Still Goddamn Si-*koff koff koff*

I spent the last two nights in various states of unsteady sleep and coughing myself awake every hour. My lame treatment of doses of cold water, and attempts at just keeping my eyes open until fatigue set in, don't seem to work, but I am convinced that I will be better soon.

In a surprising twist of fortune, the contact at the EMSB told me to email her my CV "ASAP" this morning (after admitting that she had almost given up on me but then realizing that I had been sick all week), which led to a phone call a few hours later from a principal out in Montréal-Nord, which now leads to an interview tomorrow morning out there. I will probably capitalize on Ian's idea on getting a 100-pak of Fisherman's Friend and at least stumble through the interview without hacking up spittle or whatnot.



In yet another piece of (old) Islands news, my brother published an article in Chart Magazine, September 2006 (page 62). I remember my sister showing us the article earlier this year, and yesterday she had just sent me a pdf scan of the page. It's not about anything in particular (... it's called "Who I Have The Hugest Crush On") but it does have that popsicle picture and a sketch by his friend Sinbad at the bottom of the page.

Still Sick

An evening spent at the QPAT convention managed to mangle my healing(?) voice box some more, not to mention develop into coughing spasms that prompted one woman in a 5 person audience to essentially tell me to leave the room. So I decided to forgo the rest of the convention today by inadvertently sleeping in and figuring out what to do for the next few days in Montreal as I have little voice left and a cough threatening to invert my respiratory tract. I had planned to crawl to Waterloo this weekend but Jorgh told me to get better beforehand (as everyone knows that travel + sickness = :(^:( ).

It costed $25 to register for the convention, more or less returned by various samples and things at the exhibitors' booths and the keynote speaker, Stephen Lewis. (The Crayola table and the Sunkist/CHOCOLATESAMPLING table, although popular, don't quite make up $25 on their own.) On the other hand, I felt that the talks I attended weren't as informative as I had initially hoped, which contributed to dissuading me from going to more talks today. I also didn't want to get told off again for coughing up my lungs during another talk.

I was expecting to see a few teachers I recognized, which I did (including Erik), while I was quite surprised to come across my Teaching Mathematics (university course) teacher at the QAMT table. It was surprising not because I remembered his face (but once again, not the name), but that he remembered me. (Though I guess he also cheated and saw my nametag.)

The weirdest thing was arriving at the EMSB table and being told to call them today to tell them I was available to work. Weird because: 1) I could barely talk in the first place and they said they would get back to me if I couldn't call them, and 2) then receiving a call this morning asking me to interview for a substitution card(???) even though I could barely talk on the phone. I pretty much told them I'd have to postpone it until I got better.

The highlight of the evening was indeed, Stephen Lewis. His passioned speech about the work with children he did throughout the years in Africa and elsewhere, was enough to emotionally move all the teachers in the room to physically herd towards him at the end of his talk, bombard the tables selling his book and mob his lineup to sign the book. I had the displeasure of having imbibed too much water (from coughing so violently in the previous talk) and darting out to the washroom in the middle of this inspiring speech. It would have been less embarrassing if I hadn't chosen to sit in the fifth row up front, but infinitely more embarrassing if it had been right in the middle of the row.

Alas, I would have liked to attend more talks today and hang around the exhibitors' stalls, but I think I had enough for now. It's been 5 years since I started wanting to go to one of these conventions and now I have finally arrived, but I guess it has been overshadowed by the depressing lack of employment and being sick sick sick sick sick.

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.

Congratulations, Lil V!

(She knows what this means.)

Happy Birthday Ivo-kun!

Let's Beautify the City

Quebec Urbain pointed out a piece from R-C, discussing the problem of abandoned and contaminated lots in Quebec. Within the comments, there was a link to the province's database of contaminated lots, which (un)surprisingly pointed out quite a few around here, due to all the different types of light and heavy industries, auto and truck service stations, and SPA(?!). There's even one down the street, behind the dentist's office (which very well might be a reason the dentist is relocating across the street). The disconcerting part of is that there are so many lots whose owners don't bother to pay to decontaminate the lot, just so they can sell it off or do something with it.

Which is why I was quite happy when the city bought out the long-abandoned and sucky corner of Masson and Père-Lelièvre and made it into a park. This should be done for "toutes les grosses intersections on retrouve un de ces terrains!"

Cowgirl of the Conestogo

She shifted in the saddle for comfort. The horse stood still, waiting for a command. "Gee-yup!" she uttered in a commanding but soothing voice, digging her heels into the horse's sides. Unused to the new rider, the horse neighed and reared slightly before launching, and the girl excitedly braced the leather reins. She laughed and chatted happily into the horse's ear, for each time the hooves landed on the ground and the head bobbed from each step. Without warning, the horse slowed down, and the girl impatiently dug in her heels again. "Woah, girl, what's wrong?" she asked. The horse gave no reply, and it stopped completely. A strong pair of hands picked the girl off from the saddle, with a voice booming from above, "It's time to give the other kids a turn on the horsey. A quarter doesn't last very long."

Ms. C's Random Food Review: Frozen Box Lunch

What: The HUNGRY MAN EXTREME Lasagna

WHAT?: Cheese, lasagna noodle, filled with cheese, with a hearty meat sauce.

I can't believe you ate that.: Over 1 lbs of food! Over 850 calories! For comparison, my bowl of cereal this morning had about 250 cal, with milk.

Seriously, you ate it?: Yes.

Comments: It's lasagna, but an extra long portion of it. I could easily have eaten half of it and have been done, but I had nowhere to put the rest because I was at school today, so I chose to consume the rest, figuring that I would burn the excess caloric intake from chasing grade 3 students around the classroom and keeping them from beating each other up. One of the teachers said it smelled good.

Review: Actually, it is hard to ruin a frozen pasta noodle, except if it dries out (like Michelina). It actually did smell good, and the sauce was actually meaty in texture, a rarity in products that have "meat sauce" advertised on the label. The ricotta or whatever in between the noodles was chalky and pretty gross, so I squished it out of the meal.

Rating: 3/5...

What, are you kidding? THIS IS TOO MUCH FOOD. OK, 2/5.