Well, I've been meaning to do a Hidden Talents update, but life's kept me busy and now we're into the Friday of Vibrant Volunteers week.
During Hidden Talents, I busted out the fanny pack. As it was a symbol of last year's group, I was hoping for a dramatic time when I would have to call on the strength of the Fanny Pack. But as things moved forward, I came to realize things were not going to go out of hand, and that a fanny pack is really useful for keeping attendance sheets and weekly schedules.
On Tuesday we had a Karate blackbelt come in to teach us a few basic techniques, give us a history of the art, show us some katas (fights against imaginary opponents, kind of like a dance), and show us some weapons. This person was related to someone on the team, so we got a free show. It was pretty cool, like a second Wednesday special visitor.
Our special Wednesday visitor though, was Five the magician. Two years ago we had Five, and he dazzled and amazed us. I know I've said this before, but I find magic shows all the more incredible as an adult than as a child. As a child, I would just write it off as being magic and accept it. As an adult, I know magic in this form is not real, and I've watched videos and heard things on how it's done. But even when you try to look in diagonal motions when he's moving linearly, you're still left to wonder how he made a balloon turn into a rabbit when the rabbit is larger, or how he turned a fire into a live dove. It taunts you.
But while Five's tricks two years ago were amazing, his stage presence was lacking. One time, he pulled one of our people from the crowd, gave her a cup of water and told her to throw it at him when he shouted "Red Alert!" Without prompt, the cup of water got thrown into him and he had to stand awkwardly in his soaking suit.
He tried to be a mind reader for one of our guys, and the person who came up lied about his name, exploiting his inability to read minds. Five tried to give humorous fake-out predictions "You're thinking about eating lots of vegetables!" but our guy would just say, "Hey, that's right!" making his obvious attempt to be wrong fall flat.
He put a bunch of scarves into a hat and upturned it, letting them all fall out, which was supposed to be an intentionally bad show before moving on to more convincing tricks. But our group gave him an applause, to which he stammered that he'd never been with an audience so kind.
He kept trying to use the program leaders as examples for tricks until we rejected him. Then he wanted our coordinator to select people who could perform his tasks. Then he had to check in to see if they could stand in a line for balloon animals.
Next year, we had two magicians who were more charismatic but with weaker tricks. One moved around a puppet and pretended it was alive, then started pulling coins out of peoples ears. Like every Mom ever doesn't know that one.
This year, Five's tricks were as spectacular as ever, and his stage presence was so much stronger. He really blossomed into a beautiful magician. He gave a list of balloon animals he could make at the end, which I respect. Nobody should leave themselves vulnerable to whatever the requester decides for a balloon animal. But when someone asked for a squirrel, he said he couldn't do it and offered a rabbit. But when someone asked for an Incredible Hulk, he went for it. Like come on Five, just make a rabbit with shorter ears and a longer tail and call it a squirrel.
Our Friday trip was bowling and a movie. I got my one mandatory strike in while bowling, so I was satisfied. The movie we watched was Secret Life of Pets, a story about how pets are more intelligent than we give them credit for, a theme I feel I've often seen revisited. The other option was Finding Dory, which I've seen before, so I was happy to see something new just for the diversity.
Last year we watched Minions, which I really did not enjoy too much. But because of the nature of my work, I wound up watching it four times.
For Vibrant Volunteers, I got to facilitate for a flower pot painting activity. Last year, I may have mentioned that we did a flower pot painting activity and that it produced a great revelation inadvertently surrounding pen theft. We leave our crafts on our front desk to be picked up by participants. When they are not picke dup, they kind of remain as a decoration. Our flower pots are made of painted flower pots, artificial flowers taped to pens with green painter's tape wrapped around to give the impression of a stem, and marbles to replicate earth. This year we got fake moss to replicate the earth.
But in years previous, people would pluck a flower from its pot and write from it. We never had a pen thief using this method, because nobody would absent-mindedly leave a pot empty or expect someone not to notice. Like the gentlest way to discourage people from stealing pens.
We have two beautiful tarps for tarp toss, which was made by staff from last year. This year I got to present it. Like a gigantic target board. |Somebody suggested that for Wacky Water Week, the Program Leaders put their face through the bulls eye and have people try to hit them with water balloons. I've pitched this to the rest of the team,
We had a volunteer group go out to a community centre and help facilitate activities for children on Tuesday and Thursday. We got to make Froot Loops bracelets, construction paper puppets, build cities out of boxes, design a banner, and make melt bead art.
On Wednesday we went to the Family Centre, where we had a number of stations, including baking cookies, cleaning, visual art, pinwheel or benner making, and a musical piece. The musical piece we chose was Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Arguably the most daring choice stacked up against "Twinkle twinkle little star" and "Mary had a little lamb".
On Friday we went to the Moluntsberg Conservation Area, where we attended a Bird of Prey show, went to a petting zoo, and had access to an all-purpose fun zone.
We got to see another camp use teal-green for their shirt colour before we saw anyone else use pylon-orange. This validated my suggestion t o change the shirt colours. We had another group have a number of counselors have differing shirt colours depending on who was in their small group, including Pylon-orange, but it didn't catch on. It was a fantastically hot day though. Somehow a group coaxed me into being the only staff to play Manhunt in their adult-sized playground.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Monday, July 11, 2016
Around The World 3
So last week was my third trip Around The World at the Summer Program, which kicks off with a themed week on traveling.
Pretty traditional. We had a reptile show, where someone came in and we got to look at, and often touch, some pretty interesting creatures including a tarantula, a tortoise, a caman, multiple lizards, several snakes, and a giant toad (we didn't touch the toad).
We've done this routine the previous two years. Many participants and several staff were too uneasy to pet the animals, and most people who did still needed to pluck up their courage to do so. It's funny, I'm afraid of A LOT of things. I'm afraid of heights, small spaces, water where you can't see the bottom, etc. but I don't think any kind of animal, including insects and reptiles has ever bothered me.
This year, after hearing my name, later on the presenter accidentally called me "Phoenix". This was cool because when I first ran the "What's In A Name" icebreaker activity during training, I said that if I had to change my name, I'd just change it to another mythical creature, "such as 'Dragon' or 'Phoenix'". Since then I've been occasionally called "Dragon" by the rest of the staff, and getting called "Phoenix" was a sweet callback to my other proposed alternative name.
It also showed he knew the mythology behind my name, and made the mistake based on that context, instead of a name that sounds similar, such as "Griffith" or suchlike.
Our Friday Day Trip was of course to African Lion Safari, which is beginning to feel like an annual tradition. I'm sure in years past I've spoken on the unfortunate vulture show, where they try to show how fast some slow, cheating vultures are on foot by challenging a bunch of kids to race them. The vultures always cheat by using their wings, the children always win regardless, and the announcer sometimes tries to swing it as a win for the vultures or a tie. This year the announcer properly admitted the vultures lost by a good margin. I really don't know why they've stuck to that routine since I was a kid and got cheated by the vultures myself.
This year Chuck, the smaller elephant, couldn't win a round of soccer against his trainer. First time I ever saw that.
At the I Choose Dignity Rally, somebody who had been to African Lion Safari at the camp two years ago asked me what the name of the brown cows with the horns was. Without thinking, I said "Watuzu Cattle". Several people seemed impressed at how I could pull out a name like that. At the actual safari, turns out the actual name is "Watuzi Cattle" but I was close enough that everyone just assumed I was right and I got credit for it.
Otherwise... My Personality Bingo got another makeover. The first icebreaker activity of the week is like my baby and is improved annually. First year, it was a "Personality Scavenger Hunt" where people had to find characteristics in each other that matched the corresponding questions. First person to fill the list wins. Next year, I put the questions on a grid and called it "Personality Bingo". This gave the added thrill of allowing people to shout "BINGO!", and gave me the freedom to shout new requirements, "ONE LINE!" "TWO LINES!" "FULL CARD!". Personality Bingo also had questions tailored to the theme of the week, so that the game wouldn't become redundant for people coming multiple weeks (although there had still been variety, since the group would always differ somewhat between weeks).
This year, we have graphics for the questions, which helps people who have difficulty reading, and we've got special, larger-than-average paper. Personality Bingo has never looked better!
We had a scavenger hunt where people tried to find matches of paper animal cutouts. We played "Four corners of the world" we invented our own islands.... All good stuff.
We needed a filler activity when things were moving ahead of schedule. I dug up a memory of a game where people were sorted into pairs, had to stand opposite of each other and complete shouted commands, meeting in the centre of the room and returning to their side afterwards. Staff didn't know what I was talking about, but asked me if I'd facilitate it. When I was presenting, I said "This is a super fun game, but I don't remember the name of it, so I'm calling it 'the Gryphon Game'" As I explained the rules, someone said "Oh, Huckle Buckle!"
It was Huckle Buckle. Smash hit.
So far everything has gone so smoothly. Even when things don't go according to plan, things just fall together. Reception has been really good this year. I need more pressure. I need more hardship. The Summer Program is supposed to push my limits and force me to rely on my team members, resulting in bonds that can never be replaced. This year kind of feels like I'm just clocking in, chatting with my coworkers, going out on the field, and just completely owning everything flawlessly.
Bus route is a drag, though. In previous years, our Day Program was held a 50 minute bus ride from student housing. This year, I'm living walking distance from the usual Day Program location, but they changed venues, and are now a 50 minute bus ride from my new place. How tragically poetic.
I have to get up so early, I've no way of having it together to make coffee before rushing out the door, and there's no nearby coffee shops at the location that I go. Thought I was going to be forced to break my caffein addiction. But the school has a keurig. Never used one before. When I asked the rest of the staff if using one was hard, the room was full of suppressed laughter. It's supposed to be easier than a drip coffee maker.
So now I know how to brew a K-Cup and my coffee needs are in place again. Hey, did you guys know that dark roast coffee has less caffeine than traditional? Somebody in our staff team that worked at Tim Horton's ruined Dark Roast for me, and made me revisit the idea that my caffeine addiction might be partly psychological. I've been able to call out weak roasts in the past, but dark roast always did it for me. Of course it doesn't anymore. Placebo effect has been ruined.
Pretty traditional. We had a reptile show, where someone came in and we got to look at, and often touch, some pretty interesting creatures including a tarantula, a tortoise, a caman, multiple lizards, several snakes, and a giant toad (we didn't touch the toad).
We've done this routine the previous two years. Many participants and several staff were too uneasy to pet the animals, and most people who did still needed to pluck up their courage to do so. It's funny, I'm afraid of A LOT of things. I'm afraid of heights, small spaces, water where you can't see the bottom, etc. but I don't think any kind of animal, including insects and reptiles has ever bothered me.
This year, after hearing my name, later on the presenter accidentally called me "Phoenix". This was cool because when I first ran the "What's In A Name" icebreaker activity during training, I said that if I had to change my name, I'd just change it to another mythical creature, "such as 'Dragon' or 'Phoenix'". Since then I've been occasionally called "Dragon" by the rest of the staff, and getting called "Phoenix" was a sweet callback to my other proposed alternative name.
It also showed he knew the mythology behind my name, and made the mistake based on that context, instead of a name that sounds similar, such as "Griffith" or suchlike.
Our Friday Day Trip was of course to African Lion Safari, which is beginning to feel like an annual tradition. I'm sure in years past I've spoken on the unfortunate vulture show, where they try to show how fast some slow, cheating vultures are on foot by challenging a bunch of kids to race them. The vultures always cheat by using their wings, the children always win regardless, and the announcer sometimes tries to swing it as a win for the vultures or a tie. This year the announcer properly admitted the vultures lost by a good margin. I really don't know why they've stuck to that routine since I was a kid and got cheated by the vultures myself.
This year Chuck, the smaller elephant, couldn't win a round of soccer against his trainer. First time I ever saw that.
At the I Choose Dignity Rally, somebody who had been to African Lion Safari at the camp two years ago asked me what the name of the brown cows with the horns was. Without thinking, I said "Watuzu Cattle". Several people seemed impressed at how I could pull out a name like that. At the actual safari, turns out the actual name is "Watuzi Cattle" but I was close enough that everyone just assumed I was right and I got credit for it.
Otherwise... My Personality Bingo got another makeover. The first icebreaker activity of the week is like my baby and is improved annually. First year, it was a "Personality Scavenger Hunt" where people had to find characteristics in each other that matched the corresponding questions. First person to fill the list wins. Next year, I put the questions on a grid and called it "Personality Bingo". This gave the added thrill of allowing people to shout "BINGO!", and gave me the freedom to shout new requirements, "ONE LINE!" "TWO LINES!" "FULL CARD!". Personality Bingo also had questions tailored to the theme of the week, so that the game wouldn't become redundant for people coming multiple weeks (although there had still been variety, since the group would always differ somewhat between weeks).
This year, we have graphics for the questions, which helps people who have difficulty reading, and we've got special, larger-than-average paper. Personality Bingo has never looked better!
We had a scavenger hunt where people tried to find matches of paper animal cutouts. We played "Four corners of the world" we invented our own islands.... All good stuff.
We needed a filler activity when things were moving ahead of schedule. I dug up a memory of a game where people were sorted into pairs, had to stand opposite of each other and complete shouted commands, meeting in the centre of the room and returning to their side afterwards. Staff didn't know what I was talking about, but asked me if I'd facilitate it. When I was presenting, I said "This is a super fun game, but I don't remember the name of it, so I'm calling it 'the Gryphon Game'" As I explained the rules, someone said "Oh, Huckle Buckle!"
It was Huckle Buckle. Smash hit.
So far everything has gone so smoothly. Even when things don't go according to plan, things just fall together. Reception has been really good this year. I need more pressure. I need more hardship. The Summer Program is supposed to push my limits and force me to rely on my team members, resulting in bonds that can never be replaced. This year kind of feels like I'm just clocking in, chatting with my coworkers, going out on the field, and just completely owning everything flawlessly.
Bus route is a drag, though. In previous years, our Day Program was held a 50 minute bus ride from student housing. This year, I'm living walking distance from the usual Day Program location, but they changed venues, and are now a 50 minute bus ride from my new place. How tragically poetic.
I have to get up so early, I've no way of having it together to make coffee before rushing out the door, and there's no nearby coffee shops at the location that I go. Thought I was going to be forced to break my caffein addiction. But the school has a keurig. Never used one before. When I asked the rest of the staff if using one was hard, the room was full of suppressed laughter. It's supposed to be easier than a drip coffee maker.
So now I know how to brew a K-Cup and my coffee needs are in place again. Hey, did you guys know that dark roast coffee has less caffeine than traditional? Somebody in our staff team that worked at Tim Horton's ruined Dark Roast for me, and made me revisit the idea that my caffeine addiction might be partly psychological. I've been able to call out weak roasts in the past, but dark roast always did it for me. Of course it doesn't anymore. Placebo effect has been ruined.
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Compromisers
We just finished our Summer Program training, and our first official week begins on Monday. Here's a picture of our Summer Program team.
Remember how I said that I moved to change the colour from green to orange? Yeah, well they came out a bit brighter than we were expecting. This is on me.
For our team building activity this year, instead of going to Chicopee and climbing on rock walls and vertical playgrounds, we did Adventure Rooms. This was fine by me, since first year Chicopee ruined me, which inspired me to train and challenge it again next year, doing much better. I felt I'd already got my revenge on Chicopee, and it was satisfying, but I don't need to do it again.
If you don't know what Adventure Rooms are, basically, you're locked in a room with a group of people with one hour to escape. Clues are set all around, and you have to figure out puzzles made with unorthodox equipment to escape. I can't describe what happened in there, because they discourage you from doing so, as it could ruin the experience for someone else.
At the end, they tell you what percentage you completed. We made it 55% of the way to escaping. Sounds bad, but only 20% of groups manage to escape. We were about average.
And then you're required to have your team photo taken, with your team name, and they post it on their Facebook page publicly.
Here's our team pic.
Caption reads, "The Compromisers solved their way through 55% of The Vault."
The reason our team name is The Compromisers, is because our team did a Conflict Resolution Styles test, and all but one ranked as Compromising. The one person who wasn't Compromising ranked Avoiding and she avoided the conflict by taking the name despite it not applying to her.
We've got someone pitching the name "Team Pylon" since the first group to have pylon-coloured shirts, but I don't think she's going to pitch it hard enough to replace "The Compromisers" since it's this established.
The five conflict mediation styles are as such:
It means I'm the best at managing conflict, because I can see both sides of any argument, but I'm the worst for self-doubt because of my inner conflict (should I do what I think is right, or what I feel is right?)
I learned this year that while Green and Blue contrast each other, Gold and Orange contrast each other similarly. Green-Blue is Head vs. Heart, while Gold-Orange is Order vs. Chaos. Green-Gold, Green-Orange, Blue-Gold, and Blue-Orange don't have equivalent struggles.
We did Love Languages too, but for professional environments. This test is for how we prefer to receive appreciation. For anyone who doesn't know, the five categories are Quality Time, Words of Affirmation, Physical, Gift Giving, and Acts of Service. I ranked highest for Words of Affrimation. Usually everyone ranks Quality Time, which is why I find the test boring. This year we were split between Quality Time and Words of Affirmation.
My garden's wrecked. The weeds in the community garden are just so awful. My transplants are doing well (my tomatoes and impatiens) but I only have a few zuchini plants and snow peas, and my sunflowers are completely choked out. They aren't selling vegetable transplants, althought they are still selling flowers. So what am I supposed to do? Grow a flower garden? Amongst all the vegetable growers in the community garden, I'd feel like a rebel.
I'm not even mad. You want to know why? Every year, I've tried to prophesy the coming year based on how my garden did, specifically by my sunflowers. For example, one year, all my sunflowers in Guelph died while I was absent, but one grew in Kitchener, suddenly, and just after news of my other sunflowers fate. I interpreted this to mean "What you plan will fall apart, but you will receive unexpected good fortune in a place you hadn't considered" Yeah no, everything went according to plan that year. I also had a romantic story from my first sunflower, which I don't remember if I shared publicly, but it ended in a reverse outcome as well. And last year, I had seven sunflowers, which was supposed to mean seven fortunes, but instead I got seven hardships.
So I've developed a new theory that life is balanced, and if I experience misfortune in my garden, I will experience the opposite, good fortune in my day-to-day living, to maintain the balance. So this wretched year of gardening should equate to a great year for me!
Remember how I said that I moved to change the colour from green to orange? Yeah, well they came out a bit brighter than we were expecting. This is on me.
For our team building activity this year, instead of going to Chicopee and climbing on rock walls and vertical playgrounds, we did Adventure Rooms. This was fine by me, since first year Chicopee ruined me, which inspired me to train and challenge it again next year, doing much better. I felt I'd already got my revenge on Chicopee, and it was satisfying, but I don't need to do it again.
If you don't know what Adventure Rooms are, basically, you're locked in a room with a group of people with one hour to escape. Clues are set all around, and you have to figure out puzzles made with unorthodox equipment to escape. I can't describe what happened in there, because they discourage you from doing so, as it could ruin the experience for someone else.
At the end, they tell you what percentage you completed. We made it 55% of the way to escaping. Sounds bad, but only 20% of groups manage to escape. We were about average.
And then you're required to have your team photo taken, with your team name, and they post it on their Facebook page publicly.
Here's our team pic.
Caption reads, "The Compromisers solved their way through 55% of The Vault."
The reason our team name is The Compromisers, is because our team did a Conflict Resolution Styles test, and all but one ranked as Compromising. The one person who wasn't Compromising ranked Avoiding and she avoided the conflict by taking the name despite it not applying to her.
We've got someone pitching the name "Team Pylon" since the first group to have pylon-coloured shirts, but I don't think she's going to pitch it hard enough to replace "The Compromisers" since it's this established.
The five conflict mediation styles are as such:
Competing Collaborating
Compromising
Avoiding Accomodating
We do this every year, so I may have mentioned it once or twice before. But the ones on the top are more aggressive, and the ones at the bottom are more passive. The ones on the left are "more about me" and the ones on the right are "more about you"
So Compromising seems like a good balance, but really, each conflict style is important and teams do best when there's a variety of different styles within them. Compromising is "We split the pie" style thinking. It means both parties get part of what they want, but neither gets everything. It's good for short-term solutions.
In my Personality Dimensions test (where people are ranked as Inquiring Green, Authentic Blue, Resourceful Orange, and Organized Gold) I came out as a perfect Green-Blue split! I'm sure I've said it before, but I started out as a hard Green (intellectual) with a distant secondary Blue (empathetic) but my Blue kept creeping up and up on me, until last year it overtook. Since I've always identified as Green, and since I was quite content as a Green-Blue split, which I'd had the year previous, I was worried that my empathetic self would only continue to grow, and my intellectual self continue to fade (which is appropriate for a Social Service Worker, I guess)
But this year I ranked that perfect Green-Blue balance again (I call it turquoise.)
It means I'm the best at managing conflict, because I can see both sides of any argument, but I'm the worst for self-doubt because of my inner conflict (should I do what I think is right, or what I feel is right?)
I learned this year that while Green and Blue contrast each other, Gold and Orange contrast each other similarly. Green-Blue is Head vs. Heart, while Gold-Orange is Order vs. Chaos. Green-Gold, Green-Orange, Blue-Gold, and Blue-Orange don't have equivalent struggles.
We did Love Languages too, but for professional environments. This test is for how we prefer to receive appreciation. For anyone who doesn't know, the five categories are Quality Time, Words of Affirmation, Physical, Gift Giving, and Acts of Service. I ranked highest for Words of Affrimation. Usually everyone ranks Quality Time, which is why I find the test boring. This year we were split between Quality Time and Words of Affirmation.
My garden's wrecked. The weeds in the community garden are just so awful. My transplants are doing well (my tomatoes and impatiens) but I only have a few zuchini plants and snow peas, and my sunflowers are completely choked out. They aren't selling vegetable transplants, althought they are still selling flowers. So what am I supposed to do? Grow a flower garden? Amongst all the vegetable growers in the community garden, I'd feel like a rebel.
I'm not even mad. You want to know why? Every year, I've tried to prophesy the coming year based on how my garden did, specifically by my sunflowers. For example, one year, all my sunflowers in Guelph died while I was absent, but one grew in Kitchener, suddenly, and just after news of my other sunflowers fate. I interpreted this to mean "What you plan will fall apart, but you will receive unexpected good fortune in a place you hadn't considered" Yeah no, everything went according to plan that year. I also had a romantic story from my first sunflower, which I don't remember if I shared publicly, but it ended in a reverse outcome as well. And last year, I had seven sunflowers, which was supposed to mean seven fortunes, but instead I got seven hardships.
So I've developed a new theory that life is balanced, and if I experience misfortune in my garden, I will experience the opposite, good fortune in my day-to-day living, to maintain the balance. So this wretched year of gardening should equate to a great year for me!
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Luck Change
So June 16th was my second "I Choose Dign!ty" rally. I went to my first one two years ago, since the one that was supposed to occur last year was cancelled due to bad weather. If you weren't following me two years ago, the I Choose Dign!ty rally is an event where people who feel that they have not been allotted their fair share of dignity gather. The beginning of the rally begins at Extend-a-Family and continues onto City Hall.
While the rally is organized by an agency that focuses on people diagnosed as having developmental disabilities, it is meant to include anyone who agrees with the message that we are all full human beings and deserving of dignity. In the past, LGBTQ has made the most effort to stand shoulder-by-shoulder with us. This year, we had a woman choosing to wear Hijab make a speech on why she chooses dignity.
For years, I've been told by people that I'm featured on the I Choose Dign!ty brochure, but the image isn't online, so far as I've been able to make of it, and whenever I ask people about it, they seem sure they've got a brochure on hand, check themselves, and realize they don't. When I showed up at the rally, I shared this sentiment with someone I knew, she gestured to a huge billboard-sized image. I was on it.
It's the group image taken from the top of city hall, but since I carry some unusual traits that make me more visible, I guess I caught the attention of a number of people. I was in the middle of saying "Dignity" too, since that's what they were saying instead of "Cheese" and my mouth is positioned accordingly. Coupled with me waving my flag that says "Nobleness" and I just presented as being really into the event.
I chose a flag that says "Worthiness" this year. I'm in the banner again and a number of photos. Not all of them were that flattering.
The person who did my second-year student placement with me at WALES came for the rally. A professor we shared in common was also being thrown a retirement party down the street, so we went their after the rally.
Everything seems to be moving in my direction this summer. In May, everything seemed to be moving against me. Any time things were left to luck, I'd be put in an inconvenienced position, you know? I couldn't even win at Big Game Hunter (wildlife shooter video game).
But this month... I'm doing the program with someone that was doing her 2nd year student placement when I was doing my first. Different girl from last year, if I ever mentioned that. I'm working with someone who did the Summer Program two years back, and another person who did it one year back. So I know all these people, and they each don't know each other.
First day is a workshop on citizenship. We are asked to present what the greatest obstacle for us is in the development of community. Each section of the organization is sitting at different tables. I present the concept of the "Monkey Sphere", which is a concept that people are only capable of perceiving a finite number of others as individuals, and afterwards become a statistic, with large cities making people fall outside the proximity of most people's sphere even though they are in their immediate presence. My group is floored, wants me to present it. I do so, and receive the only applause of all the other groups. The spokeswoman shouts us out throughout nthe workshop after this.
When the group came together next week, we were all assigned the task of developing ice breaker activities. When my boss says the first one will be based on names, I tell him he stole my activity, and so he asks me to lead it. After my explanation, I ask if that's what he was planning and he says it was "So much better"
As an team building activity, my team had to beat another team at building a structure made of spaghetti, string, tape, and a balloon.The other team developed a really strong strategy and my team just messed around, but we took the win.
We were asked what we thought of the deep green shirt colour that the Summer Program has used in previous years. Everyone agreed it was great. I shared a concern that it was similar to other program colours, and so now we're using a deep orange.
We had to build a castle out of material such as construction paper, balloons, popsicle stick etc. Me and one other person were requested to be stationary while other members rotated. My castle won.
I got asked to help in leading an Extend-a-Family history workshop. I got asked to lead parachute games.
Last season odds were against me and it was proper to play safe. This year things are in my favour and I should probably make strong movements.
While the rally is organized by an agency that focuses on people diagnosed as having developmental disabilities, it is meant to include anyone who agrees with the message that we are all full human beings and deserving of dignity. In the past, LGBTQ has made the most effort to stand shoulder-by-shoulder with us. This year, we had a woman choosing to wear Hijab make a speech on why she chooses dignity.
For years, I've been told by people that I'm featured on the I Choose Dign!ty brochure, but the image isn't online, so far as I've been able to make of it, and whenever I ask people about it, they seem sure they've got a brochure on hand, check themselves, and realize they don't. When I showed up at the rally, I shared this sentiment with someone I knew, she gestured to a huge billboard-sized image. I was on it.
It's the group image taken from the top of city hall, but since I carry some unusual traits that make me more visible, I guess I caught the attention of a number of people. I was in the middle of saying "Dignity" too, since that's what they were saying instead of "Cheese" and my mouth is positioned accordingly. Coupled with me waving my flag that says "Nobleness" and I just presented as being really into the event.
I chose a flag that says "Worthiness" this year. I'm in the banner again and a number of photos. Not all of them were that flattering.
The person who did my second-year student placement with me at WALES came for the rally. A professor we shared in common was also being thrown a retirement party down the street, so we went their after the rally.
Everything seems to be moving in my direction this summer. In May, everything seemed to be moving against me. Any time things were left to luck, I'd be put in an inconvenienced position, you know? I couldn't even win at Big Game Hunter (wildlife shooter video game).
But this month... I'm doing the program with someone that was doing her 2nd year student placement when I was doing my first. Different girl from last year, if I ever mentioned that. I'm working with someone who did the Summer Program two years back, and another person who did it one year back. So I know all these people, and they each don't know each other.
First day is a workshop on citizenship. We are asked to present what the greatest obstacle for us is in the development of community. Each section of the organization is sitting at different tables. I present the concept of the "Monkey Sphere", which is a concept that people are only capable of perceiving a finite number of others as individuals, and afterwards become a statistic, with large cities making people fall outside the proximity of most people's sphere even though they are in their immediate presence. My group is floored, wants me to present it. I do so, and receive the only applause of all the other groups. The spokeswoman shouts us out throughout nthe workshop after this.
When the group came together next week, we were all assigned the task of developing ice breaker activities. When my boss says the first one will be based on names, I tell him he stole my activity, and so he asks me to lead it. After my explanation, I ask if that's what he was planning and he says it was "So much better"
As an team building activity, my team had to beat another team at building a structure made of spaghetti, string, tape, and a balloon.The other team developed a really strong strategy and my team just messed around, but we took the win.
We were asked what we thought of the deep green shirt colour that the Summer Program has used in previous years. Everyone agreed it was great. I shared a concern that it was similar to other program colours, and so now we're using a deep orange.
We had to build a castle out of material such as construction paper, balloons, popsicle stick etc. Me and one other person were requested to be stationary while other members rotated. My castle won.
I got asked to help in leading an Extend-a-Family history workshop. I got asked to lead parachute games.
Last season odds were against me and it was proper to play safe. This year things are in my favour and I should probably make strong movements.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Bridges
This is going to be difficult to explain.
So I'm not with Facile anymore. Or at least, I was with Facile for its full run, but they've changed their name to Bridges to Belonging, and I didn't cross that Bridge from Facile to Belonging.
It's a good choice in name change. "Facile" is the French word for easy. I think they used it because "Facile" sounds like "facilitation" and facilitation should "make things easy". Unfortunately, facilitation is not really intended to make things easy, and actually, it should present challenges.
In England, the term "Facile" might mean, "to make so simple it is ridiculous". Considering the population that I serve, and the stigmatization they often, it might be seen that a change in vocabulary was overdue.
I first came on when there was a need for new workers because of a sudden influx in funding from something called the Independent Facilitation Demonstration Project (IFDP). This was a project funded by the government to assess how valuable independent facilitation was for the populations we serve. Before this project was put into place, Facile operated on a "fee for service" basis, people paying out of pocket for a service they knew they agreed with.
With the introduction of the new fiscal year, there were some severe funding cuts to people in the IFDP, and five of my six people were effected.
So guess what I'm doing this summer?
That's right! The Extend-a-Family Summer Program! Before me and my Facile supervisor spoke on ending my partnership with the organization, I had already within a week been offered and declined the Summer Program position. I was like "Love you guys, but I'm way too old and busy and successful to do this job"
A week later and I'm like "Hey... any chance there's any room in that old Summer Program?"
I picked up some independent support contracts to tide me over until the summer program begins, and I still have my Extend-a-Family people. Even if I don't have much planned until after, this Summer I will be even busier than last year.
So I'm not with Facile anymore. Or at least, I was with Facile for its full run, but they've changed their name to Bridges to Belonging, and I didn't cross that Bridge from Facile to Belonging.
It's a good choice in name change. "Facile" is the French word for easy. I think they used it because "Facile" sounds like "facilitation" and facilitation should "make things easy". Unfortunately, facilitation is not really intended to make things easy, and actually, it should present challenges.
In England, the term "Facile" might mean, "to make so simple it is ridiculous". Considering the population that I serve, and the stigmatization they often, it might be seen that a change in vocabulary was overdue.
I first came on when there was a need for new workers because of a sudden influx in funding from something called the Independent Facilitation Demonstration Project (IFDP). This was a project funded by the government to assess how valuable independent facilitation was for the populations we serve. Before this project was put into place, Facile operated on a "fee for service" basis, people paying out of pocket for a service they knew they agreed with.
With the introduction of the new fiscal year, there were some severe funding cuts to people in the IFDP, and five of my six people were effected.
So guess what I'm doing this summer?
That's right! The Extend-a-Family Summer Program! Before me and my Facile supervisor spoke on ending my partnership with the organization, I had already within a week been offered and declined the Summer Program position. I was like "Love you guys, but I'm way too old and busy and successful to do this job"
A week later and I'm like "Hey... any chance there's any room in that old Summer Program?"
I picked up some independent support contracts to tide me over until the summer program begins, and I still have my Extend-a-Family people. Even if I don't have much planned until after, this Summer I will be even busier than last year.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Driver's Training
My brother has been accepted into the University of Guelph! You know what this means, right? This means that my brother is a Guelph Gryphon!
(I've spoken on how the U of G's mascot is the Guelph Gryphon, how people think I'm named after a sports team, and only in Guelph do people spell my name correctly, right?)
He's taking a general program with focuses in computer programming, English, and biodiversity studies.
(I've spoken on how the U of G's mascot is the Guelph Gryphon, how people think I'm named after a sports team, and only in Guelph do people spell my name correctly, right?)
He's taking a general program with focuses in computer programming, English, and biodiversity studies.
Also, I'm taking driver's training! It's been... four years since I was behind the wheel of a vehicle. Pretty sure I was blogging about it back then. I learned to drive from my grandfather in a pickup truck out in Canadian Shield country. I went for my G2, but according to my instructor, while I hadn't made any disqualifying errors, I'd made an "accumulation of minor ones" disqualifying me. I was a little salty over the vagueness of that reasoning.
I was worried about driving in a normal car. I was worried it would be way more sensitive than what I was used to, and that it would be difficult to adjust. I was also worried about learning to drive in a large-ish city, compared to the small towns I was used to. For comparison, where I'm learning now is referred to as the "tri-city" while the nearest city I drove in when I was learning before is called the "tri-town". When my instructor first showed up, he was like "Hey, have you ever driven, would you like to drive?" in one breath. I was impressed that he was willing to sit in a car with someone when he didn't even know if it might be their first time.
He said my steering and my confidence were good, which I appreciated because my confidence was NOT GOOD. At one point, I was driving and he asked me if I worked in the area. I was so focused on the roads, I wasn't really taking in landmarks. I looked at a few street names and said "No, why?" He said "You seem familiar with the area". I then realized we were in the area where I used to live, in our interim place between student housing and where I'm at now. I thought it was cool that he could tell I was familiar with an area based on my driving, even though my brain was too focused on the technicals of the area to register my general environment.
I hate driving around children. They're such a combination of fragility, unpredictability, and value. Some kids were playing in the road and my instructor said "Don't worry about the children" I gave him kind of an exhasperated laugh in return and he responded "These are Canadian children, they are accustomed to being around traffic".
At one point, I was driving around some children, an older couple walking a dog, and a mother with a baby carriage. My instructor was just like "Don't worry about anything", probably picking up on the fact that I was worrying about everything.
I thought he was talking up my competence to boost my confidence, but then he suggested I downgrade to a bundle with half the lessons at almost half price, saying that he'd be robbing me otherwise.
These driving schools are funny. I was looking up Google reviews on local driving schools, and it seems like each driving school only has one or two instructors. Mine is a chain, but there are schools like "Mary's Driving School" and "Sarah's Driving Academy" in which Mary and Sarah are literally the only instructors for their respective schools. Even my school has reviews referencing only two different instructors. Each school picks you up, too, so it doesn't matter the location so long as you're in the right city.
My instructor has his students finish their lesson by dropping off the next student at their house. So I get to deliver someone home, and then someone delivers me at the end of the day. I've only seen female students other than myself. Why is this? Men don't take driver's training? I'm in a female-dominant population again, it seems...
Edit: WHOAAAAA, this is my 666th post! This is the blog entry of THE BEAST!
I was worried about driving in a normal car. I was worried it would be way more sensitive than what I was used to, and that it would be difficult to adjust. I was also worried about learning to drive in a large-ish city, compared to the small towns I was used to. For comparison, where I'm learning now is referred to as the "tri-city" while the nearest city I drove in when I was learning before is called the "tri-town". When my instructor first showed up, he was like "Hey, have you ever driven, would you like to drive?" in one breath. I was impressed that he was willing to sit in a car with someone when he didn't even know if it might be their first time.
He said my steering and my confidence were good, which I appreciated because my confidence was NOT GOOD. At one point, I was driving and he asked me if I worked in the area. I was so focused on the roads, I wasn't really taking in landmarks. I looked at a few street names and said "No, why?" He said "You seem familiar with the area". I then realized we were in the area where I used to live, in our interim place between student housing and where I'm at now. I thought it was cool that he could tell I was familiar with an area based on my driving, even though my brain was too focused on the technicals of the area to register my general environment.
I hate driving around children. They're such a combination of fragility, unpredictability, and value. Some kids were playing in the road and my instructor said "Don't worry about the children" I gave him kind of an exhasperated laugh in return and he responded "These are Canadian children, they are accustomed to being around traffic".
At one point, I was driving around some children, an older couple walking a dog, and a mother with a baby carriage. My instructor was just like "Don't worry about anything", probably picking up on the fact that I was worrying about everything.
I thought he was talking up my competence to boost my confidence, but then he suggested I downgrade to a bundle with half the lessons at almost half price, saying that he'd be robbing me otherwise.
These driving schools are funny. I was looking up Google reviews on local driving schools, and it seems like each driving school only has one or two instructors. Mine is a chain, but there are schools like "Mary's Driving School" and "Sarah's Driving Academy" in which Mary and Sarah are literally the only instructors for their respective schools. Even my school has reviews referencing only two different instructors. Each school picks you up, too, so it doesn't matter the location so long as you're in the right city.
My instructor has his students finish their lesson by dropping off the next student at their house. So I get to deliver someone home, and then someone delivers me at the end of the day. I've only seen female students other than myself. Why is this? Men don't take driver's training? I'm in a female-dominant population again, it seems...
Edit: WHOAAAAA, this is my 666th post! This is the blog entry of THE BEAST!
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Crowne Plaza
This weekend, I'm been at the Crowne Plaza! It's one of the swankier hotels in Kitchener. It has its own pool, hot tub, sauna, exercise room, ping pong tables, mini golf, bowling, arcade and more!
I know it sounds odd that I would spend a weekend at a hotel in the city that I live in. It's work related.
I did wind up getting a plot in a community garden. Not the one I was after, though. This one's a bit of a hike out, but whatever. I've planted snow peas, sunflowers, zucchinis, cherry tomatoes, and impatiens. The impatiens are to attract bees, since I learned that the reason my zucchini plants always flower but don't often turn into zucchinis is because there aren't enough bees to help cross polinate. So I decided to get a flower that is more consistent to establish it as a hot spot for bees.
My phone broke. One day my phone just wouldn't power on. I always thought it would meet its end due to something charger related, but instead it just started freezing on the front screen. So I brought it in, and the guy said it was just done. If I'd been able to have it last until November, I would have gotten a new one for free, so I was disappointed. Still, the length it lasted put it down to $75 on a phone that is usually over $200.
I remembered an interaction I had with a guy at the bus terminal. He'd asked for $3 for a bus. I gave it to him and he held out a phone. I said "What is this?" He said "For the $3", I said "You don't have to give me your phone, man", he said "I don't take charity", I said "Fine, but I'd give you the $3 regardless". I then accepted his phone and he offered to give me his autograph, which I also accepted.
So I wondered if this phone might actually work, and if I could just put the SIM card of my old phone into it. I charged it, powered it on, was surprised it was a fully functioning phone, with his contact list, a working calendar and other basic apps, and could work as timepiece. It wouldn't recognize my SIM card though. I wondered if it was because my phone was an android and his a Blackberry (no wonder he was selling it for $3 amiright?). I lamented over a memory of a woman on the street in crisis trying to sell me an Alcatel (same make as my phone) for $20. I didn't take it because it seemed kind of exploitative and I didn't realize you could transfer a SIM at that time.
So I had to go buy one. Even though I had to pay the $75, they soothed that pain by giving me a $100 gift certificate.
So really, the Blackberry was not the cheapest phone I've owned.
My flip was $60.
My Alcatel was free.
My Blackberry was $3.
And they gave me $25 for my Samsung.
This thing is beautiful. It pulls up the keypad on outgoing calls. so I can dial extensions now (shouldn't be a selling point, but after the past year and a half, it is). I just plug it in to charge it. The screen is even larger, and it can go for days without charging. The battery will likely weaken, but the Alcatel was always a daily charge, so it has a better starting point.
I know it sounds odd that I would spend a weekend at a hotel in the city that I live in. It's work related.
I did wind up getting a plot in a community garden. Not the one I was after, though. This one's a bit of a hike out, but whatever. I've planted snow peas, sunflowers, zucchinis, cherry tomatoes, and impatiens. The impatiens are to attract bees, since I learned that the reason my zucchini plants always flower but don't often turn into zucchinis is because there aren't enough bees to help cross polinate. So I decided to get a flower that is more consistent to establish it as a hot spot for bees.
My phone broke. One day my phone just wouldn't power on. I always thought it would meet its end due to something charger related, but instead it just started freezing on the front screen. So I brought it in, and the guy said it was just done. If I'd been able to have it last until November, I would have gotten a new one for free, so I was disappointed. Still, the length it lasted put it down to $75 on a phone that is usually over $200.
I remembered an interaction I had with a guy at the bus terminal. He'd asked for $3 for a bus. I gave it to him and he held out a phone. I said "What is this?" He said "For the $3", I said "You don't have to give me your phone, man", he said "I don't take charity", I said "Fine, but I'd give you the $3 regardless". I then accepted his phone and he offered to give me his autograph, which I also accepted.
So I wondered if this phone might actually work, and if I could just put the SIM card of my old phone into it. I charged it, powered it on, was surprised it was a fully functioning phone, with his contact list, a working calendar and other basic apps, and could work as timepiece. It wouldn't recognize my SIM card though. I wondered if it was because my phone was an android and his a Blackberry (no wonder he was selling it for $3 amiright?). I lamented over a memory of a woman on the street in crisis trying to sell me an Alcatel (same make as my phone) for $20. I didn't take it because it seemed kind of exploitative and I didn't realize you could transfer a SIM at that time.
So I had to go buy one. Even though I had to pay the $75, they soothed that pain by giving me a $100 gift certificate.
So really, the Blackberry was not the cheapest phone I've owned.
My flip was $60.
My Alcatel was free.
My Blackberry was $3.
And they gave me $25 for my Samsung.
This thing is beautiful. It pulls up the keypad on outgoing calls. so I can dial extensions now (shouldn't be a selling point, but after the past year and a half, it is). I just plug it in to charge it. The screen is even larger, and it can go for days without charging. The battery will likely weaken, but the Alcatel was always a daily charge, so it has a better starting point.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)