Baldur's Gate

Another BG portrait, on a whim. I made yet another bard who somehow rolled 95, thus merited her own portrait for the game. Stupendous stick!

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?

---

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

Ms. C Happens Onto Waterloo

I have been ultimately busy doing a number of things in the last two weeks:

1. Driving from Chicoutimi to Waterloo in the Rav4.


2. Driving around Waterloo to buy some furniture and other miscellaneous things in the Rav4.


3. Driving to the school out in Baden to meet people in the Rav4.


4. Driving to the school out in Baden to work in the last week... in the Rav4.


5. Driving Jorghnassen around in the Rav4.


6. Trying to get Jorghnassen to drive the Rav4.

It is creepy driving around in the middle of winter with barely any snow on the ground. The day we arrived, it was so warm that we were wandering around in our late fall/spring/cold summer day garb, and the temperature refused to dip below the freezing point. In the last two weeks, there has been some snow (or perhaps "crystalized rain") that has lasted a good two or three hours on the ground at a time, and then some more to replace the centimeter that eventually disappears.

I remember a bit beyond two years ago, I had just started my driving lessons at around 5 pm, at the Tecnic school near the Terminus Les Saules. It was snowing incessantly, and terrifyingly dark; my driving instructor was amazingly calm and terrific, and I managed to go through the first few lessons without actually hitting anyone or anything. I even managed at most two drivers honking at me, so I think I did alright.

Flash forward two years, and here I am, zipping around town more or less shaking my fist at every douchebag on the road who doesn't signal, doesn't know how to take turns at the stop signs, keeps sticking close to my rear, and passes from the right. And don't get me started on the crazies who like to drive while talking on their cell phones, because it drives me absolutely nuts.

Also, I just got a cell phone. :| It is a prepaid card with Telus and it costs me just as much money to send as it does to receive calls, and marginally less to send text messages so I would only use it if/when things get bad. Like the other morning when the driver side door didn't let my key unlock it, and the passenger side door wouldn't close! Then I called Jorgh from the parking lot to get him to wake up and stumble down the stairs of the apartment complex, out the door and help me resolve the problem, and all it took was 5 minutes of warming up the car to get the door to finally close. It must have been a ghost...

In other news, I started teaching last Monday at the school. It is quite, quite, quite small; in fact, so small you would think it just opened a scant 7-8 months ago. Which it did. There are exactly three classrooms in use, and three teachers who teach at completely different blocks. In fact, the calculus is the first and only class of the period, and the other two periods are occupied by chemistry and english at the same time. And, until just recently, I had exactly one student in my second period math class: she got promoted to the chemistry class, so I have to compensate that loss of class with two or three club periods at lunch.

I would say that it is an insane amount of work for one or two classes, but I am actually enjoying putting together the class. It entails following the course profile and curriculum of the class, trying to make sense of the crazy-long activities listed in there, and making the "daybook" (lesson plans) for each of these classes.

Now, during the training years, no one told me that I could condense all the lesson plans for each day into a lesson plan that can encompass the whole week, or several days. So I had briefly freaked out during the first two days discussing things with the principal on lesson planning when he told me that all I could do was take the previous teacher's daybook, replace the dates, and submit that as my own. Though it doesn't help that the daybook doesn't make any sense to me in that form.

So I spend the morning teaching, return to the apartment at around 1:30, sleep for several hours (yes, several), wake up and make supper, then work until 3 am writing the day plan. And I do mean DAY plan. So far, I have not gone beyond two days worth of day plans because I seriously don't know how long it would take these students to undertake any of the activities, despite the projected "2 hours" or "1.25 hours" they claim.

For a private school, the control of the discipline is genuinely upon the administration. I actually felt like every student in the class was scared beyond their wits to act out or speak out of turn simply because someone would kick them out of school for doing so. (And the kicking-out-of-school part is a bigger deal for them because they're all from Africa.) It took nearly three classes to get them to loosen up and feel (at least a bit) more comfortable asking a question. Fortunately, they are much more motivated in their learning than other places I have ever been, and they have little or no reason to resort to crazy antics.

Also, I have been told that the taxes were not witheld by the school, so I had a choice between being paid as an individual, or as a business. Thus, I should inquire more about registering as a business soon, as I can claim gas, car maintenance, the equpiment I bought, etc. The others even claim the heavier clothing they have to bring to school because the building is so cold sometimes even this blueberry would shiver.

To summarize the last few weeks in a few words, I would say that I am quite stressed with work but quite happy where I am. :):):)

Except for the hard water. But that's another thing altogether.

---

Some sort of design-your-own dancing thing - I forgot why I didn't write anything about it earlier when I copy-pasted this link onto a blank post.

Happy New Year!

Jorghnassen and I wish you all a Happy New Year from Chicoutimi!

We're going to be heading down towards Waterloo starting tomorrow morning. (One guess who will be driving the Rav4 for most of the way.)

An Awesome Christmas Present!

I am taking my annual post-Christmas visit with Jorgh in Chicoutimi until the new year. Jorghnassen's father took Jorgh and I to the local SAAQ this morning, where he officially signed over his 1997 Rav4 to Jorghnassen. So now it is my our car and we are ready to go!

Yay! Thank you!

Merry Christmas!

I wish you all very happy holidays this season, and hope you are spending time with your loved ones and enjoying your time together, despite the less-than-white weather on the east side of the country and pretty awful dumps the west was blessed with.

---

And without furthur ado, here is the year-end round-up. I will probably forget to do this later this week from the miscellany of things to worry about - like getting a car and figuring out what I'll be doing in Chicoutimi after Christmas.

The many things (or lack of things) that happened this year are more or less well documented on my blog. Thus, dear readers (new and old and in-between) can peruse the archives and get the gist of each moment from A to Z - agony to zen.

January
Had weird dreams, and was also introduced to supply teaching at the adult education center. Posted some interesting art, along with a first foray in vectorizing. Douchebaggery continues.

February
Started to regularly supply teach at a school where it felt like total chaos. Most likely not my fault.

March
Stopped supply teaching at the school because it was total chaos. Not really my fault. Also: whining about taxes again.

April
Uploaded some cover songs/music on Tindeck produced by myself on violin and a shitty microphone on a headset. Surprised the bejeezus out of Norm. Somehow a minor internet celebrity stumbles upon this blog. And my brother starts becoming more of a real life celebrity.

May
Start of gardening season because the snow didn't melt until then. More douchebaggery occurs.

June
Actual training for Run for the Cure began, when I could have started earlier. The school year wound down with a good note, with the first foray into supply teaching French for elementary school, involving a violin...?

July
Wrote some short stories, attempting some creativity. Went to Boston! And Waterloo. But Boston! Sorry... Bwawston.

August
Focused on running some more, and attending the third wedding of the summer. Some more vector photoshopping!

September
Sketch that turned into a t-shirt (idea). Ran a bunch more. There was some sort of birthday in there somewhere.

October
Ran the race! Revisited Waterloo with Jorghnassen to help him move in. Hives. :(

November
Went to Montreal for the teacher's convention, and ended up staying two weeks due to being sick and losing my voice. :(:(

December
Spent some time in Montreal to help Jorghnassen become a doctor. ;) On a whim, I answered an ad for a teacher needed in Waterloo, and surprisingly enough I got the job. Now agonizing over getting a used car.

And to end on a cute note, here is a flash game about a bunny. Snow included!

A Can of Worms? Open?

To my relief, I secured a part-time job teaching math at a private high school outside of Waterloo, with Jorghnassen's help, starting in early January. The details of the job are still lacking, but the major detail in my quest for sanity has been more or less fulfilled. On the other hand, it caused a much bigger "deal" than it fixed: zero public transit and a 20 km commute.

I had thought of every single possible way I could get there on a regular basis.

Carpooling would be the most obvious one (and most feasible) if only I had asked the principal when he offered me the job; but I was only given his cell number and it apparently costs a crapton for him to use it for incoming calls... thus I am still rather reluctant on calling him through that number again. (And I know what you are going to say, so don't say it and stop saying it!)

Someone suggested getting a bike; cheap and ideal, but I loathe to find out what kind of physical shape I am in right now. Last summer, it took me 2 hours to travel 20+ km uphill, and 1 hour to roll it downhill.

Car sharing is great, but would run up quite a bill for daily commuting, compared to the final option:

Buying a car.

(The absolutely, unquestionably retarded option my mum demanded from me, despite it not being her decision, was that I take a cab every single day until I "matured" enough to know enough about cars to get one, which would take at least a year, and even then she told me I was "too stupid" to own a car. I won't even begin on ranting on the stupidity of this.)

I thought of buying a scooter or car as the absolute last option (barring the above), as I know probably less about scooters and cars than anyone I know, and I have the most overbearing, insane family of anyone I know. Fortunately, as I am the most inept of all my acquaintances, I have the option of asking advice from everyone else. And here are a few nuggets!

Rachel's brother, Pat, who had accompanied us to Bwawston, works with and studies in cars, and has a classmate who could probably locate a suitable used auto. He also offered to service it in his school. This would be in Montreal.

Ian has prevoiusly advised me to buy in Ontario, as the transfer between provinces would cost more than it was worth, but as I was uncertain whether I had time to do that before the job started, I opted for the former.

Shhh! told me that car dealerships would take care of everything in a pretty timely manner, and that it was well worth it for him.

Davy said to look into cheap enough cars within $3000 (if I could only think the costs would end at $3000 :( ).

And alas, I know naught about scooters except deep-voiced Eugene has one that he commutes with in Ottawa to the bus station. Though scooters seem quite cute. :)

---

To excuse my absence, I have been helping Jorghnassen fix up his presentation for his Ph.D. defense last Monday. Which he then passed with flying colours!