lots of planning

After a week of school I was sent to a real school for my very first placement. So far, from my observations, being a teacher requires a lot of planning.  It's amazing how teachers manage to teach so many important academic and life lessons!  Being a teacher is definitely much tougher than it seems but the satisfaction you get from helping kids grow ... priceless!

Alongside from the craziness of being a student and a teacher ... we're now talking about future plans which kind of initiated from the condo delay talk.  There'll be lots of planning in the next year or two in terms of school, career, and personal life!  Let's hope everything will somehow work out.

15:23 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

a healthy lifestyle in the making?!

I feel a sense of accomplishment :D  Today was our TRIBES graduation day.  After 3 days of intense training I feel that I'm a bit more prepared to be a teacher.  But this is only the beginning because starting next Monday, the real teacher's college begins!  This past week has been tiring since I haven't been having a really healthy sleep pattern for the entire summer.  Waking up at 7am and driving every morning has been draining my energy.  Every day I come home exhausted (partly because of the information overload which is painful but also fulfilling) and starved (travel doesn't really help slim the waistline!).

After a week of school prep and training I am more able to wake up early in the morning without snoozing that many times.  But when I start to take the bus I'll have to readjust again since the bus schedule is ridiculously early >_<  Now if only I can get myself to eat less junk and eating too quickly ... and continue going to the gym regularly ... I'll be all set to a healthy lifestyle.

15:18 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

summer is over already?!

Summer is not officially over, but for me it is ... yes, school has started this week but it's been an easy week since it's just half days of games, laptop set-ups, info sessions and eating ...

Going back to school is strange, especially in the B.Ed enviornment since we're not only students but we're also teachers.  Luckily the faculty seems to be very supportive and helpful though they have been trying to scare us with the workload >_<  But I guess in any professional program it's never easy ...

So, to sum up these past three days ... I met some cool people, ate a bunch of awesome salads (the cafe has these really fresh made-to-order salads ... too bad this will not continue when we move into our brand new campus), lined up for our IDs and laptops ... and let's not forget the long drives in the morning. 

I took lots of pictures so that the memory lasts longer!

12:42 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

losing sleep

OMG ... school starts in a couple of hours and the last thing I should be doing is blogging! 

Whenever there's something that's considered "huge" events to me (i.e. Asia Tour 2008) I tend to stay wide awake for no apparent reason.  Today is nontheless another important day of my life ... so that is why I am up at 4:40 in the morning with my eyes wide open.

I've waited for this day for so long ... now if only graduation comes soon!

01:37 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

last day of freedom

I've lost track of time.  This summer was filled with new adventures and exitments and without realizing it, I've reached my last day of summer!

Yup ... school starts really early for me ... while everyone (well, not everyone .... only students and teachers I guess) still have another 2 weeks or so to enjoy the summer activities and the summer games, I'll have to start commuting to Oshawa.  Luckily I will not have to face my real schedule until the last week of August, which means I can still catch some Olympics highlights for the next week!

Alrighty ... I'll go make the most of my day now ...

08:08 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

disaster!

The rain would not stop for the entire weekend!  There goes my very first camping experience!  Disaster!!!!!

To be honest ... I think it's normal if a first timer camper experience this and gets turned off by the idea of camping.  However, I think our group managed to make the most out of the experience and I actually had a lot of fun. 

I think this is the first time for Tong to go camping with this combination of friends and I think it's a good mix.  I think I actually learned something about Tong during this trip ... and that is ... he's unreliable at camping trips >_<  They were telling me that this was his first time that he managed to bring things other than himself to camping ... but then he also gets credit for initiating since he did book the site (after I kept bugging him) and he also built our mansion!  He's so silly all the time but thank goodness that he has friends that'll do things so it all works out. 

And another thing I've learned ... Tong has a crush on Tony ... every where Tony goes, he's always trailing behind ... always being a third wheel!  Does that mean I'm just a cover-up?!  >_<

On a more serious note ... I did have a lot of fun ... and a lot of dirty clothes (I can't believe the girls didn't shower for the entire camping trip while the boys went and took showers!).  To be honest, I never thought I'd have a chance to camp .... thanks honey for making this happen!!!

Now ... if only I can get rid of the propane smell out of my hair ...

09:38 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

you’ll be alright!

Just got called from a friend to hear that he has just hop back into the singles' pool ...

He's a great guy and I know for sure he'll be alright!  I'm sure he will find his love of his life (if that's what he wants)!  Love ya~

10:09 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

everyone judges

I've been s couch potato lately enjoying my last bit of summer holiday.  Catching up with the news, reality TV shows, my new fav sitcoms ... and since there's nothing better to do (well, there's shopping but I don't think it's the best idea since I'll be unemployed for the coming year and I need to save up for a possible Vegas trip and the cruise vacation for next summer's plan) I've been watching a lot of talk shows.

I came across the Tyra Show today.  I've been an ANTM fan for many season (actually since the first season) and I love Tyra but I have never watched her talk show before ... the reason being is that usually when Tyra's show is on Ellen is on as well and I usually pick Ellen's silly sense of humour (it gets me laughing every time) over a shows that talk about serious issues - I guess it's my escape.  Anyways, today I saw reruns of Tyra Show and I'm glad to watch it cause it's a recap of her series "Tyraville".  Tyraville was created to study human social behaviours ... the show gathers people across the States and put them in a "SIMS" city where people have to decide who plays what role in their imaginary town.  I guess the goal of this series was to understand how and what people use to judge others (superficial) in different scenarios and shed some light to the viewers that we can't just judge people "skin deep", we just need to look deeper and be kinder to one another because our first impression does not tell us everyone about the person. 

So for example, there was "Teenville" where a whole bunch of teens sit together and they have to decidee the roles in their town (ie. mayor, homeless person, banker, prostitue, garbage man, etc.) and the kids have to decide who's who.  This shows how early on in life people get influenced by superficial judgements (ie. one girl said that "blacks look ghetto so a thief should be black."). 

Another example was "Singlesville" where a bunch of singles were placed together and they have to decide each individual's title (ie. provider, just friend, pervert, abuser, gold digger, single mom, etc.) and again based on the race, the person's appearance and how they talk to each other the roles were assigned ... I was not aware of this fact but apparently "Asian women are considered gold diggers" >_..  And the funniest part of the Singlesville was there were 11 of them in total - 5 males, 6 females to reflect the growing female population in the States ... the males have to choose which female they want to marry and the one not chosen gets to be single forever (well, if the girl decides not to marry the guy then the guy has to repropose to his second choice ... and if the second girl says no then he'll be the one voted out) ... anyways, long story short "the abuser" girl was left behind but I think it was more of her "high standards" that got her voted off while the "gold digger" caved and said yes to the "provider" given that she said there'll be a lot of compromising.  But really, to judge how to choose a mate by just superficial judgement ("whore" was chosen first ... though I really don't think the girl looked that "whorish") I'll be screwed over cause I'm considered a gold digger?!  Huh?!  But one thing I don't get ... why is the odd one left portrayed as the "unfortunate" one?  hmmmmmmm ... 

and just found the link to some behind the scene discussions that happened in Singlesville ... very interesting ....

And the saddest one that was showed was a study where they took women of all sizes and they have to label each other titles (ie. thick, skeletal, fat slob, couch potato, unhealthy, etc.) ... I can't even express my feelings about this portion of the show but I definitely connected because I share the same thoughts of many of the women who were labeled as the more over-weight ones ... sigh~ 

Enough of that ... all this sad thoughts of my childhood just rushes through my head when I think about it (and some of these thoughts are very current cause I've been gaining some weight lately from all the chillaxing). 

09:41 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Exciting summer!

After a lot of convincing (well, not really) ... I've got Tong hooked on the show "How I Met Your Mother".  There was one episode in season 1 where Ted, the main character of the show, has 3 parties in a roll just to "meet up" with the girl whom he thinks will become the love of his life (spoiler alert ... no, she is not the love of his life but she is going to be one of his best friends).  It's a really good show and I urge everyone to watch it.  It kind of gives off the "Friends" vibe but a more mature and sometimes dirty way!

Anyways ... right after we watched that episode, we headed over to Tong's cousin's for a BBQ.  We weren't really there to eat since earlier that day Tong and I went to Scarborough Ribfest with my mom (note: Gators have really good ribs!).  We basically went there to hang with the kids (okay, I hung with the kids) and the Big 2 game (and of course I slept through that again).  I basically started to nap at around 1am and I can't even remember what time we left ... I walked out like a zombie ...

They bought so much food that we went over again the following night (which again we didn't eat since we went for family dinner with Tong's  family because it was his dad's birthday).  So we basically went there for the continued Big 2 game.  Again, I slept through most of it after I got exhausted from playing with the 6 kids there.

Last weekend was a long weekend for most ... Civic Holiday is not a holiday for everyone apparently.  This translates to sleep-in Monday!  SO .... party no. 3 ... by party no. 3 there was no more BBQing (actually, I'll correct myself, they actually fired up the grill at midnight cause they were hungry from the card game). 

So to sum up ... I think I had a lot of new experiences in the summer of 2008.  We went to Asia for 3 weeks (our very first overseas trip) ... experienced Ribfest ... and of course a 3 days party (which I thought only happens in Indian weddings) ... and this coming weekend we'll be camping (my first camping trip EVER!) ... it was one exciting summer!  7 days left before school starts ... gotta enjoy it!

21:13 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

I feel young again!

I feel young again!  Well ... with school starting soon and I'm trying to make the most out of summer ... I feel like I'm in high school again!  Unfortunately I'm an old high-schooler >_<

I'm all excited about the summer cause I've been traveling a lot ... with Asia Tour completed, surprise Niagara visit down under my belt ... what else can we do?!  Well ... there's possible ribfest attendance (though I really should stay clear of ribs since mine are getting a bit too meaty >_<) and then there's camping!  It's my first camping experience EVER!  Yes ... EVER!  I know ... I'm 20 something and I've never gone camping!  It just never happened.  People usually go when they're still in their teens ... with their friends or family ... well, being brought up in a house of women, that's a highly unlikely thing to do.  And being in a preppy school ... that again was not something that was likely to happen.  Although I did have one opportunity since there was the prefect camping trip the year I was in OAC (yes, I'm old ... there's no "OAC" anymore in the education system) but I remember I opt for going on an Alaskan cruise with my grandmas instead ...

Anyways ... we went to C/T today to shop the deal of the century according to the flyer!  We purchased a 8 person tent for less than 90 dollars ... that's less than 12 bucks per person to fit inside the tent!  So we get back to T's place and we assemble it ... it's GINORMOUS!  We were contemplating if we should return it and buy a smaller tent ... after a lot of thinking and discussion we decided to just go for it since we'll have at least 2 couples with us on this trip anyways ... so we can share.  But I think we may be buying an extra tent for just-in-case-our-tent-is-bigger-than-our-campsite situation.  But it was fun to learn how to build a tent and being silly and all ... ah ... I feel young again!

19:08 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment