Tuesday, July 18, 2006


Who says patriotism isn't alive and thriving? Posted by Picasa

posted by jaryee @ 10:48 p.m. 1 comments


How we watched what was happening on the Hill! Posted by Picasa

posted by jaryee @ 10:48 p.m. 0 comments


OMG.. TONS of people.. and this was still early in the day... Posted by Picasa

posted by jaryee @ 10:47 p.m. 0 comments


Cool EH?? Posted by Picasa

posted by jaryee @ 10:47 p.m. 0 comments


Canada Day! It's Her Excellency the Right Honourable Micha�lle Jean! Posted by Picasa

posted by jaryee @ 10:46 p.m. 0 comments


Some of my classmates and I while we wait backstage Posted by Picasa

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My Convocation on June 7, 2006 at the NAC Posted by Picasa

posted by jaryee @ 10:43 p.m. 1 comments

Despondent and Disheartened

Well, its now mid July and I'm still jobless for September. After a conversation with my mother about my plans for this coming school year, I feel totally and utterly defeated. I hope this feeling goes away. It's just that, after applying to sooooooooooo many jobs, shouldn't I have at least received ONE interview!? I mean, I've had so many people review my resume and cover letter and nobody seems to be able to tell me why I'm not receiving any contact from schools! WHY!? I know I can do the job, just give me a chance! :(

I'm quickly approaching the final few days of my last ABQ (additional basic qualification) course. Can't wait to finish. Just want to get the work done. I resorted to going to Starbucks this morning to doing my work. Yesterday (or I should say the day before yesterday - Monday), I sat down with the ernest intention of doing work, but all I felt was sleepy (and this is me just a bit after getting up - late!). I'm not sure what it is, perhaps the weather (muggy, humid and hot) or perhaps its me not having a proper desk to sit at to do my work?? Anyways, I managed to get quite a bit accomplished at Starbucks today, so I was quite happy with myself.

I can hardly believe that it's already mid July. Though summer vacation has only been a few weeks for people in the public schools, it feels like it's almost over for me. I feel the impending doom of September bearing down on me (what a good title that would have made!). I will be supply teaching in the fall if nothing else comes up. I'm so skeptical at this point that I will land a job. Bugger. I'm not really prepared for supply teaching, but I guess I should get to it. After this week is over I am going to try to tackle some of the tasks I have been putting off (i.e., preparing for interviews and figuring out my plan of action for this coming year (BUDGET!!!)).

Alright. Enough. I'm going to go to sleep and hope my mood drastically changes for the better by tomorrow morning (or afternoon!). As they say, it's a new day!

posted by jaryee @ 10:26 p.m. 0 comments

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Tired and Dazed

Have you ever wondered why one word should go in front of the other just because it sounds good? Take names for example, why does "Betty and Veronica" sound better than "Veronica and Betty" or "Jane and Andrew" and not "Andrew and Jane"? Hmm..Ok.. that's the end of my random thought for this post.

I'm now back in F'ton. Arrived on Sunday morning.. it was a terribly long trip. I had no idea that many people were coming to the Maritimes (or perhaps it people who took trips out of the Maritimes and are all returning??). When I arrived in Montreal, I really, really thought I wasn't going to be able to get onto the bus! There were sooooooooooooooooooo many people lined up to get on.. in fact, they finished loading one bus load of people and then had to get another bus in order to carry everyone! By the time we got to Edmundston, the bus was probably about 90% full! To make matters worse, they probably stopped at every little stop that they could of between Edmundston and Fredericton.. *sigh*. Oh ya, my other complaints are that we had to switch buses at Edmundston, people should really be aware of their smelly feet and snoring, and to not talk so loud when everyone on the bus is sleeping! Lastly, the bus pulled over to the side of the highway twice (well, two different buses on top separate occassions) for no apparent reason?? I am fearing my return trip to Ottawa.

Now that I'm home, I've got a lot of work to do. Job applications and trying to finish up my course work. I've procrastinated long enough.. tomorrow must get down to business!

On Sunday afternoon, (after my tiny little nap that was no where near long enough), my mom dragged me to a bridal shower. Actually, it was really nice to see everyone but I was just so exhausted that I would have chosen sleep over it if given the choice. The wedding reception is going to be on Friday and I'm assuming that there will be even more people from the community in attendance. Ah.. they are all asking when I will be getting married... eeeee... go away, go away, leave me alone!!! (Though they are sweet, one of the ladies already "booked" my bridal shower so that she can play host!!). Ehmm.. it's weird talking about this on my blog. End of discussion.

Speaking of such life alternating business, many of my friends are having babies these days! Just a few days ago, before leaving Ottawa, I was out at the mall trying to buy baby gifts! I have a friend who just gave birth to her 2nd son (Congrats Clara and Howie!), another friend expecting the arrival of his 1st daughter in August, and finally, another friend who is expecting her first baby (boy or girl???) in November! WOW - baby boom II? (yuppi for me if it is, more students to teach!!!!)

Oh, I'm so unbelievably hungry right now. I had dinner at 5:30PM and it's now 12:30AM. Only had some watermelon after dinner (went with a nice walk with my ma-ma so we were hungry when we got back) and that didn't last long. Ahh.. starviinnnnnngggggggg.. what I would give for a big bowl of noddles.. mmmmmm ... yummy *stomach grumbles*. OK.. must stop talking about food. Should sleep .. must lose more weight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the job front, still no luck. I sent my resume and cover letter to my previous associate teacher who replied that they looked great and that she didn't know I had so much teaching experience! I'm really happy I got her as an associate teacher, she was really supportive and seems to be also really impressed with me (??).. anyways, it just feels good to know that she believes in my ability! It's just like when people tell me how much their kids like me, I always feel soooo happy! Oh, and this reminds me that a teacher from Taiwan told my parents that I should become a teacher (this was probably back in 2000??).. interesting how that somewhat came true...

OK.. enough bragging (blush)..I'm really hungry, and my only solution is to go to bed so that I can avoid eating. I hope I don't dream of food, because that has happened before.......................

Gnite!

posted by jaryee @ 8:10 p.m. 0 comments

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Post #2

Oh yes.. amoungst all my ranting and raving (see below), I forgot to talk about Canada Day. Before I go any further, I must tell you that I have lost the cover that allows me to press the comma key..so therefore out of laziness, I shall be skipping all commas in this post (pray that I can find it it's utterly annoying not to have it). *I decided to go back and put in commas because I thought it would be easier to read*

Canada Day turned out to be really hot (as it has been the last few weeks here in Ottawa) and sunny. Headed downtown with my friends at around 9:30am and went straight to Parliament Hill. It was already pretty busy. I can't say there were a ton of interesting things to see (quite similar to Fton but bigger) there was the Musical ride, the changing of guards, and of course, the really exciting part (no, I am not being sarcastic) the arrival of the governor general in a horse drawn carriage. I think that was the highlight of the whole day downtown (the governor general's arrival). I was also pretty excited to see THAT many people out.. and many of them were extremely patriotic.. wearing red and white, flag in hand, maple leaf hats etc. We left the downtown area around 1pm (it was getting really hot and really really really crowded) and went to have dim sum in China town.. At that point, I removed my maple leaf sticker (I bought 5 for $1 as I hadn't worn any red or white and felt very guilty about not being at least a little bit patriotic) and found that I have now got a sun-tan-tatoo!! EEKKKK... needless to say, I was slightly burnt that day. It was stupid not to wear suntan lotion.. I guess I assumed I'd be ok since I normally do not burn that easily.. Hmm.. I guess there is no more of that assumption.. the sun is just too strong nowadays :(

That evening, we went downtown for the fireworks. AHHH.. again.. insane amount of people.. lots of DRUNK people (as you might have heard, some of these drunks urinated over the war memorial downtown). We couldn't find a parking space so we ended up getting out of the car and my friend who drove us, ended up circling around (he had already seen the fireworks so he was OK with that - really nice of him huh!). As I predicted, the fireworks ended as soon as we got to a reasonably good location to view them. Drat it. Oh well, I saw some new ones this year. A smiley face (cool!) and a very wobbly looking heart. I just hope I will eventually be able to attend the international fireworks competition.. I hear that those are REALLY IMPRESSIVE!

While we were downtown on Canada Day, a couple of musicians from the symphony were playing. It reminded me that I have not attended a classical concert for a loooooooooong time now. I really want to go listen to some live classical music!! It's funny, I really miss it now! Anyone want to go?

Thats it for now!

posted by jaryee @ 7:19 p.m. 0 comments

Companies these days!!!

ARRGGG.. I think there are some major issues in the corporate giant world. Over the past year, I've had so many beefs with some of these companies!!

It all begins with me moving to Ottawa...

1. The night I arrived, I pull my phone out of my overnight bag (packed my phone is a specific place so that I could actually communicate with the outside world upon my arrival at the new apartment), plug it in, and what do I hear? NOTHING. ARGH! I had set up the account with Bell a good week (or more) before my arrival and specifically requested it be ready for that date!!!

2. I set up my computer. Do I have internet? NO! Bloody argh.. need to call them (Bell) to come in and get it fixed. Wait the whole freaking day for them to come and do a 10 minute job.. *sigh*

3. Rogers is no better. I get a cell phone and go into a local rogers store to get it set up. Get slapped with a $60 charge *yea*. Later, I find out I could have done the setup online by myself - for FREE!!! Bloody argh #2, I'm ANGRY. I call the manager of the store and she was bitchy. Fine.. I called customer service and filed a complaint against the store AND the manager. I get a $10 credit to my phone. (Feeling a bit better but still feel bitter for being ripped off).

4. I am about to disconnect my internet. GUESS WHAT! You need to give them a whole 30 days notice for them to pull a plug! It must be some plug they need to pull...

5. I moved but I still need to go back to my apartment to recieve a parcel from Puralator. They say they will deliver the parcel before 5:00pm. I wait for an hour and then call them, they say they will try to track it down and that it will definitely arrive before 5. 5pm rolls around.. I'm getting MAD. WHERE IS MY PARCEL? Nobody can give me an answer. Worse, the customer reps LIE to me. RIDICULOUS.. you can't keep track of your parcels!? You can't even guarentee a pissed off customer that you will deliver it at a specific hour the next day!? WHAT!?

6. I am trying to connect my phone to a long distance plan. World link. Requested the new account THREE weeks ago. I get a call tonight requesting that I set up a pre-authorized payment.. WHY? AND why do you need to do a credit check? For petes sake, do you think I will talk THAT much!? PLUS, where did my application go? AND NO, I'm NOT happy with waiting 7 more business days!!!

PHEEEEWWWww... one heck of a rant. But BOY.. I've been REALLY REALLY TICKED off with these companies. I know I'm not the only one who's been pissed in the past. How are they running their businesses!? Actually, because they are all so huge and popular, I think they just don't give a "rat's ass" about what their customers think of them. HA.. customer service indeed.

posted by jaryee @ 6:48 p.m. 0 comments

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Happy Canada Day

Well, it's that day of the year again. Our nation's birthday. This year, I'm actually in the capital! I'll be heading downtown in a bit to see what's going on.. maybe catch a glimpse of the prime minister and governor general?

It's hard to believe that this time last year I was driving to some city to do a mini parade.. hmm.. I can't even remember what city it was?? Anyhow, I find myself missing the CCANB crowd today as I know they are getting ready to participate in the Canada Day parade in Fredericton again. I think another reason I miss all of the excitement is because I ran into the Meng family (Patricia & Julian) at Loblaws the other night - what a coincidence and how nice it was to see some familiar faces!

The other thing I have to report is that I went jogging on Thursday evening (5km), boy, it was an insane distance to take on when I haven't been to the gym for over 2 months! I'm still aching today :P Actually, that's not what I have to report, I had to report that while jogging, I came across an insane man who was shouting obscene things at me and my friend because we are Chinese!!! He was saying to his dog to hurry up or "those Chinks are going to eat you".. (add a few swear words in there). I was shocked. Then as we kept walking, he kept going!! I was starting to feel my blood boil.. really, really tempted to turn around and yell at him, but decided it was probably unsafe as the guy seemed like he was out of his mind. The last thing he did was yell at us while driving by and shake his fist (or perhaps throw up a middle finger) while he drove away. HOLY COW. Never in my life have I been treated like THAT! And in my ADULT life! I mean, it's not like I didn't know there were people like that, but for him to vocalize that to my face... I'm actually surprised at my own feeligns towards the incidence. I thought I'd be indifferent for some reason, but it turned out I wasn't. I felt fury and at the same time very disturbed .. the incident hasn't left my mind since that evening...

Anyhow, I have to get going. About to leave. Happy Canada Day people!

posted by jaryee @ 5:53 a.m. 2 comments