Hamlet in me.

Faced with difficult choices?  Not really, in a sense.  But still, it's something I want.  Should I go for it or let it play out on it's own?  If anything, past experience has taught me to let it go it's natural ways.  Yet the "carpe diem" in me says gogogo.  Ahhh, the heck.  Atleast I'm not stressed about it haha, lets just keep calm and relax.  School first, everything else is second.

Now, to practice some Spanish phrases.

Hoy est Sabado.  I think?  Time to review the days of the week >.<

Playing "My Spanish Coach" has taught me some words but they're usless if I don't practice and use them daily! 

Like today, it's mucho hot!.. fresco is cold... what's hot?  I don't remember the Spanish word for hot... aiya.  Currently sweating buckets at work... the heat is turned on and it's 21+ outside. 

Mama mia!  As Melissa would say.  Ah, Toastmasters, they're such a wonderful group of people.  I look forward to every Wednesday night to attend my TM club meetings.  I've been asked to run for VP of Public Relations.  That sounds like fun and would train some social media skills simply by neccessity.  Perhaps it's time to use my twitter account that I've never used ever. 

That means no softball this season with the guys.  Sam has chosen Wednesday nights again to accomodate everyone... except me, oh well.  I will go cheer them on if their games go past 9:30pm!  or start before 6pm.

School, now it's math, English is finished and I ended up with a 80% grade.  I know I could of gotten higher, but I slacked off too much at the start and got burned by a few Hamlet quizes and tests.  My fault.  Lesson learned... will it be repeated for Math?  I swear by my change jar... no.  Although that did get stolen by the asshats that broke into my house.

House, alarm system operational.  That's returned life to somewhat of normal.  I don't know what everyone else's normal life is.  But my dysfunctional family is functioning again at it's own dysfunctional way :). 

Applied to Centenniel for the fall.  Three (3) courses, all with co-op during the summer.  All deal with electronics and energey matters.  It's a start, taking Tracy's advice, go for the money first, chase your dream on your own time.  My dream is still to make video games, but with EA laying off it's staff yesterday, there's just that many more competitors.  I wno't let that stop me, but will nurture my ideas and write my own world on my spare time. 

Spare time, it's plentiful yet not.  Good thing this math teacher talks and talks and talks and simply repeats the examples of the book.  I end up finishing all the homework questions in class.  Still should study to solidify the knowledge and formulas.  Going to do that on Monday.  There's a quiz and test this up coming week.  Will be diciplined and study!!

Next random thought... damn it's hot atm... mucho mucho not fresco!  It looks like it will rain... which is ahh, forgot the Spanish word for rain also... Tiempo is weather.  Time to review that section of "My Spanish Coach".  Awesome program, glad I dug up my Nintendo DS.  Also glad the asshats didn't take my DS. 

Carpe Diem, going to get a tatto of that on my wrist, going to see it everyday and it'll remind me to live everyday to the fullest!  Life is short as some say.  But being around all these retirees at work.  Life is too long, just now, two elderly men were just sitting here in the lobby.  Not even chatting with me as most of them do.  Which I enjoy, as they shared much of their wisdom with me.  Oh well, they'll warm up to me eventually... Who doesn't?  I'm awexome with an X!

Time to do some studying on formulas, ciao for now my brain.

Petty Theft hurts!

So my family home got broken into while everyone was at work... brick through the window and a whole big mess for really chump change.. literally... They stole change from a jar... who fking does that?  Stupid senseless destruction and disrespect for other people's time and property.  Things are settling down now, time to get an alarm system as my parents don't like dogs.  My friends and I both agree on a dog though but I don't want to bring home a pet if it's not going to be loved by everyone inside the house.

Been staying home all week and canceling evening plans to stay home with my mother, she's pretty shocked by the whole incident and doesn't feel safe yet.  I just changed the front door lock to give her piece of mind... she somehow thinks whoever broke in had time and the plan to wax copy our house key...  Which to me is absurd.  But just in case.

On happier notes, school is blazing by and it's a lot of fun.  We're finishing off Hamlet now and will move onto a book club assignment for March break.  I choose a book called "The Book of Negroes" as my first choice, no guarantees that I will get it though, but I'm hoping.  The other two choices are very interesting also; "What We All Long For" and "Three Days River"?  Not sure about the last title, but I do remember the author's names here.  Dionne Brand and Joseph Bryan(?)  Okay, not both, but it's for sure Joseph! :)

J

Family Day Long Weekend

Amazing weekend so far with great friends.  Taught Ting, Ken and Leslie how to snowboard, they did really well for their first time.  Ting mastered her heel edge.  Leslie was able to tackle the greens with ease by midday.  Ken became the master of the toe edge.  I almost got him onto his heel for a bit but he was simply too tired.  John who was the most experienced out of all the beginners decided to go for it and nailed his transitions between heel and toe turns.  He and Leslie did their own runs while Sammy and I did a quick black at the end of the day.  Great progress for everyone, cannot wait for everyone improve to make a big skiing/snowboarding train down the slopes!  Chau decided not to snowboard this year and hiked her way around the resort, he must of walked over 15k today!!

Spanish phrases ... yay! Correct me if I'm wrong!

Phrases from Google translate, is this correct grammar???

I want to improve my Spanish - Quiero mejorar mi español.

I am feeling under the weather - Me siento bajo el clima.

It is snowing a lot - Está nevando mucho

The FLU is attacking!! *DEFEND*

Well well, after shoveling snow for 3 nights and walking in the storm for 3 days, I've finally succumbed to a sore throat and extreme watering nose; which means the full blown head ache and fever is not far behind.  Hopefully it will be a short bout with lots of water and restful sleep!  Before I become a flu zombie, lets review my thoughts for the past weeks and note down memories worth saving.

Jan 30th - I delivered my 2nd speech for Toastmasters speaking on the topic of the word "Free".  I feel I still didn't prepare enough this time around and need to get better than that for my 3rd.  Practice makes perfect and I need to practice out loud on my own before delivering in front of my peers.  For once again, I've improvised the majority of the speech while touching on my main points.  I've learned that what reads well on paper does not sound natural come speaking it out loud.  Must revise and perfect a speech the way I would speak.  As my English teacher has taught me, writing a good sentence is hard work, and writing a good speech full of sentences is even harder!  My 3rd speech I am challenging myself to do just that, make it smooth and flow naturally as I would speaking improv.

Feb 5th, First day of class : Grade 12th ENG.  Back to highschool again but this time in a room full of mature students like myself.  It's an good environment, one I think I will enjoy especially paired with my Toastmasters experience.  My hopes for this class is to improve my writing style and organization of my thoughts.  As with my speech writing, it took me a long time (editing my 2nd speech on the bus) to really focus on what the manual assignment was and narrowing down the points that would fit the objectives of that project.  I feel this class was a great idea as the afternoon math class was unavailable this quad.  We're doing Oscar Wilde, time to pick up his works and read ahead.

Feb 9th, Today, snow snow snow is melting... yay... I am feeling a little sick.  Need to stay ahead and just drink water like crazy.  My nose is making Niagra Falls look like a small leak.  Can't let this beat me!  Water Water Water@!

Jack

Life advice from a plumber, No, he wasn't SuperMario

So today at work a plumber came to quote a job for a suite and we got talking about just life in general.  He offered me something real and no bs.  He said "Jack, study and work for money, at the end of the day, it'll make or break living a fulfilling life."  Those weren't his exact words but he did say that you as an employee will always just be an employee, all bosses don't give a F about you.  You're either making them money or not.  That's the cold hard fact he told me.

I accepted his position on the subject and wanted to add my piece about how there are some employers out there that reward their workforce but decided against it as our elevator ride was coming to an end.  He did get me thinking though, and he's not wrong.  There are many employers that fail to fully manage and exploit their HR but providing an healthy and positive work environment.  Example would be when I worked my ass off going above and beyond, there was initial recognition of my efforts, say a pat on the back and then a lashing for doing too much, what gives?  I do my job with my 100% and more and rebuked?, and now there are times that another pat on the back once in a while wouldn't hurt to motivate me to do more again.

But anyways, he has his point of view, I have mine.  It's good to share and view things from other people's perspectives.

Onto another topic, got to work on my CC#2.  It's coming along okay but I am having trouble focusing the speech onto a coherent smooth piece tonight.  I will give it a go tomorrow before and after vball.  It's gonna be 101001010% times better than my impromptu icebreaker... as this time I will practice!! yes practice!!

J

Fish + veggies week 3; thoughts

Been 22 days since new years and I can say that I'm hungry a lot so I end up eating many small meals through out the day, which is a good thing.  Although with this cold ass winter in Toronto, I have to bundle up more than when I was eating meat.

Something about eating fat of another animal gives the body extra energy to stay warm, especially right after a meal.  Physically, I've noticed a feeling of being slimmer.  I haven't weighed myself yet, I will do that at the end of January.  Mentally, I feel more alert, even on less sleep, I am able to function through out the day with little need of caffeine, just plenty of water is suffice.

Of course, lack of sleep is never good, so after working the weekend and waking up early Monday for Red Cross.  I sleep like a log until late morning on Tuesdays.  This will have to change once school starts Feb. 5th.  No more staying up late.  Have to really work on sleeping before midnight!

-J

Attack of the Vampire Black Cat!

Had a string of interesting dreams last night, the ones I could remember are quite vivid.  

The one that really stood out is where two cats came up to me and started to purr for my attention.  One was black as night while the other was white as snow.  I was sitting down, possibly on a couch.  The white one hopped up and laid down to my right snuggling up to me.  The black one danced around putting on a show.  

Naturally, I picked up the white one and gave it a hug for it's affection.  To my surprise, the black one then jumped up on my lap and started to insert it's claws into my thighs.... So not cool, so I pick it up by the neck and dumped it back to the floor and returned my attention to the white cat who now is super nice and cuddly.

Slighted by my actions, the black cat jumped up again this time and dug it's claws into my left arm and bit me... and began to suck my blood.  I'm like wtf... this is a dream... no cat is dumb enough to pull this shit on me unless.... duh duh daunnnn... it's a vampire cat!  Ofcourse by that time, I knew it was a dream.  I didn't feel threatened, so I pulled the black one off my bleeding arm and went back to snuggle with the white cat.  At that point, the alarm went off and it was time to pee.

Now thinking about it and about a conversation I had with my colleague from Nepal.  He mentioned how dreams are reflective of current situations in our lives in the sense that a stressful dream will reflect our mind's position on a problem/circumstance that's currently occupying our attention while awake.  Thinking along this line, I come to a few conclusion about my ying/yang cat dream.  I don't know if I'm right but it's a good start.  Stay away from black cats lol and snuggled up to the white ones!  How that translates into my waking life is fodder for more deep thinking on this subject.

-J

Icebroken on the fly :-D

Lastnight at Toastmasters meeting, to my consternation, I was thrown into the deepend of the pool. Due to miscommunication via email with the nights` TM, I was scheduled to deliver my icebreaker speech CC#1 when I thought I had signed up to do it on the 30th.

Taking cue from Erna`s advice when given the opportunity, seize it!  She called it the four S`s.  Stand up, speak, shut up, and sit down.

After the social break, Nancy introduced me and up I went.  I had three tales to share in my prepared speech.  given the circumstances, I improvised the introduction and continued to my three stories about myself. 

My transitions were sloppy as I had not practiced any of it.  Heck, I was going to trim and edit my speech this weekend at work.  But I got to tell the three stories and only went long over my 6 minutes because of two filler bits that wasn't even in my original speech.
This whole experience has taught me that knowing the material is important and some parts can be made up on the spot.  But, that leads to lost of control of the time and transitions.  So preparation is key to nailing that.  Also I was nervous, so practice would removed that. 

This weekend, I will go through my feedback from everyone and go writing my CC#2.  For I was a speech to give on the 30th!  :-)

I am glad I did it, everyone was very suppotive and encouraging.  Also on a side note, next time as table topic master.  Prepare the questions and make them unique so people cannot prepared ahead of time.

J

No Pig/Cow/Chicken Day 3

So it's been 3 days since the new year and having given up on eating my fellow swine, fowl, and bovine (sorry fishies, still eating u guys and gals); I feel pretty good.  I have yet to feel the increase energy and decrease sluggishness in the mornings but that is not suppose to happen until atleast day 90 :O.  So here's to 87+ more days and nights as a fishvegtarian.