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.

Friends are forever :)

Had an awesome night with a few buds, would like to recount it all here for future reference for they've helped me through some tough spots by just being there and hanging out and cheering me up.  Too tired to type atm, but this is a reminder to myself to write this down tomorrow morning after the hangover of course :).  There's nothing a little alcohol can't solve especially in good company.

UPDATE : Dec 31st partying it up with Rob, Maggie, Steve and many other wonderful people celebrating the beginning of another year on the calender :).  Major hangover XD

UPDATE: Jan 1st, hanging out relaxing with Jen, Xin and Joe.  Love you guys :)

Thanks buds,
J