Beginning the Job Search

Well, I just updated my resume to include my recent education and volunteer experience and, to be honest, I'm not in love with the new format. Before, I had Katimavik and CWY both down as work experience and also under "Additional Programs" I cut them out from work experience and kept them only as additional programs as a way of making space. Now, my most recent work experience is back from my Linamar days.

On my resume, I always expand more on my work experience than on my other credentials, but now, I have enough under education, additional programs, and volunteer experience that my work experience no longer dominates the paper. Because my other experiences are put in a more concise manner, I feel like my resume right now is more statements of the where and what of my positions, rather than descriptions of what I did.

It also kind of bugs me that, since I place work experience before anything, even though I've kept busy the last while and anyone who reads my resume will know this, the first impression that my resume gives is my gap in time between work experiences. First impressions matter after all.

But I don't really have any more info that I would like to take off, and I don't want to branch onto another page until I'm 30, lest I make myself seem too "busy" and therefore undedicated.

I went to my old youth employment agency today and worked through all their job listings. Surprisingly slim pickings, although they did have a section for student summer jobs. There's this new program which subsidizes employers for hiring students during the summer. So that trims the competition down a bit, and I might take the advantage there.

Cherry Dr. Pepper

So when I was moving my last suitcase, I had to stop to eat since I was moving around most of the day. At the place that I stopped, I noticed that they were carrying Cherry Dr. Pepper. This made me curious, because Dr. Pepper already tastes kind of like cherries, so I was wondering how they could make a cherry-flavoured beverage cherry flavour.  I purchased it, and... yeah, it was just Dr. Pepper. First impressionable difference was that the bubbles were pink.  Dr. Pepper prides itself in it's 13 flavours, and it turns out that, when you have that many flavours, knocking it up to 14 doesn't do much. Especially when the additional flavour is the same as one of the flavours in the original 13.

Upon further tasting, I found that it might have been a bit sweeter, and that the cherry element may have been put slightly more in-focus. Of course, that might just be like when red-coloured foods taste spicier just because they're red, or when you think orange M & Ms taste like oranges. Power of impression. Pink bubbles and the word "cherry" might just make the beverage taste a bit more cherry-like than usual. If it did taste different, it was a negative impression, anyway.

Double-cherry Dr. Pepper is identical to, if not worse than, it's original model. I do not recommend it.

Year Conclusion

Well, my final grade came in, which was for Psych. I was at 70%, which was my all-time worst grade. My goal was to do well on the final and get my grade over 72%, which was my Math grade last semester and my lowest finalized grade. Did better than I thought I would and scored 89%, which moved me up to 76% final grade, even higher than Soc. So, that means that this semester's classes averaged out to:

-Human Services: 98%
-Group Dynamics: 99%
-Applied Communications: 87%
-Psychology: 76%
-Sociology: 75%
-Cultural Diversity: 96%

You know what all that rounds up to? 89%. Remember what my grade last semester was? 89%. Know what those two numbers round out to be for a yearly average? 89%. Recall what test score bumped me up to this number? 89%. Remember what grade would have gotten me on the Presedential Honour Role? 90%. Kill me. Would have felt better with 88.

Moved out of Residence today. When I went in, I only had two suitcases, but leaving, I had twice as much stuff. No idea how I accumulated so much. My friend helped me move yesterday, but her car was too small for all my stuff, so today I spent nine hours coordinating buses to go there and come back with my final suitcase.

Same as last semester, I only managed to sell one book, for $40. The other books weren't in demand, except for one which they offered me $3 for...

Roommate Moved Out

Well, I got two more of my final grades in. For Group Dynamics and Conflict Management, I got about 99%. Again, no official final grade, but my grades were 98%, 100% and 100%. Only three papers for that course. Then, for Sociology, I ranked in with a meager 75%. I'm pretty good at Sociology, but the whole course was tests, and I'm not as good at tests as I am at papers.  My worst grade last semester was Math, with 72%, so this isn't really out of that ballpark. I would be satisfied with this, except in Psych, I have an equivalent grade right now. Final exam for that course is tomorrow and hopefully I can pull my grade up a bit.

My roommate moved out yesterday. Guess what he left me?
-A shower curtain
-A toilet brush
-Toilet bowl cleaner
-Almost two litres of club soda
-Half a thing of vegetable juice

SCORE!!

Today, though, when I went to the school for a few hours to study and returned to get some textbooks for the Buyback, I noticed that, when I returned, everything was the same, except my roommate's door was shut and locked. I went into my room and saw that everything was untouched, except that my blinds were open.

I thought "Someone's been in here, and someone wants me to know they've been in here."

Creepy much? Checked into it, and turns out that my roomie moved out and turned in his key officially. This means they came in and inspected the place for damages. Any damages up to that point constituted "shared damages" which would be split over our damage deposits. Now, because I'm the only one living here, all new damages will be my responsibility alone. Reasonable enough, but he could've told me!!! And even if he didn't, I would appreciate staff to notify me before entering my locked bedchambers and doing cryptic stuff with my blinds.

I guess they closed and locked my roommate's door because they didn't want me getting more room than I paid for, or they were worried I was gonna rent it out or something.

Final Grades Rolling In

Three of my final grades are in. 87% for Applied Communications, 96% for Cultural Diversity, and about 98% for Human Services II (this one's not averaged out, but I got 96%, 97% and 100% between the three categories inside this course, although they each have different weight).

Not going to hit the 90% overall average, though. My Psych and Sociology grades are dipping comparably low. I can pull up Soc, but I don't  have much faith for Psych. The other course is Group Dynamics and Conflict Management, which I have two papers for, both due this Friday, one worth 40%, and one worth 20%. Shouldn't be a problem, though. I got 98% on my first paper (worth 40%) and I think I will have comparable grades with these other two.

Just got two papers for Group Dynamics, an exam for Psych, and a test that is as heavy as an exam for Soc. Got the test and two papers due this week, and then the exam next week. Guess I have the most time to study for my weakest grade, so maybe I will be able to pull myself up.

Since I  have no more formal classes for four classes (formal classes for four classes, didn't mean to write it like that), this week and the one just past, I've only had classes on Tuesday and Thursday. I've got less than two weeks left in the semester. Then I get my certificate and move onto the Diploma level after summer. Feels weird.

I count six HSF students to get into Social Services, with one rejecting the offer. So that's five moving in. One of them is a friend, so I'm not moving in alone. Another one is from my section from last semester, and the other three I don't really know on a personal level. I count five rejections, but I think there are a few that I don't know about.

One person didn't get a notification with everyone else. Turns out, her application just wasn't scored. One out  of 600 chance of that happening. Since everybody was getting either unconditional acceptances or rejections and this was the final session, we were worried that they had filled up and she wouldn't be accepted, even if she scored higher than their lower-ranking acceptances. But she got in, so that's good.

FB Profile Pic Update

Hey, check it out,  here's a pic of me in 20 years:

 Now in 30 years, plus drug addiction:

I finally changed my Facebook profile pic. It was still me in my Mali getup. I was feeling so stuck in the past, so I finally switched it up for something recent. A friend of mine took a pic of me and two friends at school.  It got weirdly good reception. 18 Likes, and everyone that wasn't a classmate that Liked  it was a friend, acquaintance, or relative of mine. Nobody from the other two peoples' social networks.

So I cropped it and uploaded it for my profile. Got another 11 Likes. Usually I don't like profile pics with more than one person in them, but I don't think anyone will  have trouble figuring out who "Gryphon" is in this cast. Also, I'm in the foreground, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Probably got such a good reception 'cause I don't go on FB much nowadays. I actually got complaints about that. People are just starved for my attention. I still use FB, but just for PMs, chat, and updating major life events, like when I got into SSW. I also update my profile pic once a year.

I was gonna use one of the in20years' photos, but I still talk with Malians on FB,  and I don't want them to think I got diseased or something. They'd likely be unfamiliar with such photo manipulation technology.

I still have to update my Google+ profile pic. I wouldn't care, but my photo shows next to my name when I log into my email, so I guess I'll have to go back into that place.

You must forgive me for not updating regularly. When all you do is write papers all day, you don't want to be writing for recreation purposes.

Week is Over

Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm on the other side that incredible week. For my first assignment, I was in a group of six that had to stand by a display for a cultural issue. Our group got Islamophobia. There was some turmoil over group planning and one member got booted from the team. Another group wants to execute three of their members. That's half a team. The professor said that under normal circumstances, he will favour a group decision and give the excluded member a make-up assignment. Don't what he's going to do when half the team wants half the team gone.

But on the day of the assignment, I was shocked at how many haters we got. We got no Islamic people visiting us, we only got people coming up to us, telling us why they hate Muslims. We had a few classmates and some professors visit our stand, and they were, for the most part, reasonable. Although we even got to see a touch of in-class hate.

This day, we also handed in a take-home exam that comprised six questions. We got to write it with a partner, and me and my partner both wrote two pages per question. Then, the next day we all had to hand in a six-page Psych assignment.

Next day, final mock counseling session, and had to submit case notes from last week's session, plus a homework assignment of an equivalent size to the aforementioned midterm exam. Then the next day, I had to hand in another major assignment, and I also had to do a 15 minute presentation and also an exam-level test for Sociology.

Wound up doing tarot cards for the 15 minute presentation. It was just a presentation to show that we could do presentations, so we could choose anything. The only requirement put to us was that the topic be "not depressing". The only topic me and my partner shared even a drop of interest in, and knowledge of, and that wasn't drop-dead depressing was tarot cards.

I used a Google Drive Powerpoint, and forgot to put it on Present at first, and later on, I realized that I had the definitions for Cups and Pentacles swapped on the Powerpoint, and I cussed during the presentation. Don't really know what we're going to get on that, since we obviously made mistakes and vocally admitted it during the presentation, but we got the class worked up and interested, and the mistakes almost added to it. The prof teased us, was nodding and smiling throughout, and at the end said "good job" which he doesn't say for everyone. People have told me since then that I sounded so professional, it was like something out of a book.

So, whatever. I didn't really think I was going to be able to do it at all. Straight A students are failing to hand in assignments around this time of the year, but somehow I've managed to always keep my head above water. My only blemish is that brochure assignment.

We were planning to do a reading after the slideshow. My partner thought that the entire presentation should be a reading, but I said that 15 minutes might seem like a short time, but that it would feel like an eternity in front of the class. I said we should do a slideshow outlining the tarot and then move into the reading.

He said we should have seven slides. I made 21. He was right. The slideshow took up just about exactly 15 minutes and we had to terminate the reading. Bah. We didn't really have the time to do practice runs, with everything else going on.

The Sociology exam was right after the tarot presentation. Thought I was going to get smashed because that's the legendary class that has flunked so many people who didn't study. I hadn't had the time to really properly study for it, so I was nervous. But it went fine, I think.

That last day was really the climax, and I can't believe that I finished it all and had enough energy to get myself on a bus so that I could go home for Easter. I gotta scan a few certificates for my portfolio assignment.

Next week, I have a presentation for Psych on Profiling the Great Psychologists, the brochure assignment, and some Islamophobia group questions. After that, it's another pretty heavy week, but not at the same level as this passing week. I've been averaginf four hours sleep per night for the past four days.