We got practically a foot of snow last night. Uggggggggggh. I'm done with putting up with winter. Between starting shifts at a job for which I am not properly at bloody 6:30 in the morning, and the impending doom of the never-ending winter, I somewhat feel like crawling in a hole. Not a deep one though, as I would like to be out in about a week or so and for the summer. I think this has ben my worst winter ever. Not that it's been incredibly awful, but, meeeeh.
The Selkirk at the Delta holds about the same number of people as Le Cellier, but the dining is probably about three times the size. I need work shoes - I feel like I walk foreeeeever to get to the kitchen.
Blaaaah.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Today at work #1 I was listening to music, as usual. A song came on and I was thinking about how different songs spur up different memories. Now we shall take a wee stroll down memory lane... (Beware - most of these conjure visions of Scotland or Florida. And dear Shan - the first one makes me laugh every. single. time. I hear the song.)
That is all for the moment. Because I started typing this over two hours ago and then got gabbing on the phone and watching American Idol. Mwwwa. More song memories shall flood through my head as the night concludes. And tomorrow. And the day after.
Ta!
- Big Yellow Taxi - Filthy McNasty's, more specifically, the bartender (Ruairi?) that sang it all the time at karaoke. Even if I am in the saddest mood, play this song and I will laugh my face off.
- Sweet Child of Mine - Shan Courtney, Old Guy, and the Walkabout. Old Guy was there every Saturday night (as were we - after we got over the Filty's thing) and was big into the air guitaring. Everytime Sweet Child of Mine came on he would air guitar his lil' heart out. He would actually be on the floor/stairs leading up to the stage on his back. He had signature sunglasses that he wore all the time, except once in a while he would lend them out to his randomly changing posse.
- Wishes! - this was the music that played during the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. It opens with music, Jiminy Cricket, and children singing so sweetly it breaks your heart. And, umm, may make your eyes water a bit. Once the song/show is over, there is a condensed version playing as people leave the park, flood Main Street, or go back to going on rides. That part gives me such nice memories of walking down Main Street and makes me want to hug someone. Anyone. Play the song and come visit me if you need a hug.
- Me and Little Andy - by Dolly Parton. I used to sing this song when I was little. Looking at the lyrics, it was a rather sad song, but the deaf child in me didn't know the lyrics word for word, more so sounds and syllables randomly being strung together. Not too long after singing this song I was twirling/"dancing" and stepped on Brother's foot with my plastic high heels. Thanks to the watchful eyes of my parents, he didn't kill me.
- Kokomo - I "sang" this song after I stepped on Jeff's foot. I saw the Beach Boys in concert (TWICE) at Epcot during Food and Wine 2005 and realised I had the majority of the lyrics terribly wrong.
- O Canada - so this should fill me with patriotic warmth, but it actually reminds me of the F Bus and the Monday-night trips to Pleasure Island. For the unfamiliar, fill a coach bus with multiple, drunk nationalities "singing"/screaching at the top of their lungs. I always felt bad for the bus driver - Wayne.
- La Gasolina - Vanessa and I dancing with Food & Wine folk at Motion (PI).
- Living on a Prayer/almost anything Bon Jovi - The Three Sisters! That front, cave-like room. I recall once during the Fringe Fesitval being there late with Shan and a bunch of drunk guys standing on the benches along the wall singing along.
- Anything by Sean Paul - Ma soeur! Smiley/Titi, my French roommate from my first seven months in Florida =)
- Hella Good (No Doubt) - Heidi, singing at the Roost.
- I'm not a Girl, not yet a Woman - again, Heidi at the Roost. Specifically, her standing with the mic glaring at, I believe, Shan and I, and saying in a sad voice, "I thought I had friends..." because we refused to sing that with her. Eventually we felt guilty and uh, swayed in the background or something.
- Paradise by the Dashboard Lights - Filthy McNasty's. Someone ALWAYS sand it, and it was sooo long, but I liked it regardless.
- Old MacDonald Had a Farm - my cousin Keltie. This was one of her favourite songs when she was little - REALLY little! I remember her crying in the car on the way to Sussex in her car seat, and me singing it over and over and over and over and over and ooooooooover again.
- Bad Case of Loving You - (is that the name? Hmm) Grad week at Peake's!!! The pubcrawl on Thursday, and going there grad night on Saturday.
- Love Shack - Shan Curtis and I singing at the Roost. An awful, awful experience and I now hate the song. Two quotes: Shan, "I can't see the words!" (a consequence of our beverage choices for the few prior hours) and me, "Is it over yet?"
- Everytime We Touch - (by Cascada - I listen to her far too much at work) Mannequins!!!!! I love it. LOOOOOOVE it.
That is all for the moment. Because I started typing this over two hours ago and then got gabbing on the phone and watching American Idol. Mwwwa. More song memories shall flood through my head as the night concludes. And tomorrow. And the day after.
Ta!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Sometimes the sun is so misleading. Yesterday it was streaming in through my bedroom window, much like it is now, so I went bounding outside in a skirt thinking about what pair of sandals to wear. I came back in, and topped off my ensemble with a winter coat and boots. Sun does not necessarily equal warmth.
In good news,
It's now officially spring, so I survived aCanadian PEI winter. It was challenging by times, especially as I looked at pics of my friends still in Florida playing about in their shorts and t-shirts. Those days when I'd rather eat my banana pealing than run it outside to the compost. I won't say those days are over because it's still rare to get a temperature above freezing but *knock on wood* I think I won't be dealing with a -30C windchill again for AT LEAST EIGHT MONTHS!!! Probably longer due to the recent trend of late-starting winters.
On Friday night we had a impromptu "gathering of people" (Jannie: "We can't call it a party or someone might show actually expecting people to be here!") which was immensley entertaining. Jannie even captured some of our entertaining moments on video on my child/digital camera. Saturday afternoon I was hit with a very harsh reality upon watching said video: I am bloody annoying. AND I sound like a seven-year-old boy when I speak. Question: how do I have friends? Do they keep me around for entertainment? Quite possibly, quite possibly indeed.
In job developments, I have jobs. My time at Junior Achievement is over this week. It went reallly fast. Also this week I'm starting to work at the Delta. In the dining room. I have also been doing random administrative stuff at my mum's work.
Remember on Back to the Future II when Doc explains alternative 1985 to Marty? How life is the straight, horizontal line of destiny but a little choice throws you off the horizontal line and you skew diagonal? I am NO WHERE near my horizontal line. In fact, I feel like I'm a statistic that would be used to discuss the de-valuing of university degrees as they are so readibly available now on an over-saturated market. I pushed myself through a four-and-a-half-year program in four years, received scholarships/awards, and basically breezed through university pretty easily. That's not to say I didn't work hard, but I didn't mind doing it because it was mostly (in third and fourth year) stuff I enjoyed. (Except the DME marekting plan in Marking II. Not something I look back on fondly.) The point is, university graduation was almost three years ago and I feel that I am the statistic of why undergraduate degrees are over rated and losing their marketability. The other point is that I am impatient and being a moron, because really, I have been looking for a job only since mid January. So, like, just somewhat over two months. Not even as I haven't applied on a job in awhile.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote the Federal government GCT-1 test. It was quite easy. It was for an "administrative assistant" (which I later found out to be somewhat front desk work, greeting guests, and answering phones,) with Parks Canada at Dalvay. It's funny, because this type of position would be close to a minimum wage position at a non-government organization, perhaps paying, at most, $9.00/hr. But since this is a government position, it pays minimum approx $20/hr. Which is insane. No wonder so many people try to get into Government. Also making this position different than it's almost-minimum-wage equivalent is the hiring process. Applicants that successivly were screened through to the test-writing component were told that Parks was going to try and "really push this through" (as in make the hiring decision quickly) but the position's closing date was January 23 and I doubt they are anywhere near making a hiring decision. We wrote the GCT-1 test about two-and-a-half weeks ago and they were hoping to have our results within a week - week and a half. Hmm... Anyway, the next step for the position is a French oral and written test. Oye. The position is classified as CBC/bilingual imperative which, umm, probably puts me out of the running easily. My French is fine and gets me by; however, I think I would be extremely lucky to even get a BBA score. (In this case, A is the worst and C is the best.) I am learning that smiling excessivly during interviews gets me a job at Disney World or any service driven job, but doesn't necessarily work so well in "office" jobs. My office mate at JA was worried when she saw my resume that said I worked at Disney World. She was concerned I would be uber perky and, like, randomly break into song. But we actually get along very well because we both have a ridiculously dry sense of humour and laugh at the birds outside our windows.
This Saturday I am writing the govt's GCT-2 test for a position with Service Canada. It's a good thing I like writing tests =P I looked at the practice one online and it looks alright - all multiple choice, as most govt tests are. I did well on all the math/logic questions but the one that stated "What does 'SUCCINCT' mean?" Heh - NO idea. But of the seven practice questions, word definitions was only one of the questions. I figure if this ratio is reflective of the real test, I should do all right. I'm bound to know SOME of the definitions (although I may wish to amp to current reading from the Princess Diaries VII to something a little more substantial... like the dictionary) and I have a 25% chance of guessing the right answer.
I'm quite curious as to how much servers make outside of the Disney bubble. Before I worked at a ridiculously busy restaurant where most guests were on the Disney Dining Plan thus resulting in servers getting 18% of the guests' total bills. Pretty good as the DDP including an app, entree, dessert and drink. So I have very clear memories of making $195 one night (pre tax) and labelling that as a slow night. Oh Disney, how I miss thee on so, so many levels. Heh - we were $o $poiled.
I slept in today and it was AMAZING. I still (yes, STILL) haven't quite adjusted to going to bed at a "real" time. I'm generally snoozing by 12:30, and then have the urge to DIE when my alarm goes off at 6:45ish.
Now, I am off to do something productive. Well, sort of. Making long distance phone calls is classified as productive, right?
La fin.
In good news,
It's now officially spring, so I survived a
On Friday night we had a impromptu "gathering of people" (Jannie: "We can't call it a party or someone might show actually expecting people to be here!") which was immensley entertaining. Jannie even captured some of our entertaining moments on video on my child/digital camera. Saturday afternoon I was hit with a very harsh reality upon watching said video: I am bloody annoying. AND I sound like a seven-year-old boy when I speak. Question: how do I have friends? Do they keep me around for entertainment? Quite possibly, quite possibly indeed.
In job developments, I have jobs. My time at Junior Achievement is over this week. It went reallly fast. Also this week I'm starting to work at the Delta. In the dining room. I have also been doing random administrative stuff at my mum's work.
Remember on Back to the Future II when Doc explains alternative 1985 to Marty? How life is the straight, horizontal line of destiny but a little choice throws you off the horizontal line and you skew diagonal? I am NO WHERE near my horizontal line. In fact, I feel like I'm a statistic that would be used to discuss the de-valuing of university degrees as they are so readibly available now on an over-saturated market. I pushed myself through a four-and-a-half-year program in four years, received scholarships/awards, and basically breezed through university pretty easily. That's not to say I didn't work hard, but I didn't mind doing it because it was mostly (in third and fourth year) stuff I enjoyed. (Except the DME marekting plan in Marking II. Not something I look back on fondly.) The point is, university graduation was almost three years ago and I feel that I am the statistic of why undergraduate degrees are over rated and losing their marketability. The other point is that I am impatient and being a moron, because really, I have been looking for a job only since mid January. So, like, just somewhat over two months. Not even as I haven't applied on a job in awhile.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote the Federal government GCT-1 test. It was quite easy. It was for an "administrative assistant" (which I later found out to be somewhat front desk work, greeting guests, and answering phones,) with Parks Canada at Dalvay. It's funny, because this type of position would be close to a minimum wage position at a non-government organization, perhaps paying, at most, $9.00/hr. But since this is a government position, it pays minimum approx $20/hr. Which is insane. No wonder so many people try to get into Government. Also making this position different than it's almost-minimum-wage equivalent is the hiring process. Applicants that successivly were screened through to the test-writing component were told that Parks was going to try and "really push this through" (as in make the hiring decision quickly) but the position's closing date was January 23 and I doubt they are anywhere near making a hiring decision. We wrote the GCT-1 test about two-and-a-half weeks ago and they were hoping to have our results within a week - week and a half. Hmm... Anyway, the next step for the position is a French oral and written test. Oye. The position is classified as CBC/bilingual imperative which, umm, probably puts me out of the running easily. My French is fine and gets me by; however, I think I would be extremely lucky to even get a BBA score. (In this case, A is the worst and C is the best.) I am learning that smiling excessivly during interviews gets me a job at Disney World or any service driven job, but doesn't necessarily work so well in "office" jobs. My office mate at JA was worried when she saw my resume that said I worked at Disney World. She was concerned I would be uber perky and, like, randomly break into song. But we actually get along very well because we both have a ridiculously dry sense of humour and laugh at the birds outside our windows.
This Saturday I am writing the govt's GCT-2 test for a position with Service Canada. It's a good thing I like writing tests =P I looked at the practice one online and it looks alright - all multiple choice, as most govt tests are. I did well on all the math/logic questions but the one that stated "What does 'SUCCINCT' mean?" Heh - NO idea. But of the seven practice questions, word definitions was only one of the questions. I figure if this ratio is reflective of the real test, I should do all right. I'm bound to know SOME of the definitions (although I may wish to amp to current reading from the Princess Diaries VII to something a little more substantial... like the dictionary) and I have a 25% chance of guessing the right answer.
I'm quite curious as to how much servers make outside of the Disney bubble. Before I worked at a ridiculously busy restaurant where most guests were on the Disney Dining Plan thus resulting in servers getting 18% of the guests' total bills. Pretty good as the DDP including an app, entree, dessert and drink. So I have very clear memories of making $195 one night (pre tax) and labelling that as a slow night. Oh Disney, how I miss thee on so, so many levels. Heh - we were $o $poiled.
I slept in today and it was AMAZING. I still (yes, STILL) haven't quite adjusted to going to bed at a "real" time. I'm generally snoozing by 12:30, and then have the urge to DIE when my alarm goes off at 6:45ish.
Now, I am off to do something productive. Well, sort of. Making long distance phone calls is classified as productive, right?
La fin.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Random work-day thoughts:
• Definitely not a morning person. Still. And probably forever.
• I need to go to New York City to realize my child-hood dream of seeing Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. I didn’t do this when I was in NYC for my 23rd birthday (!!) because I was on podium and feeling poor. Now, the show closes at the end of July. After thirteen years of procrastinating, now is the time. I can fly from Ch’town for about $500. I need to go. Plus this time I won’t be trudging about in NYC the day after a storm, so site-seeing may be a wee bit easier!
• I bought a wee radio with headphones (about the size of an MP3 player) at the Dollar Store a few days ago. The radio was crap and wouldn’t pick up any stations in the gym. I figured that was acceptable, I mean, we are talking Dollar Store here. The earphones worked well though, so I figured it was really a one-dollar investment on earphones. Until I yanked them out of the radio too quickly this morning and they broke. So my $1.16 investment was terrible. Should have put it in an RRSP…
• You know, it’s cheaper to go to London Gatwick from Halifax than it is to go to NYC (La Guardia, I think,) from Ch’town. Oh, and flying is starting to make me feel morally irresponsible thanks to the talk I went to delivered by David Suzuki. So I’m feeling a bit torn because I loooove traveling and driving is just not an option for so many destinations. Nor is bus, or the non-existent PEI rail.
• I admit to stick checking the weather in Orlando, and usually sighing sadly followed by longing glances out the window.
• I’m excited to walk home today as it’s, apparently, like, eight degrees outside!!!!! Which is better be, because I’m wearing a skirt and don’t have any pants with me.
• Definitely not a morning person. Still. And probably forever.
• I need to go to New York City to realize my child-hood dream of seeing Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. I didn’t do this when I was in NYC for my 23rd birthday (!!) because I was on podium and feeling poor. Now, the show closes at the end of July. After thirteen years of procrastinating, now is the time. I can fly from Ch’town for about $500. I need to go. Plus this time I won’t be trudging about in NYC the day after a storm, so site-seeing may be a wee bit easier!
• I bought a wee radio with headphones (about the size of an MP3 player) at the Dollar Store a few days ago. The radio was crap and wouldn’t pick up any stations in the gym. I figured that was acceptable, I mean, we are talking Dollar Store here. The earphones worked well though, so I figured it was really a one-dollar investment on earphones. Until I yanked them out of the radio too quickly this morning and they broke. So my $1.16 investment was terrible. Should have put it in an RRSP…
• You know, it’s cheaper to go to London Gatwick from Halifax than it is to go to NYC (La Guardia, I think,) from Ch’town. Oh, and flying is starting to make me feel morally irresponsible thanks to the talk I went to delivered by David Suzuki. So I’m feeling a bit torn because I loooove traveling and driving is just not an option for so many destinations. Nor is bus, or the non-existent PEI rail.
• I admit to stick checking the weather in Orlando, and usually sighing sadly followed by longing glances out the window.
• I’m excited to walk home today as it’s, apparently, like, eight degrees outside!!!!! Which is better be, because I’m wearing a skirt and don’t have any pants with me.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
I want it more than I can tell
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they've got planned
Those are a portion of the lyrics from "Belle (Reprise)" from Beauty and the Beast. It just kind of popped in my head. Mostly I think the first two lines pertain to me as I have been feeling a little trapped on PEI lately. I know I can just get up and leave, but I almost feel guilty about wanting to leave. So many people like it here, why not me? I almost feel as though leaving is either me A) giving up, or B) being a snob and thinking I'm above PEI. I haven't given up on it yet, but I'm getting close. I am also definitely not a snob. I was thinking about it today in my mind's chain of random thoughts. In a job interview about a month ago I was asked to describe myself in one word. I should have been prepared for such a question, but I wasn't and definitely said something stupid. (Regardless, I still made it through to the next round of interviews?!) Before my interviews last Tuesday (the third of the previously mentioned and one for a server at the Delta) I came up with a good word to use. I then promptly forgot it minutes later. Today I thought of a word, again, but this time remembered it. It actually may have been the same word I previously thought of, but I cannot be positive on that.
Curious.
Yup, that's the word I came up with. It kind of developed from "discovery", which isn't an adjective thus cannot describe me. ("An adjictive describes a noun." Thank you, Mad Libs.) But I like discovering things. Discovering new places, new people, new adventures, new languages, etc. I think this is a solution to the "problem" - my curiosity. I like knowing how people got to "where they are". I like talking to people about their jobs, finding out what they do and what that job title really means. I like talking to people about their hometowns.
To sum up a bit of my current problem and relate it to the previous paragraph, I have discovered nothing since being in Charlottetown. (Relating to the town, not people.) I know Charlottetown. I went for a walk last weekend and discovered nothing new. I remember on nice weekends in Edinburgh I would just walk... or hop on a random Lothian Bus, hop off, and then walk. Usually I had an idea where I was as I knew the bus system ridiculously well. If I was ever stuck I could just scan the sky line for Arthur's Seat, the Castle, Calton Hill, the Walter Scott Monument, etc., and determine my approximate where-abouts. When all else failed, I would just find a bus stop and work from there. I really don't ever remember getting lost, and if I did, I had a mobile and, sometimes, a map.
This week was a good week. I worked part-time at Junior Achievement and part-time piloting the 2007 Tourist Exit Survey (TES). I don't really care for surveying people, and I quite hate bothering people but most people are good about it and it has quite a high response rate. I think I just don't feel very productive doing it because there are so many Islanders at the airport. Of the many people I talk to, very few are even eligable to fill in the survey. At JA I'm doing .... let's make it sound fancy! "Database administration." I have to do 100 hours over the span of five weeks. I am temporarly filing in for someone who is one a leave of absense for, shocker, five weeks. She was a part-time employee working twenty hours a week hence my time obligations. I plan on working more than twenty hours a week, and once the TES is over I'll be able to put in more hours than I put in this week (twenty seven).
On Friday afternoon I wrote the ... I can't remember the of it, but a government test required for a position I applied for back in January. The test itself was quite easy. Hee hee, I just looked at the job description again (which was very vague) and the language requirements are "bilungual imperative" with a pretty high standard for French (C-B-C). I wonder if, provided I get through to the next round, will I have to write a French test? Oye. I may have to consider myself out of the running if that's the case, although I *do* listen to the radio in French so that's a start. Also relating to the test which I found interesting, all the people writing it were female. Curious!
Ooh, time to hop off, I think Jannie is home from Victoria =) And I have to run to the toilet. AND I'm thirsty. AND I need to brush my teeth. Wow, busy times.
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