Work

I work pretty much every day. Some days, I must admit, are better than others. Today I had the misfortune of being paired with a slacker. Now, I must first say that I am a self-professed slacker by nature so for me to even mention his slacking is truly remarkable. Here I am; scrubbing counters, putting crap away, organizing everything so that I can GO HOME. I walk into the next room for just a moment, trying to speedily bring things to the back where they belong and then I hear his voice. Like really, if you're going to stop working and talk to your friend at least have the decency to speak at a reasonable volume. With the sinking suspicion that my co-worker had, indeed, halted any pitiful progress that he was making, I walk back to the front. Low and behold the loud, obnoxious voice is attached to the guy that SHOULD be cleaning, that SHOULD be working as hard as I am to get our area closed, but no such luck. With one elbow propped up on a counter he is rambunctiously speaking to a fellow co-worker, one that is already finished work for the day and does not have something as pressing as cleaning on his mind. I know this because he had first tried to initiate a conversation with me. So, imagine my chagrin when left to behold such a sight. With sweat literally pooling on my  forehead there I am, awestruck to realize once and for all that if I want to go home tonight then I, alone needed to make sure that it happened. Forget teamwork and relying on the people that are supposed to be helping you. Obviously the old saying holds true, "if you want something done right then you have to do it yourself." Well thank you slacker co-worker, I have at last learned, and learned well; if we're both scheduled to close together I need to fucking call in sick or prepare myself for a very, very rough night of work.

The Crazy Sub

One day, a class of grade 12 students had a crazy sub. This guy was insane! He talked for days and made the students' lives a living hell. The poor students were desperate to overthrow their evil oppressor! They banded together to defeat the crazy sub. Collectively they made a plan to overthrow his power and control within the classroom. First, they sent in Edgar, the class' own crazy kid, to distract the maniacal sub. Next, some of the boys crept up behind him, ready to pounce. One of the boys slipped briefly, causing a squeak of rubber on linoleum. The sub began to turn towards the sound when Edgear suddenly lunged forward, knocking the crazy sub to the ground. The waiting boys attacked as well, binding the sub's hands and feet. After an imperious nod and mild gesture from the girls in the class, the boys carried the sub over to the supply cupboard and shoved him inside. It took all of their combined weight to get the door closed but they were finally successful. They strategically placed a couple of chairs infront of the cupboard door for good measure. Suddenly, a joyous cheer rang up amongst the students. Their oppressor had been vanquished and they had been liberated. "Carpe Diem", "Seize the Day"!

Terri Something

     We were given the opportunity to have a real, "best-selling" Canadian author come to speak to our class. He was particularly inspring because he faced many challenges before finally obtaining a certain degree of fame and recognition. He was not a die hard writer but began to professionally write later in life. He is also an example of how difficult it is to be a writer in Canada. He maintains and full time job and has a family yet still finds time to write. His concept of a humourous book about Canadian politics did not appeal to any publishing houses in Canada so he made the decision to self-publish his first book. After some small success he submitted and won the Stephen Leacock Award, enabling him to sign with a legitimate publisher. After his first novel was selected for Canada Reads his book gained new recognition and enabled his book to sell over 70 000 copies.
     I found his writing process to be especially interesting. He is very meticulous. He spends a few months crafting a very detailed plan before he even attempts to write. This, I could never do. I rarely know the events in my story as the take place before I sit down to write. He chooses to have, from beginning to end completely planned out in advance. I would feel that this process would lose much of the creative thrill that I associate with writing but it works for him. Because of his very detailed planning he is able to write his very quickly. From his presentation I will take away some knowledged of the benefits of prewriting and will try to incorporate them more willingly into my own writing process.

Protests

     I actually watched the news today. This was a big accomplishment for me. I generally find the news to be extremely dull. What caught my attention and interest was a protest that was happening in Ottawa. I want to start out saying that I fully endorse a persons right to protest, especially when they are not being adequately represented by their government. This protest, however, did not make a lot of sense to me. Congolese Canadians were protesting infront of the Congolese Embassy. They felt that the recent election in the Congo was unjust and corrupt. They were protesting that Canada should interfere on behalf of the people living in Congo in order to secure a fair democracy. What I had a particular problem with is that they were not protesting peacefully, as is enshrined in their very right to protest. Police were present at the protest to protect the peoples of Ottawa, both protesters and bystanders. The protesters showed violence towards these cops by both verbally harassing them and throwing things. Canada vocally promotes freedoms for its people, however there is no excuse for harming another in the name of change. They are fighting for the rights of people in Congo while violating the rights of their fellow Canadians. It doesn't make any sense.

Visualization

     Today in class our journal was supposed to be about a visualization excercise. Unfortunately, a couple of boys in the class felt that it was neccessary to piss Ms. Cat off and end our journal early. They wanted to be immature and were craving attention. It felt that if the world was not completely focused on them they were not satisfied. I understand the need to go off topic sometimes and move the class towards some random tangent but there are limits. Why do some people find it imperative to make a teacher mad and force everyone in the class to suffer through a tense silence where eye contact is avoided. Do they think that we enjoy being a witness to a vicious stand off between teacher and student? Like honestly guys, choose your moments. Through the film the Dead Poet's Society we were encouraged to "seize the day", but this is only relevant at appropriate moments.

     Sometimes people need to learn to shut the fuck up and just go with the flow. I am not necessarily a fan of the visualizations that we do in class but I am able to grasp the evidently elusive concept of participating in class in order to succeed. I also agree that making everyone in the class close their eyes during this exercise is essential to make everyone more comfortable. So please guys stop the pointless confrontations and close your mouth! If it isn't the appropriate time then it isn't appropriate for you to talk!

The American Music Awards

I'm going to be honest, yesterday was the first time that I have ever watched the AMA's that I can recall. I used to watch the Oscars religiously but was never very interested in watching the many music awards shows. I have to say that I was actually impressed. Where the Oscars can be boring for the audience to watch and tedious for its audience members, the AMA's is more reminiscent of a big party. This is surprising considering the Oscars honours actors whose job is to keep an audience ENTERTAINED. There were countless performances offset by some awards. I also felt a sense of community amongst the artists. For each performances most of the audience members would get up and dance while singing along to the lyrics. This is on national television, broadcasted to billions of people in North America alone. These are world famous recording artists! They continued to party for each new performance, mindless of the cameras. In Gossip-filled world like ours it was refreshing to me to see such a high level of camaraderie between artists in the music industry.

Poetry Reflection

We have finally finished the poetry unit and I have to say that I have gained a new found respect for poetry. Through the countless classes or group work I have discovered how difficult it is to write poetry WITH OTHER PEOPLE. Everyone has their own thoughts and their minds work a little differently. The direction that I would sometimes like to take things may not necessarily work for other people. The really tricky part was coming to terms with that fact that this is okay. Through collaborations what was once a good poem to you could be expanded upon and become a very meaningful poem.

I have to say the the most difficult task that I had to overcome during this unit was not my blatant dislike of poetry, but was allowing other people to read my rough poems. As a writer I am strongly opposed to people reading any of my work, in any form of creative writing, before it is complete. I guess you could say that I am OCD that way. When compiling the poems for our final anthology, there were numerous classes devoted solely to the sharing of our poems with other students in the class. Regardless of the fact that I was reading their poems, just as they were reading mine, I was still very uneasy about it. To be honest I felt very exposed. Poetry is very different from story writing, it is more personal. Poems are like a direct expression of the writer's thoughts and emotions. My unpolished copies were very raw, at least in my eyes, and it hurt me to have to present these poems for criticism. Even praise was still taken with a feeling of discomfort.

But at least it is finally finished and my feeling can once again be my own! :)