13 posts tagged “work”

Okay so there's a lot that's happened.

I moved res buildings. This one is... much better than my old one haha. Not that I won't be happy to be back there in September. Especially after living in the suburbs for July and August. Um so yeah this building is so confusing, but I love to explore, so it's fun.

Work is a-mazing. I love working with kids, seriously. And every time it's gone so well. The kids are good, the workshop works out well, and I get good reviews from the teachers. I worked in my mom's school today, actually. She wasn't there, but the Grade 8 teacher booked me. I was really dreading this particular workshop because a) he was clearly going to report right back to my mom, and b) it's like the most boring, confusing workshop. But it worked out fine! Great even! DESPITE the fact that my materials crate was missing a crucial component. I just made up a replacement part and it went off without a hitch. It was amazing, and even though I'm pretty much burned out from low sleep and early mornings (at work at 6:45 today!), I am just so happy.

Yesterday, I seriously couldn't stop thinking "I think my life is perfect. My life is perfect." And I can feel that even though I know there are things I want but don't have. It doesn't make me too much less happy. I've realized that it isn't not having something that makes one sad, but rather the thought that not having that thing ought to make one sad. When I did that project in Grade 12 on happiness, the one main message was that it's all how you look at things - you make your own meaning and happiness. So like... yeah an outsider wouldn't say my life is perfect, but from the inside it is (I assure you).

Speaking of things I want but can't have, I helped my friend Samurai apply for an instructor position with my camp later in the summer. He wouldn't be working in the same place as me though, which is good because well, straight up, I'm kind of in love with him. Not actually love, mind you, but I don't want to say "like", because it's way too high school. Now if only he'd break up with his boyfriend. Which, objectively, I don't really want, because I think they're much better for each other than he and I would be. So. I'm pretty sure a lot of my annoyingly persistent interest in him is based in the fact that I barely even know any guys, so. Uh not many options. And as I said, I'm pretty content anyway, so I'm not really going to go looking.

Speaking of high school (yeah it's back there), I saw American Teen last night. For free. I'm pretty sure that in some location in the city, at any given time, there is something cool and free to do. And eat. For sure. Um but yeah the movie was really good. Though.. the director was there, and she said that she tried to avoid the sort of typical stereotypes... which she didn't do at all. But yeah it was still really good.

Okay so there's a lot that's happened.

I moved res buildings. This one is... much better than my old one haha. Not that I won't be happy to be back there in September. Especially after living in the suburbs for July and August. Um so yeah this building is so confusing, but I love to explore, so it's fun.

Work is a-mazing. I love working with kids, seriously. And every time it's gone so well. The kids are good, the workshop works out well, and I get good reviews from the teachers. I worked in my mom's school today, actually. She wasn't there, but the Grade 8 teacher booked me. I was really dreading this particular workshop because a) he was clearly going to report right back to my mom, and b) it's like the most boring, confusing workshop. But it worked out fine! Great even! DESPITE the fact that my materials crate was missing a crucial component. I just made up a replacement part and it went off without a hitch. It was amazing, and even though I'm pretty much burned out from low sleep and early mornings (at work at 6:45 today!), I am just so happy.

Yesterday, I seriously couldn't stop thinking "I think my life is perfect. My life is perfect." And I can feel that even though I know there are things I want but don't have. It doesn't make me too much less happy. I've realized that it isn't not having something that makes one sad, but rather the thought that not having that thing ought to make one sad. When I did that project in Grade 12 on happiness, the one main message was that it's all how you look at things - you make your own meaning and happiness. So like... yeah an outsider wouldn't say my life is perfect, but from the inside it is (I assure you).

Speaking of things I want but can't have, I helped my friend Samurai apply for an instructor position with my camp later in the summer. He wouldn't be working in the same place as me though, which is good because well, straight up, I'm kind of in love with him. Not actually love, mind you, but I don't want to say "like", because it's way too high school. Now if only he'd break up with his boyfriend. Which, objectively, I don't really want, because I think they're much better for each other than he and I would be. So. I'm pretty sure a lot of my annoyingly persistent interest in him is based in the fact that I barely even know any guys, so. Uh not many options. And as I said, I'm pretty content anyway, so I'm not really going to go looking.

Speaking of high school (yeah it's back there), I saw American Teen last night. For free. I'm pretty sure that in some location in the city, at any given time, there is something cool and free to do. And eat. For sure. Um but yeah the movie was really good. Though.. the director was there, and she said that she tried to avoid the sort of typical stereotypes... which she didn't do at all. But yeah it was still really good.

Today for work I had to man a station at a science carnival. Despite a day long of standing, it was quite fun. Besides, the post office got me tolerant to 8 hours of standing, so I'm okay with it. So basically, all day I made magic mud and showed it to kids.

Mmm... Everyone's moved out of res except for a few friends. And my building's being shut down for the summer, so I have to move to another one. But that room isn't ready yet, so I'm waiting in this room... one of like 3 people left in this half of the building. The whole thing's so... post-apocalyptic. Doors are swinging open, everything's empty. In the common area, everything's sitting oddly skewed. There are half-finished glasses of iced tea, and plates sitting out with the skeletal remains of a last chicken dinner. Everyone forgot the food they left in the common fridge. It's as if everyone just up and left. Which is kind of what actually happened. It doesn't help that the move-out deadline was in the middle of my work shift, so I left for work and there was still a community here, and when I came back... just me and my friend Izzy. We're hanging out in one of the open buildings, because it's pretty darn depressing here.

Not that there were that many people here last night. Like.... 8 of my friends from res were left last night. We went out for dinner, and when we came back, I commented "Hey guys, aren't you kind of expecting to be greeted by a bunch of people in the common room.... It's just us..." Sigh...

That being said, I'm really ready for the good times this summer. I thought I would dread cooking for myself, but we're all getting kind of excited planning meals and going grocery shopping. I doubt we'll be so excited after the first several meals, but we'll see.... Darn I wish I could stay the whole summer..

I finally went book shopping today. Walking down the street... I felt like time was going slower. Everyone was walking slower. I'm done... I'm not rushing anywhere. It's warm... no one's hurrying to get inside.

It's going to be fun.

RIP Venus Flytrap.

However! I am done exams. Done first year, done..... donedonedone. Hah! I'm happy.

But sad. Everyone's moving out. It's like... camp is over :-(. And some people will come back to camp next summer, but some people won't. And we'll all miss each other in between.

I start work tomorrrrrowwww. Bah. Too soon! Too soon!

My Venus Flytrap is dying. I don't know exactly what happened, but in one day, all of its mature traps died. It started putting up a new one, but then it just stopped growing and began to brown. I checked the bulb - I may be imagining it, but I think it's darkening too. Siiiigh. And I just thought it was starting to do well...

I guess it lasted a good 4 months, and they're notoriously hard to grow. For such a tiny damn plant... I'm not yet giving up on this one, but I may start looking for a new one. My third one. Do you know what happened to the first? I LOST IT. I lost a plant. It happened when I moved out of res for winter break. Somewhere in all the packing up it vanished - when I got home and noticed it missing I assumed I left it, but then I went back to my dorm to check and it wasn't there either. I have no clue what happened to it. Maybe it ran away?

The point is, going into Botany is looking increasingly questionable. I've had 4 plants this year - lost one, froze another, and seem to be killing a third.

On a positive note, my jade plant looks dandy! For now.

Also positive note: 4/5 exams complete. 4 days to freedom. And by freedom I mean starting work the next day.

Last week's training for science camp was a bit boring... pedagogy and stuff like that. And I was dreading another two days of it this weekend.

But it turned out so much better!! Turns out we'd put all the paperwork and lecturing behind, and so we spent two 8-hour days going through all the activities we'd do with the kids. So that meant that I got to build a rollercoaster out of tubing, and cars with dowels and cardboard, and make a hydraulic marble maze, and windmills, and cars, and cranes, and bridges out of newspaper, and blow bubbles, and extract DNA, and take fingerprints, and type blood, and build a castle, and make cardboard box guitars, and send coded messages, and make a working stoplight.

Phew. And it was a bit tiring. And because of that... I really didn't do any homework last night. Whoops, see you late tonight, chem lab!

It was completely fun though. We were sitting in groups around tables, using scissors and glue... I even brought a lunchbox today! It was like being in elementary school all over again.

I also had a bit of a child-like accident... they had just finished telling us how important it was to emphasize safety to the kids... and I kind of sliced my thumb open on the scissors. It was more embarassing than anything else. Though not really.

Also, I got the phone call today that I get to be a Frosh Leader for my house next year. Yay reliving frosh over again! With a bit more work... Man it seems weird but I miss being exhausted and dead thirsty and always on the go from that week.

Today was the Clear Brightness Festival, which is supposed to be for going outside and enjoying the spring greenery, which is exactly what I felt like doing today. Unfortunately.... the ancient Chinese didn't plan for the amount of coursework I would have, nor the wet weather we had today. Oh it's also for sweeping graves, and I didn't really feel like that.

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the rain, because I always do. I mentioned this in our Common Room, and someone said "That's because you're a plant." Which is sort of true, in that I like rain because I know it means fertility and growth. "April showers bring May flowers", as they say.

Blah blah blah and I'll be inside for all tomorrow and Sunday thanks to job training.

Spring is totally here. Yesterday was damn warm! For a while. And today was beautifully clear but not cold!

But spring means something sad... the end of the year! I had my last Chem lab, my last Calc lecture.... :-(. This year has been so amazing. I've never felt so happy and fulfilled, really. I love my life. High school was... not an accurate model of the real world, and I am so glad. Ah!

That being said, I am totally looking forward to the near future. My job seems awesome, I get to live downtown for half of the summer, and frosh next year and meeting tonnes of new people will be super.

But yeah... first year is nearly done (only exams really.... yay), and I'm 1/4 done my undergrad. Stay back, adult life!

Man I love walking. On Saturday night I did this walk home from a party:

Granted, it was a little on the irresponsible side because it was 1:00 am. But Toronto is awesome at night. Bloor was happenin'! It was very refreshing, and it was mostly downhill (towards the lake, you know), so it took ~45 minutes. There was a bit of jogging. Just got itching to get going at some parts. I went for another walk today. Short though. I wanted to get out to some parks to the east, but I went with a friend who just wanted a quick break, so I didn't drag her along for something especially involveddd....

Things I planned to accomplish tonight:
- cleaning my room
- three pieces of homework
- laundry

Actual accomplishments:
- sitting in front of the TV
- lurking the internet
- going out for cake with friends (futures!)

The last one made it valid. And I half cleaned my room.

I finally bought myself a májiàng set. $40, which is not bad... nice good-sized tiles I guess. So yeah got a lot of people playing last night, drinking soup, and having a good time until the small hours of the morning. It's surprisingly addictive, and easier than you expect to learn. And everyone seems to want to, though usually they think it's the same as on the computer, but that's mahjong solitaire. Whereas the actual game requires 4 people - which is one of the benefits, since it gets everyone together! I brought my set home for easter, and everyone in the family is pretty hooked.

Oh the one thing is that the box smells like formaldehyde, which is a little off-putting.

I got the science camp job. Which is good except that it takes up 2 complete weekends for training, and I really really can't afford that considering I'm already wading in backlogged homework. But I guess that just means lots of late nights at the libraryyyyy.

Ai...

Oh well. I have like.... 3 more weeks of school. Ho-ly! And then exams for a month....

Man sometimes life just comes at you all at once.

They always tell us, "Don't put off work to study during midterms." And that's really hard to avoid, and I did it, and I thought it'd be no problem to catch up, but it just keeps coming and coming. And if I get this job, I don't just have to catch up, I have to be ahead, because I have to throw away two weekends for training. And I need weekends for coursework.

Good events, however: Last night at the newspaper, the Politics editor wasn't going to show, so I got put in charge of the section. It was kind of a shame, though - I started off with 4 pages, then Opinion ate one, then I had to give up another because a long article I was counting on never showwwwed. Oh well, there ended up being a good collage on that page. This issue is going to be awesome.

Too bad the presses are kind of broken.

Oh, and related to a comment-conversation I was having recently, at the production night, some of the American ex-pats on staff were discussing how pot is a "big deal" in America compared with here.

Also, Americans use "AIM" instead of MSN.

Okay so that was one good thing. Another good thing... Uhh today was pi day so we ate pie. Wikipedia actually has Pi Day in its "On this day..." section, which is where they have holidays. And historical events.