(no subject)
On the long weekend, me, Margaret, Emma, Hilary, Mal, and Aaron were supposed to go to Margaret's cottage for our girls weekend, but the power was out because of the storm, so we ended up spending the weekend at Marg's brother's house instead. That was interesting.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I was in Driver's Ed with Farah. It was terribly boring for the most part, and I fell asleep a lot. Nonetheless, we did watch some hilarious, terrible movies, listened to our driving instructor tell many stories about when he was young, and I got to hang out with Farah after not seeing her since school let out. After five tests and much boring textbook reading, I came out with a 93%. Thus far, I feel like it was a big waste of the $500 I worked so hard to save, but hopeully the in-car will be better. I'm really exicted for that. I've had my G1 for 14 months now and I still haven't been driving!
Speaking of driving, I'm really hoping to have a car by Christmas. The only obstacle is insurance. I still have to talk to my mum about that. As far as the actual car, I can afford it. I could probably have one by Halloween, but I don't want to jinx it, so I'm giving myself some extra time.
I've been really basking in all the money I have. It took me almost a year to save enough money to pay for Driver's Ed, and I was really, really cheap with my money for that year. Now, I am fully enjoying having money. I saved for so long, so I deserve to spend money on myself! July saw lots of money for me, as I was working two jobs. I bought myself an iPod last week, and have been clothes shopping multiple times. I've bought lots of books, such as Atonement, I Know This Much is True, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Little Prince, The Pearl of Kuwait, The Motorcycle Diaries, and The Third Summer of the Sisterhood. I bought three Threadless tshirts, and I can't wait for them to arrive in the mail. I also bought the latest Arrogant Worms CD, and had it signed by all three Worms!
Despite liking the iPod I bought, I returned it the other day. After buying it from Future Shop, I found out that you can get them cheaper from the Apple website, plus the website engraves them for free (see last post). I wasn't sure if Future Shop would take it back. Not only did they take it, allowing me to buy it cheaper online, they gave me an extra $55. Hellll yeah.
I planned on buying the exact same iPod but from the Apple website, but I'm not sure now. When you pay for 4 GB, you only really get about 3.5 because of the space that the software takes up. That really frustrates me. I'd like more memory, but the next level of memory is the 30 GB iPod video. Geez! It's such a huge jump. I'd be content with 10 GB, or even 8 GB. I don't really need/want the video capabilities, and the iPod Video is also significantly bigger. The prize difference is pretty good considering that you're multiplying the memory by seven and a half, but it's still another $55 I don't want to spend. Added to the fact that I need to buy a case, it starts to add up.
Speaking of my iPod, if anyone uses iTunes, could they let me know? I need some help.
I think I should stop talking about my iPod. I'm starting to feel snobby.
Yesterday and today were wonderful days at work. The last day that I was at work before this week resulted in a 45-minute cry-fest on my part and a lot of negative feelings. This week really made up for that. I can say that I did almost zero work yesterday, and I would speaking for most of the group as well. We spent the large part of five hours talking. And not just talking about mediocre things like the weather that you'd expect to talk about at work, but really meaningful things. It was great.
As I've been meaning to for ages, I am now going to describe my job(s).
I no longer work at the Charlotte Pantry. You quit already?! No, I didn't quit. ...Oh. So you were fired. No, I wasn't fired, either.
I had my interview at the Charlotte Pantry at the end of May. Therefore, I expected to start woking there around that time if I got hired. When one of the supervisors called to let me know I was hired, she told me that she would call me at the end of June and I would start working the first week of July. She asked if I had any plans for the summer, and I said no. A week or two later, I got my job at the Health Unit. I instantly knew that I had to quit at the Charlotte Pantry in the fall, as working one job during the school year is more than enough for me. The end of June came, and no one from the Pantry called me. I called them, and it took forever for me to get in touch with the right person, so byt the time I actually started working there, it was mid-July. By that point, I had developed plans for the summer. Driver's Ed, another job, Margaret's cottage, Will's cottage. Working at the Pantry from the end of May to September and then quitting would be so bad, but I really didn't like that I was going to work there for six weeks, ask for a bunch of time off, and then quit. So, right from day one, I told my supervisor the story. I told her that I had another job, that my job at the Pantry was just some extra cash, and that if she wanted me to leave so she could hire someone that was less of a pain in the ass, I'd totally understand. She told me that she appreciated me coming to her, and that she would give me all the shifts that she could. So, for about three weeks, I worked every other day or so and made some good money.
Nonetheless, I still work at the Health Unit. That's where I had my wonderful days at work this week. When I began at the Health Unit, my job description, as a peer leader on the Youth Action Alliance, was to "denormalize the use of tobacco products among the youth of Peterborough County." Eh? But what do I actually do?
I can't really tell you what I do on a day to day basis because it's never the same. But I'll give you some examples of things the YAA has done in the past and some things we're doing now. Before I started working at the Health Unit, the YAA organized the Drop Dead campaign. During the Christmas holidays, the peer leaders and some interested volunteers went to Lansdowne place for a day. They wandered around the mall and would spontaneously "drop dead" to the floor from time to time. One by one, they would stand up and announce to the crowd that had gathered things such as "The tobacco industry will put 1000 youth in coffins on Christmas day", and "Think about that during your Christmas dinner." Another thing that the YAA did before I became a peer leader was conducted a survey. The Health Unit asked the YAA to conduct a survey to gather information about tobacco use amongst youth in Peterbrough County. Now, instead of creating a boring report of the results, we're filming a movie. One day a few weeks ago, we went downtown to film a scene demonstrating that 67% of Peterborough County youth think that actors that smoke in movies influence young people to smoke. We went to Confederation Park with a couple of hundred VHS movies and laid them out of the ground to spell "67% AGREE". Kathryn, one of the other peer leaders, stood behind the text and yelled through a camera at the megaphone, "Actors who smoke in movies influence young people to smoke!" The camera then zooms out to capture the message in the VHS tapes. Next week, we're filming a scene on chew tobacco. We're heading out to a farm, where Katie, another peer leader, is going to dress up as a cow and hang out with the cows. What we're working on now are REACH packages for the fall. REACH stand for Resources for Educators and Administrators Collaborating for Health, and the packages are teacher resource kits for teaching about tobacco. Tobacco is in every single year of the curriculum, did you know that? I definitely didn't, because no one teaches it. Therefore, we try to enforce teachers following the curriculum by going through every year and looking at the requirements that relate to health and tobacco. We then find/create things such as games, movies, posters, quizzes, fact sheets, and projects that fulfill the curriculum requirements and are appropriate for each grade level. (Earl: it's good practice for Program Planning!) Believe it or not, I actually enjoy it. Right now, apparently, work hasn't been as exciting as it usually is. We had a few days of evaluation and interviews by officials from some Toronto health company, I personally have gone through a lot of orientation, and it's been hard to be produdctive on some days when people have been taking time off for summer holidays. Supposedly it will pick up in the fall, but I enjoy it nonetheless. It looks good on my resume, it's not a typical teenager job, the hours are dependable, and I get paid really well.
On a totally different topic... for awhile, I have been thinking about getting another tattoo. First, I had no idea of what I wanted or where, I just knew that I wanted another tattoo. Then, I decided that I didn't really want another one, so I would just add to the one I have. Then, I changed my mind again as I got an idea of what I wanted, and decided that I did want another tattoo after all. Now, I've sort of had a change of heart. Not about my tattoo, but just in general. So, my tattoo is going to wait awhile. What I am going to do before going back to schoo,l though, if I can get an appointment before then, is cut and dye my hair. Does anyone have suggestions on where to go? Somewhere cheap and good would be nice, but I value the good over the cheap. It's likely going to cost me more than I'd like to spend, but I can't wait.
On the other hand, something I can wait for is this weekend. Sunday morning, I have to perform at church. All by myself. I'm really nervous. One of the pieces that I'm doing is on my flute, and the other one I'm singing. I'm really worried about both, but I think I'm needlessly worrying about the vocal piece. As far as the flute one... I haven't played in about three months. Margaret claims that I'm really good (she compared me to Earl the other day! OH. MY. GOD!), but I'm not as good as I used to be, and I'm out of practice. Some of those notes are so high they approach being physically impossible. Oh well, I guess. Ms. V. is meeting with me on Thursday to help me with them, and if I screw up, it's only in front of a tiny church congregation. Who cares? ...Right?
One thing that I'm nervous and excited for is school. I'm really excited because my classes are all arts courses and all sound enjoyable. I don't expect to have any work to do first semester unless I get into Canadian and International Law, which I'm currently on the waiting list for. Although I like being able to say that I'm taking six arts courses and two spares, I'm really hoping to get into law. I've heard wonderul things about Mr. Ainslie, and there are some good people in that class. I'm also really excited about this year being grade twelve. The possibility of being a grade nine day leader, playing in the Delarue cup, being in the Senior Salute, and going to formal again. I also plan on being involved in a lot of things this year. Last year, I couldn't be involved in SMAC because it and Ladies Choir were on the same day. I'm really hoping that changes this year. I also want to do African drumming and a page in the yearbook, among other things. I'm also really starting to miss some people. I've seen people a lot more this summer than I usually do, but there a few people I haven't seen whatever so that I can't wait to go back to school to see. The reason I'm nervous for this year is because it's grade twelve. Everything counts this year! People are supposed to be deciding what they're doing and where they're going! People are GOING to be deciding what they're doing and where they're going! Some of us won't be able to hide from the real world anymore! I'm so scared! I can't wait to go to university and get married and have children, but I'm so intimidated by the way that people make it sound like if you screw up your grade twelve classes, you're screwed. If you choose the wrong university, you're screwed. Etc. Ahh.
One day this week, Eastland and I are going to go shopping. She has two weddings to go to on Saturday so she has a few things to buy. I've spent more than enough money lately, so I don't plan on buying much of anything, but what I do plan on doing is going to her house and stealing all her music. We have been filesharing like mad. I love it.
Next week, I think I'm going to Wonderland with Margaret. I'm really excited, because twice this summer I have tried to get people together to go, and a bunch of people say they're interested, but no one had followed through. I discovered a way to get really cheap Wonderland tickets, so Marg and I and maybe a few other people are going to drive down some time next week. Yay!
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I was in Driver's Ed with Farah. It was terribly boring for the most part, and I fell asleep a lot. Nonetheless, we did watch some hilarious, terrible movies, listened to our driving instructor tell many stories about when he was young, and I got to hang out with Farah after not seeing her since school let out. After five tests and much boring textbook reading, I came out with a 93%. Thus far, I feel like it was a big waste of the $500 I worked so hard to save, but hopeully the in-car will be better. I'm really exicted for that. I've had my G1 for 14 months now and I still haven't been driving!
Speaking of driving, I'm really hoping to have a car by Christmas. The only obstacle is insurance. I still have to talk to my mum about that. As far as the actual car, I can afford it. I could probably have one by Halloween, but I don't want to jinx it, so I'm giving myself some extra time.
I've been really basking in all the money I have. It took me almost a year to save enough money to pay for Driver's Ed, and I was really, really cheap with my money for that year. Now, I am fully enjoying having money. I saved for so long, so I deserve to spend money on myself! July saw lots of money for me, as I was working two jobs. I bought myself an iPod last week, and have been clothes shopping multiple times. I've bought lots of books, such as Atonement, I Know This Much is True, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Little Prince, The Pearl of Kuwait, The Motorcycle Diaries, and The Third Summer of the Sisterhood. I bought three Threadless tshirts, and I can't wait for them to arrive in the mail. I also bought the latest Arrogant Worms CD, and had it signed by all three Worms!
Despite liking the iPod I bought, I returned it the other day. After buying it from Future Shop, I found out that you can get them cheaper from the Apple website, plus the website engraves them for free (see last post). I wasn't sure if Future Shop would take it back. Not only did they take it, allowing me to buy it cheaper online, they gave me an extra $55. Hellll yeah.
I planned on buying the exact same iPod but from the Apple website, but I'm not sure now. When you pay for 4 GB, you only really get about 3.5 because of the space that the software takes up. That really frustrates me. I'd like more memory, but the next level of memory is the 30 GB iPod video. Geez! It's such a huge jump. I'd be content with 10 GB, or even 8 GB. I don't really need/want the video capabilities, and the iPod Video is also significantly bigger. The prize difference is pretty good considering that you're multiplying the memory by seven and a half, but it's still another $55 I don't want to spend. Added to the fact that I need to buy a case, it starts to add up.
Speaking of my iPod, if anyone uses iTunes, could they let me know? I need some help.
I think I should stop talking about my iPod. I'm starting to feel snobby.
Yesterday and today were wonderful days at work. The last day that I was at work before this week resulted in a 45-minute cry-fest on my part and a lot of negative feelings. This week really made up for that. I can say that I did almost zero work yesterday, and I would speaking for most of the group as well. We spent the large part of five hours talking. And not just talking about mediocre things like the weather that you'd expect to talk about at work, but really meaningful things. It was great.
As I've been meaning to for ages, I am now going to describe my job(s).
I no longer work at the Charlotte Pantry. You quit already?! No, I didn't quit. ...Oh. So you were fired. No, I wasn't fired, either.
I had my interview at the Charlotte Pantry at the end of May. Therefore, I expected to start woking there around that time if I got hired. When one of the supervisors called to let me know I was hired, she told me that she would call me at the end of June and I would start working the first week of July. She asked if I had any plans for the summer, and I said no. A week or two later, I got my job at the Health Unit. I instantly knew that I had to quit at the Charlotte Pantry in the fall, as working one job during the school year is more than enough for me. The end of June came, and no one from the Pantry called me. I called them, and it took forever for me to get in touch with the right person, so byt the time I actually started working there, it was mid-July. By that point, I had developed plans for the summer. Driver's Ed, another job, Margaret's cottage, Will's cottage. Working at the Pantry from the end of May to September and then quitting would be so bad, but I really didn't like that I was going to work there for six weeks, ask for a bunch of time off, and then quit. So, right from day one, I told my supervisor the story. I told her that I had another job, that my job at the Pantry was just some extra cash, and that if she wanted me to leave so she could hire someone that was less of a pain in the ass, I'd totally understand. She told me that she appreciated me coming to her, and that she would give me all the shifts that she could. So, for about three weeks, I worked every other day or so and made some good money.
Nonetheless, I still work at the Health Unit. That's where I had my wonderful days at work this week. When I began at the Health Unit, my job description, as a peer leader on the Youth Action Alliance, was to "denormalize the use of tobacco products among the youth of Peterborough County." Eh? But what do I actually do?
I can't really tell you what I do on a day to day basis because it's never the same. But I'll give you some examples of things the YAA has done in the past and some things we're doing now. Before I started working at the Health Unit, the YAA organized the Drop Dead campaign. During the Christmas holidays, the peer leaders and some interested volunteers went to Lansdowne place for a day. They wandered around the mall and would spontaneously "drop dead" to the floor from time to time. One by one, they would stand up and announce to the crowd that had gathered things such as "The tobacco industry will put 1000 youth in coffins on Christmas day", and "Think about that during your Christmas dinner." Another thing that the YAA did before I became a peer leader was conducted a survey. The Health Unit asked the YAA to conduct a survey to gather information about tobacco use amongst youth in Peterbrough County. Now, instead of creating a boring report of the results, we're filming a movie. One day a few weeks ago, we went downtown to film a scene demonstrating that 67% of Peterborough County youth think that actors that smoke in movies influence young people to smoke. We went to Confederation Park with a couple of hundred VHS movies and laid them out of the ground to spell "67% AGREE". Kathryn, one of the other peer leaders, stood behind the text and yelled through a camera at the megaphone, "Actors who smoke in movies influence young people to smoke!" The camera then zooms out to capture the message in the VHS tapes. Next week, we're filming a scene on chew tobacco. We're heading out to a farm, where Katie, another peer leader, is going to dress up as a cow and hang out with the cows. What we're working on now are REACH packages for the fall. REACH stand for Resources for Educators and Administrators Collaborating for Health, and the packages are teacher resource kits for teaching about tobacco. Tobacco is in every single year of the curriculum, did you know that? I definitely didn't, because no one teaches it. Therefore, we try to enforce teachers following the curriculum by going through every year and looking at the requirements that relate to health and tobacco. We then find/create things such as games, movies, posters, quizzes, fact sheets, and projects that fulfill the curriculum requirements and are appropriate for each grade level. (Earl: it's good practice for Program Planning!) Believe it or not, I actually enjoy it. Right now, apparently, work hasn't been as exciting as it usually is. We had a few days of evaluation and interviews by officials from some Toronto health company, I personally have gone through a lot of orientation, and it's been hard to be produdctive on some days when people have been taking time off for summer holidays. Supposedly it will pick up in the fall, but I enjoy it nonetheless. It looks good on my resume, it's not a typical teenager job, the hours are dependable, and I get paid really well.
On a totally different topic... for awhile, I have been thinking about getting another tattoo. First, I had no idea of what I wanted or where, I just knew that I wanted another tattoo. Then, I decided that I didn't really want another one, so I would just add to the one I have. Then, I changed my mind again as I got an idea of what I wanted, and decided that I did want another tattoo after all. Now, I've sort of had a change of heart. Not about my tattoo, but just in general. So, my tattoo is going to wait awhile. What I am going to do before going back to schoo,l though, if I can get an appointment before then, is cut and dye my hair. Does anyone have suggestions on where to go? Somewhere cheap and good would be nice, but I value the good over the cheap. It's likely going to cost me more than I'd like to spend, but I can't wait.
On the other hand, something I can wait for is this weekend. Sunday morning, I have to perform at church. All by myself. I'm really nervous. One of the pieces that I'm doing is on my flute, and the other one I'm singing. I'm really worried about both, but I think I'm needlessly worrying about the vocal piece. As far as the flute one... I haven't played in about three months. Margaret claims that I'm really good (she compared me to Earl the other day! OH. MY. GOD!), but I'm not as good as I used to be, and I'm out of practice. Some of those notes are so high they approach being physically impossible. Oh well, I guess. Ms. V. is meeting with me on Thursday to help me with them, and if I screw up, it's only in front of a tiny church congregation. Who cares? ...Right?
One thing that I'm nervous and excited for is school. I'm really excited because my classes are all arts courses and all sound enjoyable. I don't expect to have any work to do first semester unless I get into Canadian and International Law, which I'm currently on the waiting list for. Although I like being able to say that I'm taking six arts courses and two spares, I'm really hoping to get into law. I've heard wonderul things about Mr. Ainslie, and there are some good people in that class. I'm also really excited about this year being grade twelve. The possibility of being a grade nine day leader, playing in the Delarue cup, being in the Senior Salute, and going to formal again. I also plan on being involved in a lot of things this year. Last year, I couldn't be involved in SMAC because it and Ladies Choir were on the same day. I'm really hoping that changes this year. I also want to do African drumming and a page in the yearbook, among other things. I'm also really starting to miss some people. I've seen people a lot more this summer than I usually do, but there a few people I haven't seen whatever so that I can't wait to go back to school to see. The reason I'm nervous for this year is because it's grade twelve. Everything counts this year! People are supposed to be deciding what they're doing and where they're going! People are GOING to be deciding what they're doing and where they're going! Some of us won't be able to hide from the real world anymore! I'm so scared! I can't wait to go to university and get married and have children, but I'm so intimidated by the way that people make it sound like if you screw up your grade twelve classes, you're screwed. If you choose the wrong university, you're screwed. Etc. Ahh.
One day this week, Eastland and I are going to go shopping. She has two weddings to go to on Saturday so she has a few things to buy. I've spent more than enough money lately, so I don't plan on buying much of anything, but what I do plan on doing is going to her house and stealing all her music. We have been filesharing like mad. I love it.
Next week, I think I'm going to Wonderland with Margaret. I'm really excited, because twice this summer I have tried to get people together to go, and a bunch of people say they're interested, but no one had followed through. I discovered a way to get really cheap Wonderland tickets, so Marg and I and maybe a few other people are going to drive down some time next week. Yay!