Vacation!

I'm on vacation!
It's celebration!
It's celebration,
I'm on vacation....

Oh wait, no I'm not. :(

At least not yet! :D

As soon as these kids write their final exams on Monday afternoon, I'm taking everything home, correcting it all (which is going to be less than last term, as I have half the number of students and exams), delivering them Tuesday morning, and we're jetting off (by car, that is...)to possibly Toronto, and Montreal. And possibly Quebec. I don't know about Quebec, since Jorghnassen doesn't seem to want to take the extra two hours of driving to visit, but I'd like to see my mum at least, and hopefully squeeze in some time with the bunny man and his wife.

Then we're jetting off (literally) to England on the 27th, to attend Jorgh's brother's weeding. (Inside joke.) Oh, that reminds me, I need to get a camera before that. A real camera, not one that takes things like this:



Anyway, time to get cracking... I have another pile of corrections to complete at the moment!

What's With the Water in Waterloo?

I'm trying to figure out why the water is so hard here. It was not that long ago in Southern Ontario that the Walkerton crisis occured, and to the residents in this area it is hard to discuss the water quality without alluding to that e.coli outbreak. The first thing anyone does when they move here, according to some sources, is to buy a water filtration device or water softener. I figure private water businesses make a killing here because there is probably one of these depots at every corner selling their coolers or installation and services. (There is at least one down the street, so I don't think I'm exaggerating.)

We bought an electric water boiler the second day we arrived, and I had thought to boil some of the tap water (still potable, mind you) for tea. And after boiling once, to our great dismay, it left a thick (!!!) film of mineral deposit everywhere inside the container, and I had to wash it out with vinegar to get off all the white stuff. :(

One cannot actually leave dishes or glasses out to air dry, or to leave any spots of water of any size, as everything will be left with water spots as frustrating as being stuck behind an old granny driving down a country road with double yellow lines for the next 50 km.

Jorgh lived here by himself for about two months; while he is not a terrible housekeeper, the bathroom sink and cups were left with a mess of deposit that doesn't come off easily with regular household cleaner (and by that I mean "fantastik" and "blue stuff"). So I dropped a bucket of vinegar on everything and it sparkled like new... for about a day or so. Everything smelled of vinegar for longer than that! >:(

So, what is with the water in Waterloo?

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And in other news, brem makes me a bit sad that I left QC at this time. :(

Montreal Blues

I was sick all of Saturday with a flu-like headache that made my head feel like it was going to explode. On Sunday, I thought I was better, although I still had lingering cold-like sniffles. It got much worse on Monday when I arrived in Montreal, because my voice started to give way to a diseased rasp. I did attend Lil V's convocation, followed by Ivo's birthday supper at Mon Nan, followed by an evening gaterhing at Davy's apartment. By then I was already slipping downhill on the voiceability of my voice box. I wanted to stay indoors for the most part of this trip, but now I think it is too late. :(

So today (and for the next few days), I am refraining from talking at all, which sucks because I spent so much time in Quebec not having anyone to talk to anyway. Ivo, Lil V and I are planning to watch the Inu Yasha movie 4 here though (although all I could manage to scrape up wasd the dub) so less talking needed. I heavily dislike being sick. :(

Above all, I blame the elementary school kids with all those germs and things (pokemon cards) they bring to school to infect everyone else. >:(

On a related note, I am sorry to have to miss my friend's (brem's wife) birthday tomorrow and having (the ability) to call and wish her such greetings.

KITTY^Infinity etc. Again

While visiting the SPA yesterday with a friend, who was rescuing some bunnies, I was beckoned over to a row of cages by a grey striped cat, mewing and extending its paws out of the cage. I think it was a female and about a year old; the only comment written on its paper was "plays rough." It let me touch its furry pads and whined as it woefully rubbed its back against the bars. About ten other cats were pathetically locked into these cages, either sleeping or mewing for attention. A black chubby one was lying on its back, meowing and staring up at me with bright yellow eyes. Attention was focused on the popular cage with four kittens playing together (then three, as one was quickly adopted by a little boy). Then my friend took out the first grey cat from the cage, petted it briefly, and set it back in the cage.

And I think that moment is the one I regret the most out of my whole life that I am yet still allergic to cats. :(

P.S. The dog room smelled terrible. :(

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The terrible highway du Vallon is now known as highway Robert-Bourassa, having been newly extended up beyond where I am, while none of its circulation problems were fixed up.

Mini Rest

I took a few days away from blogging because I realized I had nothing constructive to say, and stories don't come so easily.

Anyway, Davy and Stefan (?) are going to come to Quebec City tomorrow, and we're taking a day trip to Chicoutimi to pick blueberries. I should also prepare for the next wedding in Toronto, next Saturday the 19th, thus once again I will be heading south for a while.

Lil V is back from China and she's got stories to tell. Right? :D

I'm sorry I missed brem's birthday. I hope you had a good one!

Jorghnassen's likely to head to UWaterloo in the fall, once he's finished his Ph.D. thesis, and I think it's also likely that I will be going with him when time comes. (You know. Guys.) It's not so likely that I will have a job myself when I get there, so I'm still kind of holding out on whatever will keep me around here.

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Now I know my mum is certifiably insane and probably has Alzheimer's, not to make light of those who have acute cases of this disease. Some years ago while I was in Montreal, she brought me a pair of shorts that are pink, red, and white checked, too small for me at the time, and absolutely hideous. She claimed that they were cheap from Simons (probably knowing her, "2 bucks!"), thus I should wear them. I was fortunately too tubby to fit into them so I hid them away (except for one day where I had a lapse of judgement and there are photographs to support this... Lil V would know).

Today, my mum washed all my wearable shorts, and thus I am stuck with... the hideous shorts that I would only consider wearing if all my other summer clothes were in the wash and I wasn't going anywhere. (Maybe I should have put on my suit.)

She looked at them and said, "What the hell are those?"
"You bought them."
"No way! YOU must have bought them because they were on sale!"
"Nooooooo way in hell would I have bought these on sale."
"Yes, you said they were '5 dollars!'"
"Goddammit! I would have never bought anything this ugly!!!"
"See? They're ugly."

This is me.

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Salon has a literary guide on Montreal. Personally, I don't feel as I know Montreal as well as some of you out there, because I've lived outside of Montreal about 80% of my life. Alas, as one of the comments put it, "Quebec is more than Montreal." And Montreal's not quite Quebec.

A Visit

Bad dog! My pants had to be washed.

Then since Yoshi liked licking my feet so much (?!) I took a shower after.

But thanks for having me over for supper. :)

It's Give-Someone-A-Break Time!

I think that the world needs a bit more heart. Y'know, less cynicism. I think it's been rubbing off too much on me lately. For instance, earlier today while I was waiting in brem's car at the gas station while he was busy checking out the cashier, I watched the young attendant emptying out a garbage can. He was probably a high schooler, judging by the fashionable mop of hair on his head and the way his uniform shirt was semi-tucked into his pants. My knee-jerk reaction was that of wanting to chide the boy on having such a sloppy appearance at work. My senior coworkers (and especially the bosses) at the buffet would have thrown a fit, especially since a restaurant wants to provide the image of a clean and sanitary environment. Even for a gas station, one would want to show some level of professionalism, if it would only mean at least a tucked in shirt.

But I am one to reserve judgement. I watched the boy a while longer, as he tied the beer-can (and beer) filled bag up, and carried it away. As he walked, he spotted many pieces of garbage on the ground and also picked them up dutifully.

Likewise, in my buffet job, I also had to do very menial and disgusting, thankless tasks. Though they were part of my duties, I never expected anyone to compliment me for succeeding in cleaning out the buffet table at the end of the evening, nor to have stacked sufficient supplies of plates. But if I could give myself credit for something, it was that I did my job without ever exhibiting a bad attitude (unlike some of the younger coworkers I had the displeasure of working with), and it made all the difference to me. I felt that besides doing something completely mindless, it was sufficient to believe that my tasks were vital to the success of the whole organization. So it gave me some degree of self-confidence. (On the other hand, it did nothing for my career advancement but I don't really regret working there.)

So if a menial job well done could give someone some self-confidence, then this boy might benefit from some completely random words of support. I felt bad that I didn't get to do so, but I think I would have if I had thought of it sooner.

Give someone a meaningful compliment. Anyone. A random stranger. Your friend. A family member. Over the take-out intercom. To the cashier. To a busdriver. Telephone. Over the internet, even. ;)

Metablogging

Since Davy and brem have lately taken some time to explain certain aspects of their blogging activities, I thought I would talk about mine today. Though I highly doubt anyone actually cares about these points because my own blog doesn't sound serious enough to merit such commentary.

1. I write about absolutely anything. I think this is fairly obvious. My most natural trait is to excessively brood over one topic and then completely change line of thought. On the other hand, there are limits. I don't talk about more personal things beyond feelings and events.


2. Completely unilingual. This is because I don't actually function in any other language. I'm chinese-illiterate and I can't even carry on a normal conversation with my mum in cantonese. Despite living in the middle of redneck Quebec City, I have very limited french interactions with the community beyond going down to the local pharmacy and buying a lotto ticket when the jackpot exceeds 20 million. Really, it's that pathetic.


3. OMG don't even think of sticking this thing on a search engine. Being a class A super-introvert and also a highly traceable professional (high school teacher), I am very sensitive to people invading my privacy. I don't mind the random readers or trusted acquaintances and friends who come by (hi!) but I would rather erase this whole blog than let one of my charges get a hold of any of my entries, and with good reason.


4. Reason be damned! If I think something is stupid, you know I'll say it. If I think something is awesome, then you're free to skip the crude 4-part LOST sketches and follow-ups of why I think Mr. Eko should be crowned as the new king of the LOST island.


5. No posts because of winter solstice, the beans' sprouting, and the crossing of paths of Mars and Jupiter. I don't have a regular schedule. This is because when I do work, I tend to get cranky and I won't have much to say that is newsworthy. Also mentioned before, I skip writing when I'm in Montreal or otherwise travelling. Then I can come back and whine about it, like Cowtown.


6. Above all, I write for myself. Yes, I get embroiled in thoughts of "Waaa Jorgh is the only one who left a comment!" and I admit, I'm not a very good responder because I don't actually answer him. But my blog wasn't initially meant to inform, educate, and entertain my readers. In fact, it was meant for me to vent and sound pompous to myself. I am entitled to such a space, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to exploit it!

This degenerated pretty quickly. Anyway, to compensate for this lack of journalistic professionalism, please enjoy the following sketch.

Confused old man???

Tour of My Neighbourhood

Following my habit of reading the SA forum, not joining because it costs $10US (although that might change into $10CA at this rate) and then posting about the topic here, I give you a Tour of My Neighbourhood (versus "Tour of My Town" because I really, really don't know that much, come to think of it).




WARNING: large file size (~2 MB)
Goddamn let me fix this problem... >:( Picasa won't let me send large photo sizes :(

EDIT: OK, I've made the above image into an image map, so you'll have to click the different quadrants to get one part at a time.

Those of you who aren't too familiar with Quebec, there's very little public transit going out to the really boonie-like places. For instance, the movie theatre does have a bus line going there... once every two hours or something equally as ridiculous. Also, the entire city is white so there's not much reason to put "REDNECKS LIVE HERE" everywhere.

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Yet another article about Islands. Hilarious (and at the same time, NOT hilarious) if you know what is going on there, and you know who the article is talking about...

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Do not attempt with crepe recipes.

What I like about my pancake recipe is that I can put any fruit or things in the batter and it will cook thick and fluffy, although the pancake will come out sort of moist and almost gooey in the middle depending on the wetness of the fruit. With chocolate chips though, the pancake will cook much faster, and rise to cover the gigantic blobs of chocolate almost completely. Thus, the pan won't be covered in chocolate goo after flipping and frying.

Crepes won't rise (at all) so if you plan on flipping them, the chocolate will make huge burnt chocolate spots on the crepe and it doesn't ooze like pancakes. Chocolate sauce is more appropriate for crepes.

Ponder Teaching

Read my lips, I'm not the one having the bloody problem, you demented teaching wackos. Two thoughts: I hate the argument that simply because teachers everywhere else have to face total crap means Quebec teachers have to face more crap as well; being the lowest paid to start teaching in the country, it means all the young teachers who aren't intent on staying here for abuse (*cough*) will go elsewhere and be treated (and paid) properly. Also, the BC teachers' strike isn't popular, but imagine the Quebec teachers going on strike too...

I never thought of teaching as a last-resort job. (Indeed, I had once written in an elementary school project that I had intended on becoming either "teacher or violinist.") To me, those who thought that the faculty of education was full of business school or arts student dropouts were terribly, terribly wrong. It's not *full* of them anyway...

Teaching is a very difficult job. The only problems I have are classroom management related, which is common with ~90% of my peers. I am perplexed whenever a student defies me, distracts everyone, or chooses not to work. And this happens all the freaking time. If I really was teaching because I had nothing else I could do, then I'd have dropped out the very first second they put me in the field experience. I know that I am far, far, far from being a competent teacher, but I know in my heart that wanting the vocation and not turning away from it at the very start had me set in the right direction. Who said their development had to be easy or come as second nature? It sounds like a bad anime cliché, but I'm working hard to become the best teacher I can be, no matter what others believe I can't do. (Locke!)

House Party!!!

My colleague and her husband (hi, Martin!) held a housewarming last Friday. I was quite happy to get out of my apartment, but most importantly I was quite excited to see this new house. What a house! Now I wish I had a house (right, Jorghnassen?). House was barely finished a month ago, painted and detailed, and now houses couple and cute, cute bunnies (right, Jorghnassen?). If Jorghnassen comes soon, I'll try to invite ourselves over for another housewarming call. In that case I would drive ourselves over (lOlZ!!!) to the house, as I haven't driven since Thanksgiving.

"House" was written 10 times. "Jorghnassen" 4 times. ;)