Summer Program, I buy a pair of shoes right before it starts, then note the shape they're in before and after the program. This year it was impossible because even though I bought a pair of shoes right before the program started, they only lasted three weeks before falling apart. I had to buy a pair on my way to work one day because the sole completely detached. I'd like to judge my new pair by the same criteria, as they seem to be holding up better, but it wouldn't be right since they got off three weeks easy.
During a game of Mission Impossible, which is an activity where you have to hide behind barriers and steal items while people look for you, I managed to shatter my phone's screen. I had army crawled up to one barrier, and when the moment was right, I sort of sideways summer saulted to the next one. This cause me to hip-check my phone a number of times. It still works, and I know other people use phones with shattered screens, but this is the first time I've cracked the screen before the rest of it broke.
Usually during the Summer Program, something goes wrong with the first paycheque and we have to wait for the second pay period. This time, we were paid on time at first, but they missed the second. This is frightening to me, because I relied on that cheque to pay rent, and the next pay period was past the first of the month. But somehow our On-Site Director twisted their arm and we got paid today.
During the time where I thought I'd have to survive until the next pay period, I broke out my piggy banks. I'm pretty sure I mentioned them once about two years ago. Well, this isn't the first time I've opened them, but it is the most lucrative. I found out I had $557 in change!
My garden is doing well. The cherry tomato plants are beating the regular tomatoes in terms of height. I've got green tomatoes growing on both of them, though. My bell peppers and cucumbers aren't producing right now, but my banana peppers look like it won't be long before harvest time.
Saturday, July 7, 2018
All Around The World Round 4
If you saw my last post near to when it was published, you should probably check it again. I edited it so that most of its current information is new. I added most of the information about training week, and some stuff about my personal possessions.
I got an air conditioner. Just a one-room window-installation type thing, but it's been a life-saver in this past week's heat wave. A neighbour was selling his old one for $50, which I took him up on. A window air conditioner at Wal Mart costs about $200, and then I'd have to worry about transportation, so a $50 one was a steal for me.
I get that it will hike up hydro costs, and that it's environmentally unfriendly and will just heat up the outdoors in the long run, but heat rises, and my bedroom was easily the hottest room in the unit. It had been nearly impossible to sleep and the AC has changed everything for me.
It's kind of like when everyone was saying that those space heaters would cost us more when our electric heaters broke. The electric heat was already an expense, it didn't make a ton of sense that it would cost more when channeled through one device than another. And it didn't make a significant change.
My roommate has also installed an AC into his room. Apparently, a friend of his gave him one, but he hadn't thought about the details of installing it until I got mine. After I got mine installed, it motivated him to figure out his. So now there are two air conditioned rooms in the unit.
I have an Air Miles Rewards card now. Last time I tried for one, I got rejected because I hadn't lived in the same place for over two years. This time around, somebody gave me a card without question. I signed up, spent a few weeks telling people I didn't have the card because I wasn't sure how to use it. Today I used it for the first time.
This week at Summer Program, we had a special gust come in and give us an exotic animal show. In previous years, we have had presentations on more fear-inducing animals such as snakes and spiders. The goal was to freak everyone out a bit. This year, we chose a show with soft, pleasant animals, such as a cockatoo, a chinchilla, and a tortoise. The goal was not to overstimulate anybody, so this time I didn't get to drape a boa constrictor around my neck or have a tarantula crawl all over me.
Our end of week trip was to African Lion Safari. Me and a coworker wound up being left behind to deal with something. We didn't think we'd make it to the tour on time but the bus driver was super cool and waited for us. When me and my coworker boarded the bus, we got cheered by the group.
Last week I was asked to cover for someone, so I wound up working evenings as well as my day job. Whenever I work in both capacities, I shift on at 8:30 AM for my first job and shift off of my second at 9:00 PM with only enough time between them to travel. That's thirteen and a half hours, and it takes me an hour at the beginning and end of the day to travel. I usually do this twice a week, but last week I did it four times. My shortest day was when I had to decline a direct support shift because we were having a staff meeting, which was the longest day for everyone else. Only worked ten and a half hours that day!
All week I only got to see my garden by flashlight.
My sickness came back a bit too. My throat became sore, my cough came back, and my eyes even redeveloped their infection seemingly for a day. Didn't exactly get to spend the week resting though. I work on the weekends too, but far fewer hours, so at least I've been able to rest a bit.
This cough has been with me for about a month now. Ugh.
I got an air conditioner. Just a one-room window-installation type thing, but it's been a life-saver in this past week's heat wave. A neighbour was selling his old one for $50, which I took him up on. A window air conditioner at Wal Mart costs about $200, and then I'd have to worry about transportation, so a $50 one was a steal for me.
I get that it will hike up hydro costs, and that it's environmentally unfriendly and will just heat up the outdoors in the long run, but heat rises, and my bedroom was easily the hottest room in the unit. It had been nearly impossible to sleep and the AC has changed everything for me.
It's kind of like when everyone was saying that those space heaters would cost us more when our electric heaters broke. The electric heat was already an expense, it didn't make a ton of sense that it would cost more when channeled through one device than another. And it didn't make a significant change.
My roommate has also installed an AC into his room. Apparently, a friend of his gave him one, but he hadn't thought about the details of installing it until I got mine. After I got mine installed, it motivated him to figure out his. So now there are two air conditioned rooms in the unit.
I have an Air Miles Rewards card now. Last time I tried for one, I got rejected because I hadn't lived in the same place for over two years. This time around, somebody gave me a card without question. I signed up, spent a few weeks telling people I didn't have the card because I wasn't sure how to use it. Today I used it for the first time.
This week at Summer Program, we had a special gust come in and give us an exotic animal show. In previous years, we have had presentations on more fear-inducing animals such as snakes and spiders. The goal was to freak everyone out a bit. This year, we chose a show with soft, pleasant animals, such as a cockatoo, a chinchilla, and a tortoise. The goal was not to overstimulate anybody, so this time I didn't get to drape a boa constrictor around my neck or have a tarantula crawl all over me.
Our end of week trip was to African Lion Safari. Me and a coworker wound up being left behind to deal with something. We didn't think we'd make it to the tour on time but the bus driver was super cool and waited for us. When me and my coworker boarded the bus, we got cheered by the group.
Last week I was asked to cover for someone, so I wound up working evenings as well as my day job. Whenever I work in both capacities, I shift on at 8:30 AM for my first job and shift off of my second at 9:00 PM with only enough time between them to travel. That's thirteen and a half hours, and it takes me an hour at the beginning and end of the day to travel. I usually do this twice a week, but last week I did it four times. My shortest day was when I had to decline a direct support shift because we were having a staff meeting, which was the longest day for everyone else. Only worked ten and a half hours that day!
All week I only got to see my garden by flashlight.
My sickness came back a bit too. My throat became sore, my cough came back, and my eyes even redeveloped their infection seemingly for a day. Didn't exactly get to spend the week resting though. I work on the weekends too, but far fewer hours, so at least I've been able to rest a bit.
This cough has been with me for about a month now. Ugh.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
End of Training Week 1, Mid Training Week 2, Round 4
Hello everyone,
I have recovered from my illness and I have received my new laptop.
In years past, during the Summer Program, I would update once weekly and title my posts based on a combination of what the weekly designated title was (Training, Day Program, Prep, Overnight) and how many years I had served (Year 1, 2, 3...) So we'd have "Training Week 1-2, Year 1", "Day Program Week 1-5, Year 2", "Prep Week Overnight 1-2, Year 3" etc.
Those are overall categories, but I would update once per week.
Unfortunately, this year, I developed an ear, eye, and sinus infection soon before I started working for the Summer Program. Also, my computer broke. But now I have clear sinuses and a new computer, so let's go over then things I missed.
The laundromat in our complex was broken again by people who wanted to collect the change inside. I had to resort to loading up a bundle buggy and walking about 20 minutes to the nearest public laundromat. It was my first time visiting a public laundry since I was a child, and the experience was as pleasant as I remembered. There were more than enough washers and drivers for everyone, there were platforms to fold your laundry, and there was even a little café, where you could order drinks and beverages if you had nowhere else to go.
I wonder how I'm going to do my laundry during the Summer Program. I work every day of the week, and the laundromat is only open 8-8. Considering travel time and the length of time it actually takes to do the laundry, that doesn't give me much flexibility. This Sunday I should be alright,
I tried using my food processor to make coleslaw and hummus recently. To be honest, those are the two things I really wanted recipes for.
I tried anchovies on pizza for the first time. As someone who once watched many Saturday Morning Cartoons, I was imagining full-bodied dead fish with X's for eyes. Instead I saw a number of salmon steaks, which to me seemed innocent enough. The texture was not too much, and the flavour was pretty inoffensive, if a little salty.
I got a Carbon Monoxide detector. One of my former roommates apparently slashed the wires in my downstairs smoke alarm/CO detector when I burned some falafel. The rationale being "Smoke detectors have only ever annoyed me, they've never saved me from harm".
But while smoke is visible and has a scent, carbon monoxide is odorless and invisible. Also, smoke rises and my upstairs alarm works. Carbon monoxide sits at the bottom, where the upstairs alarm might not catch it. You can't sense it and it will kill you when you sleep. My roommate and sometimes his young son sleep on the bottom level. When I realized my alarm was broken, I needed to get a new one even though I'm pretty broke at the moment.
I also fixed my toilet. You know how your toilet handle is attached to a plastic stick inside the back of the toilet, which is attached to a chain? Well, my plastic stick snapped in two. You could still flush it by reaching into the back and yanking the chain, but that's pretty awkward to explain to guests. I was worried it would be hard to find a replacement piece because it's such a specific part, but I just walked down the plumbing aisle of a Canadian Tire, found a toilet handle, and the plastic stick piece came with it. Assembling it was super easy.
So that's what I've been up to outside of Summer Program. Now let's look at work this year.
Everyone on the team except for the On Site Director and me are new. That's pretty unusual, but I've been in a year where only me and one other were new as well, and we got through. That year, the returning staff only had one year of experience, whereas this year, I've got three years and the other guy has two, so we should be fine.
We did our Personality Dimensions test. I got True Green this year (maxed out intellectual) with Blue (empathy) as my secondary. In years past, I've always been a combination of Green and Blue, and twice I've had them in perfect balance. Generally, I've been more Green in the past and more Blue recently, but for some reason this year I came out hard Green. I had a splitting headache when I did the test, which I think may have reduced my compassion and empathy.
I've done this test in high school Careers class, Ways2Work, and Katimavik, so I think this was my seventh time taking the test, unless I'm forgetting something.
Our group had three Blues (typical in the Social Work field), two Golds (Organized personality) and one Orange (Adventurous) so it was a pretty good spread.
We did our conflict mediation styles test. I got Compromising again, but this year I was only one off from Collaborating. I don't know if I remember everyone's types, but we did have at least one in every category (Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, and Accomodating). One member was tied between Competing and Accommodating which is interesting because they are opposites (More assertive and less cooperative vs. less assertive and more cooperative) so we'll see how that turns out. Again, pretty good spread. Last time I did it, everyone on the team got Compromising except for one Avoider.
I get to facilitate part of the training this year, as Safe Management is part of the required training, and I am a Safe Management instructor. This means I got to teach my peers, which is an interesting dynamic. I've already done the first section, and I'm doing the second section today.
We've finished with our programming. This year we're trying to add an element of choice, which means that two activities will be available at all times. That means twice as much programming, and twice as much facilitation. It's going to be challenging.
We got to do a practice run of facilitation at WALES. That was pretty fun for me, because I got to act in the capacity of a Summer Program Leader for the first time in two years, and it was a fun reunion with the WALES crew. I don't get much opportunity to shout at the top of my lungs outside of Summer Program.
I have recovered from my illness and I have received my new laptop.
In years past, during the Summer Program, I would update once weekly and title my posts based on a combination of what the weekly designated title was (Training, Day Program, Prep, Overnight) and how many years I had served (Year 1, 2, 3...) So we'd have "Training Week 1-2, Year 1", "Day Program Week 1-5, Year 2", "Prep Week Overnight 1-2, Year 3" etc.
Those are overall categories, but I would update once per week.
Unfortunately, this year, I developed an ear, eye, and sinus infection soon before I started working for the Summer Program. Also, my computer broke. But now I have clear sinuses and a new computer, so let's go over then things I missed.
The laundromat in our complex was broken again by people who wanted to collect the change inside. I had to resort to loading up a bundle buggy and walking about 20 minutes to the nearest public laundromat. It was my first time visiting a public laundry since I was a child, and the experience was as pleasant as I remembered. There were more than enough washers and drivers for everyone, there were platforms to fold your laundry, and there was even a little café, where you could order drinks and beverages if you had nowhere else to go.
I wonder how I'm going to do my laundry during the Summer Program. I work every day of the week, and the laundromat is only open 8-8. Considering travel time and the length of time it actually takes to do the laundry, that doesn't give me much flexibility. This Sunday I should be alright,
I tried using my food processor to make coleslaw and hummus recently. To be honest, those are the two things I really wanted recipes for.
I tried anchovies on pizza for the first time. As someone who once watched many Saturday Morning Cartoons, I was imagining full-bodied dead fish with X's for eyes. Instead I saw a number of salmon steaks, which to me seemed innocent enough. The texture was not too much, and the flavour was pretty inoffensive, if a little salty.
I got a Carbon Monoxide detector. One of my former roommates apparently slashed the wires in my downstairs smoke alarm/CO detector when I burned some falafel. The rationale being "Smoke detectors have only ever annoyed me, they've never saved me from harm".
But while smoke is visible and has a scent, carbon monoxide is odorless and invisible. Also, smoke rises and my upstairs alarm works. Carbon monoxide sits at the bottom, where the upstairs alarm might not catch it. You can't sense it and it will kill you when you sleep. My roommate and sometimes his young son sleep on the bottom level. When I realized my alarm was broken, I needed to get a new one even though I'm pretty broke at the moment.
I also fixed my toilet. You know how your toilet handle is attached to a plastic stick inside the back of the toilet, which is attached to a chain? Well, my plastic stick snapped in two. You could still flush it by reaching into the back and yanking the chain, but that's pretty awkward to explain to guests. I was worried it would be hard to find a replacement piece because it's such a specific part, but I just walked down the plumbing aisle of a Canadian Tire, found a toilet handle, and the plastic stick piece came with it. Assembling it was super easy.
So that's what I've been up to outside of Summer Program. Now let's look at work this year.
Everyone on the team except for the On Site Director and me are new. That's pretty unusual, but I've been in a year where only me and one other were new as well, and we got through. That year, the returning staff only had one year of experience, whereas this year, I've got three years and the other guy has two, so we should be fine.
We did our Personality Dimensions test. I got True Green this year (maxed out intellectual) with Blue (empathy) as my secondary. In years past, I've always been a combination of Green and Blue, and twice I've had them in perfect balance. Generally, I've been more Green in the past and more Blue recently, but for some reason this year I came out hard Green. I had a splitting headache when I did the test, which I think may have reduced my compassion and empathy.
I've done this test in high school Careers class, Ways2Work, and Katimavik, so I think this was my seventh time taking the test, unless I'm forgetting something.
Our group had three Blues (typical in the Social Work field), two Golds (Organized personality) and one Orange (Adventurous) so it was a pretty good spread.
We did our conflict mediation styles test. I got Compromising again, but this year I was only one off from Collaborating. I don't know if I remember everyone's types, but we did have at least one in every category (Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, and Accomodating). One member was tied between Competing and Accommodating which is interesting because they are opposites (More assertive and less cooperative vs. less assertive and more cooperative) so we'll see how that turns out. Again, pretty good spread. Last time I did it, everyone on the team got Compromising except for one Avoider.
I get to facilitate part of the training this year, as Safe Management is part of the required training, and I am a Safe Management instructor. This means I got to teach my peers, which is an interesting dynamic. I've already done the first section, and I'm doing the second section today.
We've finished with our programming. This year we're trying to add an element of choice, which means that two activities will be available at all times. That means twice as much programming, and twice as much facilitation. It's going to be challenging.
We got to do a practice run of facilitation at WALES. That was pretty fun for me, because I got to act in the capacity of a Summer Program Leader for the first time in two years, and it was a fun reunion with the WALES crew. I don't get much opportunity to shout at the top of my lungs outside of Summer Program.
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Ear Infection
Hi! Sorry that it's been so long!
Earlier in the month I developed a really bad summer cold. My roommate got it too. He had to take two days off and wasn't feeling at top shape for four days.
For me, it started in my throat and continued to my sinuses. I hate head colds. A body infection hurts, but doesn't trigger the same fears as something that exists in your head. Having symptoms that include "Hurting when you breathe" creates a feeling of claustrophobia within your own body.
I'm pretty sure I had a fever, but my thermometer had stopped working, even though I had used it only twice before.
My ears started to feel like there were balloons behind them, and I was afraid they would pop. I also noticed that my left eye had turned bright red and wouldn't open fully.
So I went to a walk in clinic. The doctor said that I had a sinus, ear, and eye infection and they were all connected. He prescribed me some pills and eye drops.
The eye drops cleared out their infection in a few days, but I'm still taking them because I didn't get instructions to stop until I run out of my bottle. The sinus infection has cleared out, but I still have the ear infection. I can hear out of my right ear again, and my left ear doesn't feel like it has a "balloon" behind it, but it still feels like there is a "bubble" and isn't performing up to standard.
I just finished my first week of Summer Program. People told me I was still too sick to work, but I showed them. The doctor said, after looking in my ears, that I have ruptured my ear drums before. If that ever happened, I don't recall. I wonder if it ever came to that.
Right when I was feeling better, my laptop broke. Just the monitor. The screen's hardware isn't damaged, but there is a hugely prominent discolouration when it is on diplay, which follows the pattern of something that has been shattered.
I bought this laptop right after I got my grouphome job. Now, I may have to purchase a new laptop after having been accepted for a new position. I feel like "fate" is intervening in a way that requires me to buy a new laptop whenever I gain a new position.
This is my weakest time of year financially. My summer job has started but I haven't received my first paycheck, and my OSAP loans have run out.
I really want to keep updating this blog, but I can't unless I stop being sick. I'm hoping to finish things off soon. All the best!
Earlier in the month I developed a really bad summer cold. My roommate got it too. He had to take two days off and wasn't feeling at top shape for four days.
For me, it started in my throat and continued to my sinuses. I hate head colds. A body infection hurts, but doesn't trigger the same fears as something that exists in your head. Having symptoms that include "Hurting when you breathe" creates a feeling of claustrophobia within your own body.
I'm pretty sure I had a fever, but my thermometer had stopped working, even though I had used it only twice before.
My ears started to feel like there were balloons behind them, and I was afraid they would pop. I also noticed that my left eye had turned bright red and wouldn't open fully.
So I went to a walk in clinic. The doctor said that I had a sinus, ear, and eye infection and they were all connected. He prescribed me some pills and eye drops.
The eye drops cleared out their infection in a few days, but I'm still taking them because I didn't get instructions to stop until I run out of my bottle. The sinus infection has cleared out, but I still have the ear infection. I can hear out of my right ear again, and my left ear doesn't feel like it has a "balloon" behind it, but it still feels like there is a "bubble" and isn't performing up to standard.
I just finished my first week of Summer Program. People told me I was still too sick to work, but I showed them. The doctor said, after looking in my ears, that I have ruptured my ear drums before. If that ever happened, I don't recall. I wonder if it ever came to that.
Right when I was feeling better, my laptop broke. Just the monitor. The screen's hardware isn't damaged, but there is a hugely prominent discolouration when it is on diplay, which follows the pattern of something that has been shattered.
I bought this laptop right after I got my grouphome job. Now, I may have to purchase a new laptop after having been accepted for a new position. I feel like "fate" is intervening in a way that requires me to buy a new laptop whenever I gain a new position.
This is my weakest time of year financially. My summer job has started but I haven't received my first paycheck, and my OSAP loans have run out.
I really want to keep updating this blog, but I can't unless I stop being sick. I'm hoping to finish things off soon. All the best!
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