The Times and Tribulations of JY: May 2006

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Finally, A Sunny Day

YAY! The sun is out!! Its been forever since I've seen it. Hopefully it sticks around .. but it's doubtful :P

Anyways, I celebrated my birthday this past Sunday. It was a pretty quiet time.. stayed home for the large part of the day .. did some chores and basically not much else. It wasn't bad. I didn't really have any expectations for people to remember so I was pleasantly surprised to receive messages (though I think it's mostly because of some birthday reminder thing...). Perhaps I didn't really care because I knew all the effort my parents were putting in to make a bunch of food for me.. :D That or I'm starting to go into Birthday denial because of my age.

Headed back to Ottawa this Sunday. There is SOOOOOOOOOOoooooo much to do!! My courses are a huge weight and I've also got to get myself organized to move. Besides packing, I've got to deal with cancelling a bunch of accounts (though that shouldn't be too difficult). Ahhh!! I should probably also try to get my brain into job search mode too. Job serach mode as in any type of job, not just teaching. I've been still applying for those but have had absolutely NO luck. :(

Went to watch Over the Hedge last night. It's pretty funny! The animation is really well done. Definitely worth watching. There is another animation coming out (who knows when) that also looks pretty good though I can't remember the plot.. I just remember laughing at it.. heheheh :P
Sounds retarded, I know. I really got to work on my memory :P (I heard that good memory just requires that you train your brain, but since I'm so lazy......)

Alright, I have to go. Must do work again. Ciao!

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

51++ More to Go..

I'm sitting here (while it's pouring outside) going through my online course work, reading one post at a time. So far, the folder I'm under, I still have 51 more posts to read. Mind you, this does not include 2 or 3 other folders I should get through plus my other course.. GAH. I find myself freaking out at times at the thought of the amount of reading I have to catch up on (and also, the amount of posting and writing I've got to get moving on!!!!!!). SIGH

Anyhow, the bus ride from Ottawa over the weekend was excrutiatingly painful. I'm not sure whether it was because I was drifting in and out of consciousness (sleeping) and because we were travelling through the night or whether it was the smell of people's B.O. or whether it was just because it's uncomfortable ...you get my point. I'm wondering whether I can take the plane back..... hmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!

Now that I'm back, I realize how much I miss summers in F'ton. Even at home, looking out at the backyard, I can't get over how GREEN it is back there.. its sooo beautiful and peaceful. At night, you can hear SILENCE, in the morning, you hear the sounds of birds chirping and the noise of children heading to school. Lately, as I've been driving around, I've been trying to imagine what tourists perceive F'ton to be when they come. It must look like such a small, cute, and pretty city. I shall greatly miss this place when we move.. :( (in fact, all this makes me wonder whether I should move back here :P .. at least I can see why people move back here after they've spent years living and working in bigger cities)

It's hard to believe that I'll be growing a year older next week.. err.. I mean this coming week.. whatever. Gee.. when did it come so close to my birthday!? Speaking of such, I'd like to wish my fellow May Birthday geeks Happy Birthday:
- Jeff
- Yeoh
- Chris (even though he has no idea this blog exists because he knows me as Irene :P...heheh)
- Karen
- Yew Chian
- And everyone else who was born in this lovely month! (If I've missed you, I'm probably not aware your birthday is in May, so you should tell me so I can celebrate another May person!!!)

While I am at it, I'd also like to congratulate my friends who are graduating this year (yuppi! you did it!!!):
- Jeff
- Matt
- Crystal
- Nancy
- Elizabeth
- Zau
- Pond
- Leon

Alright, enough procrastinating. This is NOT getting me anywhere!!

Ciao!
JY

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Lots to Do and Plan

It's suppose to be calmer these days! When I think of all the things I need to do, I start to get all tense. Take this morning for example. In the middle of slowly coming to consciousness, a thought popped into my head: I have an assignment due on May 13th which is THIS WEEK. GEE. I thought it was a few weeks from now!! Dang it. More things to do.

On top of my two courses (which take a lot of time keeping up to date - there are some people who seem to live on the website because you can not visit for one day and there will be 30 new posts waiting to be read.. arggg), I'm in the middle of trying to clean up the apartment (we have our pre-move out inspection tomorrow and I'm presuming they will be showing the unit in the next month or so), pack, apply for jobs, and figure out what I'm going to do in terms of living accomodations. Furniture is also another issue. What to do with it ..

Anyhow, I've decided to move in with one of my friends who are living in a house. There are two places I could move into so I've yet to talk to them to figure everything out. Most of them are telling me not to sign a lease since I've no idea where I'll be in the next few months. Man, I hate living in Limbo - me, the obsessive planner!!

I'm planning to head back to Fton this week for about 2 weeks. Stay there for Mother's Day (oh wow.. it's this Sunday isn't it?) and probably for my Birthday as well. I'll have to be back in time for EQAO (provincial testing) as I told my associate teacher that I'd help out during the last week of May. (Last week of May.. gee.. I'm already having a hard time processing that March is finished and that April has said Bye-bye.. don't ask me to say So long to May yet!!!!).

Speaking of flying time, next month is convocation. Actually, by this time next month I will be graduated and Teacher's College will be completely behind me. I don't think I'll be certified yet though. *SIGH*. Anyway, back to convocation. It's a bit different here at Ottawa U than it was at UNB. We are having our ceremony at the National Arts Centre (NAC) and mine is in the evening. I've heard that it's a long ceremony... *yea*. On top of that, we have to have tickets (yes, they will actually check them) so we can only invite 5 guests. Hmm.. that really limits things but I guess it's better than only 2 guests. I'm not really all that excited for convocation actually.. I'm not sure why. Actually, I think it's the thought of sitting through 3 hours of preaching and blabbing that makes me want to groan and stay at home (hehehe.. that rhymes!!)
Alright, I'd better go. Time for a tiny nap and more work. Ciao!

Saturday, May 06, 2006

The Moments I've Been Waiting For

WOHO! It's finally here - I've been waiting for at least 3 years for this! TULIP FESTIVAL!!
I must be crazy! Yesterday afternoon, a bunch of us walked along the canal towards Dow's Lake where part of the Tulip Festival is held. It was a cloudy afternoon so it wasn't the most ideal time to be there and many of the tulips haven't opened yet but it was still a gorgeous sight - I was on such a high the whole time (my cheekbones were sort of sore when we left due to all that grinning).

I sort of expected more festival-ish atmosphere but I guess since it was 1- a weekday and 2- the 2nd day of the festival there wasn't too much of that. I'm planning to go back on either Monday or Tuesday to see if I can get some better shots. It's been so long since I've photographed flowers that I've forgotten how to use the settings! Anyways, I've posted a few of the more decent shots (as you can see).

The workshop finally finished on Thursday. We got out around 1:30 which was such a relief! That workshop was all about how we can create a community like atmosphere in our classrooms through something called "Tribes". It's a very big thing now in North America. I was a bit sceptical when I first started but I can see how it would work - although I'm not altogether convinced that it's THAT powerful. It's too hard to judge since I've no class to experiment on :P Anyhow, the only thing that drove me nuts was all those interactive whole group activities. I think one big thing was that the group was just too large. By the time we were on to person number 10, I was feeling like "OK HURRY IT UP ALREADY!!!!!!" (that's patience for ya! I don't think I'd be like this for children, just adults pretending to be kids :P)

This year, we had sooooo many "interactive activities" that are what our students would be doing (I mean, come'on, how old are we? As if we can't imagine what it would be like for the students??). If we had a presentation and the group wanted to make it interesting, they would throw in an "interactive activity". Bah humbug! It was all fun for people in Drama but maaan it was sometimes painful for me.

This reminds me of one particular day during phys ed where a group was going to teach us "hip hop". Gag me please. The memory still gives me goosebumbs. Anyhow, we were all forced to participate and there was quite a tense atmosphere in the class. We had to do a bunch of girating movements and shake this and that (SIGH). To make matters worse, they decided that they would divide the class into two. One group would perform for the other and vice versa. THEN, to be REALLY NASTY, they were going to VIDEO TAPE us!!!!!!!!!!!! !~@_)#(!@_)#(!@_#)(!@#(*& Have they not learned anything in teachers college - UH, HELLO, the concept of creating a safe learning environment is WHAT?!?!?!!? Anyhow, I was pretty pissed off when they announced that but still went through with it. Yes, half of you are laughing your heads off thinking of ME, JY, trying to hip hop dance. YA.. it wasn't a pretty sight and I do not care to say anymore :P

Well, that just brought down my mood! OK. Better stop being so negative :P
I'm really blogging right now because I'm procrastinating. I'm suppose to be reading my notes for my Spec Ed class so that I can make a posting online. Gah.. so much work! SO much reading, posting, reading .. and that's not including my assignments :( I hope I can keep up!!!

Back to work! Later People!

Tulip Festival 2006

Millions of Tulips

Happy Happy!

I Couldn't Stop Grinning!!

You beautiful tulip you!!

Sitting by the Canal Waiting for Friends to Arrive

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Bored

Here I am again.. back at the lab. One more day of this workshop!!!!!!!
Yesterday wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but some of the activities are prolonged much longer than they need to be and it can sometimes be exasperating sit through. UGH. I'm really hoping that we get out at lunch time tomorrow, but I'm also trying not to get my hopes up else I'll be in extreme "pain" tomorrow PM. :P Isn't this such a wonderful attitude I have?? HEHEHEH

Anyways, besides that, still looking for a place to move. There's a possibility I'll live with a friend for a while until I get some sort of job. This limbo thing is starting to drive me nuts. On one hand, I'm sort of feeling "just take your time" since I'm 90% sure I won't get a full time teaching contract come fall but on the other hand, I feel almost desperate because I worry I'll NEVER get a teaching position!! Most people are resigned to substitute teacher which is also rather depressing... (I just don't like not knowing the students' names and not knowing the routine of the class.. that's the only thing holding me back from supply work).

As the weather starts to become nicer (not today though), I start to think about travelling again. I would love go down to TO sometime.. but I don't know if I'll have the money to do so. I mean most of the attraction of going to TO is shopping and eating (i.e. spend $$), so ...........

Alright, I have nothing else to blab about so I'll close the gate here. Ciao for now!

Monday, May 01, 2006

Finished!!

So this is the week after my last official week at the faculy and guess where I'm writing this entry from? Yes, that's right - school. BLEH!

I'm here at school because I signed up to attend a 4 day (ya.. FOUR DAYS) workshop called Tribes. It's suppose to teach us practical ways to create a community environment in our classrooms. I'm so brain dead in terms of all those jazz words and educational terminology (i.e., so tired of BS-ing) that I can't even begin to try to regurgitate what was defined this morning. UGH. It's going to be a long 4 days.. the morning passed by incredibly slowly. I mean, I think it's a good workshop and all, but my brain and heart are reeeeeeeally not in the mood for this!!! Oh well. Apparantly I need this workshop in order to even be considered at some school boards.

Anyhow. This past weekend was really nice. The weather was beautiful so I spent a lot of it out and about. Went to look at a couple of apartments on Friday and Saturday but so far I haven't made a decision. Went shopping (more like window shopping because I'm too cheap to buy anything) and did a lot of walking.. I think because of all my activities, I'm now suffering the repercussions and am feeling very sleepy. What I would do to be in my room, under those nice comfy covers...........

Besides that, the tulip festival is going to start at the end of this week. I'm quite excited as I've never been to the Tulip Festival before. I attempt to visit every year (or have been dreaming of it at least) but have never made it. Gah!! SO, finally, I will be able to go see some overwhelmingly beautiful tulips this week!!!!!!!!!

Not much else to say here. Perhaps I will be here again tomorrow as it seems to be a very boring lunch hour. I don't really know anyone else in this workshop and the majority of them seemed to have signed up together (so the group is sort of click-ish). I may be a lone shark for another 3 more days (oh man, wouldn't it be sooooo nice if she could cut it short by half a day?!?!!?). Wish it was Friday already... (I think this has got to be more painful than classes - and all because I'm in the frame of mind that I don't REALLY NEED to be here!!!!!)

Peace and Nice Weather!

The Times and Tribulations of JY