Oh, I know exactly how he feels.

And I think this cover letter is absolutely on-the-spot great. :p

How to Turn Your Brain Into Mush

Practice tests, to apply to work for the Government of Canada.

General Competency Test: Level 1 - you need 18/50 to "pass," but after doing about 10 of these questions your brain will start to swirl around in your skull.
Office Skill Test - you need 35/75, and they time you so you're bound to make some mistakes from feeling the heat.
General Competency Test: Level 2 - probably to dissuade the 1% of people who managed to get through the other test without turning into puddles of goo.
Graduate Recruitment Test - I'm not sure what this is for, since I quit after the first two tests.

Bureaucracy sucks, but it pays really well.

Quebec City Online?

To sum up my community's internet world:

• Quebec's craigslist, which suffers from settling internet dust.


• Quebec Urbain - for the urbanist in all of us. I guess.


• Le Soleil - the only paper in Quebec City that doesn't suck. (Journal de Quebec, and Chronicle Telegraph. 'Nuf said.)

To find a job... huh... well, I'd have to go on the Education Canada network, that apparently hardly ever works (seeing as with the hundreds of listings for the rest of Canada, nobody ever seems to post from Quebec). Or the ever-so handy Emploi Quebec site that offers a wide range of jobs from dishwasher to telemarketer. Of course, as all else fails, I just went to the schools themselves to give my resume. And then I wait.

---

<start of rant> My mum just came back yesterday, and among the very first things she said was, "DID YOU GET A JOB? NO? THEN YOU'LL HAVE TO MOVE TO ONTARIO!!!"
Among my protestations were: "WHAAAA?" "Are you on crack?" "Why the hell would I do that?!" and "What the hell do you know?!?"

Seriously, it's just a repeat of last year's crap, except she's even crazier now. I would probably attribute it to the fact that she thinks a person can't make a living working as a substitute or replacement (which one can't... if you're a single mother or a homeowner), and she thinks I don't worry enough about my own finances or situation (which I already worry about enough by myself, thank you very much, without some overbearing crazy woman screaming at me).

The Ontario bit... well, I think she figures that there are more jobs there (which there are... if you want to work in Thunder Bay) and they do pay marginally more. But the downside is that one has to join the Ontario Teachers' college, which is a completely separate entity to the union, and the hassle to join that plus the yearly fees makes it complete bullshit. (It doesn't guarantee that you'll be working or not - it just means that you're allowed to work as a teacher.)

I already thought about what I wanted to do this year. I figured that I could just stay in town for another year to supply teach and work as a tutor. It'd be a good opportunity for me to

• practice driving in a non-crazy driving city, when I do get my license,
• function en francais some more, and
• give me time to establish myself properly in town, to decide a long-term future.

If I were still in Montreal, I'd undoubtedly be more active and less cranky, but I would have the more painful guilt of not having been more of a caretaker to my family. (I'm already in doodoo for not going to Toronto a few weeks ago for Eddie and Rebecca's gramma in the hospital, because everyone else was there.) But I don't regret being in Quebec over the last year because I would not have been able to mess around my job and learn much more about myself and others. I would not have been as able to cope as well with the transition between university and work.

As much as I enjoy being with everyone in Montreal, I don't think I could have really advanced with my maturity as much as I would like. There's something about being alone for long periods of time that helps me be more decisive (while at the same time be even more insecure).

---

My sister is apparently house hunting in Montreal. That's a big step! She's apparently looking at one house around Jean-Talon, where she took my mum to look around. My mum then came back and said, "If she buys the house then I'm moving to Montreal."

The first thought that came across my mind was, "What the-!? She's really going to let you move in with her? No effing way!"

I can recall vividly the numerous times my sister exclaimed for everyone to hear, "I'm not letting you move in ever!" That was especially true when she was moving out to Montreal the first time around, while she was nearly frothing in the mouth at the detestable behaviour my mum was exhibiting towards her.

On the other hand, my sister let me live with her for about 8 months in the same apartment she is currently living in, the first year when I went to McGill. I was grateful for the futon and suitcase surface area, but I lacked the 3D volume and privacy that I suppose anyone would need when living out of the house.

So now my sister is buying a house, and letting my mum move in? If that's the case, then I wouldn't mind moving out finally on my own. It would probably still be in Quebec for now, as I made my own personal commitment to stay for another year. On the other hand, would I be able to afford it? (...*reality kicks in*...)

Biking Adventure

I did it!
The actual path was much longer because I cannot take highways by bike, otherwise I'd get run over by irate army guys/berating old fogies looking to score another point in their bike-killing SUVs.

I arrived to find that my school had given the job to another person higher up on the priority list. :( Thus I am stranded for the year or until someone croaks or something. I'll be heading downtown tomorrow to give my resume to the schools there, but *not* by bike (cuz my ass hurts too much from today's ride).

On another note, I updated the comic. I also found out last night that they changed the name "Keenspace" to "Comicgen" back in July, which means I have to change every freaking thing on all the pages to *.comicgen and my banners and images etc. Goddammit, WTF!?

Rant arrgh

Mama's being all pissy again. This is her point of view.
1) I am too stupid and ignorant of the "real world," I can't communicate properly, and I can't "yell at the kids" to "make them listen to me," thus I will never be a good teacher, or any kind of teacher whatsoever.
2) She has known enough people in her lifetime that she knows how people should act in certain roles. Which is also why I will never be a good teacher.
3) I sit around at home doing godknowswhat because I enjoy it, and I don't do any jobhunting whatsoever.
4) The internet is stupid and high-speed cable is completely useless because it's too expensive.

She went on and on into a huge blanket lecture (yell?) about how I will never amount to any sort of teacher and that I should just do whatever, and sometimes lie in job applications... especially to be hired as a secretary (or whatnot) since it apparently doesn't matter that the job qualifications state that you have to be vocationally trained in secretarial studies.

---

I don't think there's any amount or set of words that can quite convey the complete rage and frustration put together into a hurricane of pent-up yelling and destruction that I could possibly contain inside my chest and throat. Who doesn't yearn for the day when they can utterly defeat the spite-filled words of their unbelieving parents by just simply doing everything that they never trusted or understood what you could do?

But that day does not come soon.

I'll let you know what I am doing after it is done.