Monday, February 20, 2006

Teaching pics...JK


oh motivation, where art thou?

Monday night... so far i've spent some time with jeremy, played with my cat, taken everything out of my school bag, watched the women's team win the gold medal (not a surprise there), had pizza and wings for dinner, and i'm now writing in my blog.
It would be interesting to poll everybody in my program about this situation - none of us are motivated to do anything anymore. We're tired. There is so much to do that it feels like we're running backwards, never catching up. Every time I think that I've caught up with my workload, something new comes up. Take tonight for example. I'd busted my butt all weekend to get way ahead of my workload this week, and before leaving school for the day found out that my advisor will be onsite tomorrow to collect our portfolios and give feedback on them.
Whaaa?
No email, no phone calls, nothing from her - instead a girl I don't know comes into the classroom at lunchtime to tell my teaching partner that we have to have our portfolios available for tomorrow. So tonight I should be working on that, but I just can't seem to motivate myself.

On a happier note, team Canada rocks and I'm so proud of our women's team - they played with heart and passion and beat out every country with no effort. They scored about 60 goals and only had 2 goals scored on them. Incredible!

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Pain is temporary, pride is forever

Okay, cheesy title yes, but i really think it's relevant right now in many ways. I just watched the "dream team" Canadian men's hockey team lose 2-0 to Switzerland, which would never have happened four years ago - actually this is the first time we've ever lost to them at all. It was a good wake-up call for them, considering they definitely have not been playing like a team or very well at all. So online I go, to read the many comments posted on tsn.ca about the game. It's always entertaining to me to see what other people are thinking about the various games that are happening. Some people sound intelligent, others ridiculous, and still others are just plain mad. Many of the Canadians posting were freaking out because we lost a game - which I find funny, because I think it's just the wake-up call this team needs. Our world jr team won this year because they played like a team, beating everybody, including an American "dream team"... interesting to be on this side of the fence...
While reading all of the comments about the coaching, the reffing (which was in fact terrible for both sides), the goal(S) that weren't, and the terrible play by some members of Team Canada (particularly Bertuzzi, who got caught standing in the crease and cost us a goal), the medal award ceremony came on for the men's skeleton. Now, I'm not going to claim that I even knew what the heck this was, but after seeing the replay, I know that it's some kind of luge event. Hurtling 100 km and hour on a sled over a very hard looking icy track doesn't look easy to me, and anybody brave enough to try to do this as fast as possible sure has my respect.
This isn't about the crazy "skeleton" racers. Not really. What I saw was my country's flag rising and listening to the two medalists (we got gold and silver in the event) stand together on the gold podium, singing the national anthem. It was a pretty nice wake-up call. The silver medalist didn't look upset about being second.
The commentators were talking about the struggles that the Canadians had been having in order to get to where they were. One of them said "pain is temporary, but pride is forever".
Maybe this hockey fan needs to rethink things a bit. No matter what sport you're playing, you do WIN silver- it's not always about losing gold. It's an accomplishment that I'll be proud of for this country, if that does happen.

Go Team Canada - hopefully there is another looney buried in the ice over there...

Saturday, February 04, 2006

enough is enough already

okay, well this is my blog so I get to rant if I want to. I have been holding some major frustration in for the last few months and it just needs to be let out...
When I moved to Windsor, I knew that many of the people I was friends with would probably lose touch in time. What I didn't realize that how quickly this would happen and how much effort it would take on my part just to keep in touch with the people I thought of as close friends. Not to say they still are not close friends, but when you go a couple of months without a phone call to say "hi", it becomes kind of difficult. Things like babies and jobs and boyfriends and life definitely get in the way, which I do understand. So I make the effort to call and visit and keep in touch as best I can. I've never been wonderful about that either - especially when I'm busy - but lately it seems that I am making all of the effort.
Right now, I am busier than I have ever been in my life, yet I make the time on spare evenings or weekends to try and get in touch with people. Leaving a message at the tone. It's funny but I think I've spoken more to a couple of my friends' answering machines in the last couple of months than the actual people.
Ironically, the person who makes the most effort to keep in touch is Ledawit, who has a 4 month old baby and is literally on her own all day while her boyfriend works two jobs. This girl is incredibly busy, yet she always makes time to call and does actually answer her phone some of the time.
Even more ironically, in the last three days I have recieved a card from an old friend who is living in Yellowknife, and an email from a girl I went to university with and haven't spoken to in three years.
I dont' know if I'm angry or sad or what. It definitely stings that some of the people who I have thought of as good friends act like it's an inconvenience when I call or offer to visit. Again, i understand that life gets in the way, but no matter how busy I have been in my life, I hope to God that I have never let any of the people in my life feel like an inconvenience to me. Not a good feeling, and it's definitely enough to make me take a step back and wonder our friendship will really be lasting or not. Okay, definitely a depressing subject here. But this is life, and I have learned in the past that you can't hold on to people who are not meant to stay in your life.
I guess the reason I'm so upset about this whole thing is that I had built my own life in London and the friends I had made there were very important to me. for the first time, I was out on my own, paying my own way, just living my own life. I knew when I moved away that there was a strong chance that I wouldn't be back, except to visit. while this was sad, I knew that at least there would always be a place to crash for a night and lots of people to visit. It's kinda strange when this changes. As I've mentioned - I totally understand how crazy people's lives can be - especially those with new babies - but it doesn't make it any easier for a girl who is far away from home (8 hours, 2 hours, whatever) and misses her old life.

Just blowing off steam I suppose - the therapeutic part of having a blog.

Since I'm fairly sure nobody reads this blog (not too many of my friends are into this type of thing), I guess it doesn't matter than I rant for several paragraphs like a drunk teenager.

well this girl is going to go find herself a drink
g'night

it looks so peaceful from here
















Detroit city the week before the superbowl... it looks so peaceful and unsuspecting.


This morning I was listening to a radio DJ interviewing people on the streets of Detroit at about 10:30. They've been pushing all of these "amazing" events and parties for about 3 months now, and I suppose the people of Michigan have taken this very seriously. Of the 5 people interviewed while I was listening, 3 were completely drunk. While this wouldn't usually phase me, it was suprising to look at the clock and see 10:33am. Maybe these people thought the clock said "pm"...




I know that the Superbowl is a big deal over in the US, but this year seems to be even more of a fuss. There are tons of celebrities hanging out in Detroit this weekend, and the radio and tv stations are having a field day making the city seem like the happiest place on earth.


Welcome to Detroit. Please keep your purse and belongings inside the car and the doors locked at all times and enjoy the ride.