JB's Musings

So I was on facebook the other day and one of the random people on my list that I think I might have known in high school was bitching about how people nowadays say Happy Holidays and not Merry Christmas.

That person was saying that she/he doesn’t say Happy Holidays and feels that she/he shouldn’t have too.

This sort of bothered me….

I mean sure, it’s more widely known as the Christmas Holidays… but as a teacher I am well aware that not everyone celebrates Christmas. I don’t know if maybe I am just idealistic or something but I had thought that we had come to a point in time when people realized that each person is different with different beliefs. I figured that when I was saying Happy Holidays, I was doing it because if I wasn’t sure a person celebrated Christmas it was just nicer.

I mean I don’t want to NOT say anything, that’s just not in the spirit of the season. The holidays are a time for people to come together and to be merry and I figured that should include those people who have made the decision to follow their own faith, or beliefs.

SO why say Merry Christmas to someone who doesn’t celebrate it?

I mean let’s look at the two phrases individually….

Merry Christmas…

mer⋅ry

/ˈmɛri/

–adjective, mer⋅ri⋅er, mer⋅ri⋅est.

1.
full of cheerfulness or gaiety; joyous in disposition or spirit: a merry little man.

2.
laughingly happy; mirthful; festively joyous; hilarious: a merry time at the party.

3.
Archaic. causing happiness; pleasant; delightful.

 

Okay that’s not so bad… actually it’s quite good.

 

Now….

Christ⋅mas

/ˈkrɪsməs

1.
the annual festival of the Christian church commemorating the birth of Jesus: celebrated on December 25 and now generally observed as a legal holiday and an occasion for exchanging gifts.

 

Okay that’s great, if you are

a) Christian and
b) believe in Christ.

 

SO MANY PEOPLE DO NOT!!!!

 

So now.. Happy Holidays

hap⋅py

/ˈhæpi/

–adjective, -pi⋅er, -pi⋅est.

1.
delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing: to be happy to see a person.

2.
characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy: a happy mood; a happy frame of mind.

3.
favored by fortune; fortunate or lucky: a happy, fruitful land.

4.
apt or felicitous, as actions, utterances, or ideas.

5.
obsessed by or quick to use the item indicated (usually used in combination): a trigger-happy gangster. Everybody is gadget-happy these days.

 

Sounds a lot like Merry to me, doesn’t it?

hol⋅i⋅day

/ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ/

–noun

1.
a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.

2.
any day of exemption from work (distinguished from working day ).

3.
a time or period of exemption from any requirement, duty, assessment, etc.: New businesses may be granted a one-year tax holiday.

4.
a religious feast day; holy day, esp. any of several usually commemorative holy days observed in Judaism.

5.
Sometimes, holidays. Chiefly British. a period of cessation from work or one of recreation; vacation.

6.
an unintentional gap left on a plated, coated, or painted surface.

 

Okay so a holiday is a day off from work, can be of religious purpose, and a day when ordinary business is suspended…

 

Now wouldn’t you say Christmas IS a holiday?

I know I would… with that in mind I don’t see the problem with saying Happy Holidays.
I like to believe in inclusion and keeping things workable for all people no matter their beliefs or faith.

So, that is why I don’t see a problem with saying, Happy Holidays.
Sure, to those I know celebrate Christmas I still say Merry Christmas, but otherwise I like to keep things workable and open for all people.

 

T’is the season isn’t it?

-That’s all for now.

Jessica

So as a teacher it comes that sometimes I have to teach things that I never learned in school myself.

This happens mostly in my art class, however it’s not a concept that is foreign to me.

Right now my classes are working on point of view.

You know like drawing from different perspectives…..

 

Yes this doesn’t mean much right now but I am getting somewhere….

 

This weekend and last I have spent in front of a television with my marking watching the complete Sex and the City series… now I have done this before.. I’ve watched the series like 7 or 8 times now… and it’s always had a different effect on me.

I just finished washing the episode where Charlotte and Trey get married and although it always makes me cry, I've had a different thought about it each time I watched it and I’ve come to realize why.

I’ve always watched SatC while at different stages of my life….

My first viewing of the show was only months after being broken up with, I had no relationship in site however my social life was with a small close knit group of friends who I would see on a weekly basis.

The next time I was in Thunder Bay, at the beginning of a new relationship, on my own for the first time and learning a lot of new things.

Another time I watched the show was this January, when I had just recently moved in with my boyfriend. It was a new stage in life and things were getting serious….

Finally now I am watching it as a newly engaged woman, living with her fiancé, working on planning a wedding.

 

It’s just funny how each time I watched the series, I’ve related to it differently…. but there has always been something I loved about watching it…. maybe the next step will be as a new wife, and then pregnant (in a while) and finally as a new mother….

 

We’ll see how those different changes in point of view change the way I view this show…

So to sum it all up I’m using Sex and the City to plot the major changes in my life, in the last three years or so…. it’s kind of neat.

 

Okay I have to get back to marking…

Jessica

Well five minutes ago I walked in the door. About an hour ago I locked my classroom door.

The first day of school, marking the beginning of my first year teaching full time, has now come to an end.

I had a lot more fun this year on the first day than I did last year. For one I knew half of the students, so I had friendly known faces to look out for. As well I have made my classroom into something I consider my own. It’s a very lovely space to be and I almost didn’t want to leave this evening.

Thinking about it the way I felt last year, scared, knowing no one, in a new place.. is very similar to how our grade sevens must feel each year as they come in. They are the new kids, they don’t know the building, they don’t know the teachers or the routines. It’s intimidating.

However this year I was like a grade eight. I knew my way around I had friends among my colleagues, I had made a space for myself and I knew this year things would be different because they were going to go MY way.

It’s kind of funny how people who seem so very different on the outside (students and teachers) can feel exactly the same on the inside.

Enough about that, the school year has started and I am officially a Music, Art and Math teacher. I have planned my stuff for math until the end of this week and for art and music for this cycle (and possibly next for music). Art and Music are going to be tough with the subjects only happening once a week for an hour. Somehow we are going to figure it all out.

Somehow.

 

Well I guess that’s all for now.
Tootles
Jessica

Hello ladies and gentlemen… if there are any of you out there I don’t quite know but I decided it would be a good idea for me to get back in to journal writing. It’s relaxing and probably a good way for me to keep track of all the things happening in my life, and trust me it’s about to get 10 times busier!!!

So if you are just starting to read this now let me say that the previous entries were all written quite a while ago and most of them were created while I was in Thunder Bay learning to be a teacher. Some of them are quite whinny so read at your own risk.

Anyways.. so this summer has been crazy busy and there are still a couple weeks left in it which is awesome!

The first week off I spent in my classroom (I’m SUCH a geek) making it look pretty, and I must say that I think it’s gorgeous! I know since then Donna (one of the custodians at my school and one of my bestest buddies at Bliss ((ooo alliteration)) ) has given my floors oh so many coats of wax to make it nice and shinny. The walls are covered in brightly coloured posters, I have two new ‘bulletin boards’ and things are going to be much more organized and stuff. Sorry to any of you who have just left Bliss and might have happened on my blog…. you can always come back and visit though! I’m willing to give you volunteer hours!

Anyways… so the second week of July I spent training. I had signed up for TRIBES training and I had lots of fun during it and learned lots of fun techniques for the classroom… however I’ll have to implement them differently because I teach rotary.

The week after that my friend Lindsey and I went to Cleveland. The main reason was for the PEZ convention but we saw other things as well. The Rock and Roll hall of fame was my favourite for sure. As well although I was only gone for about a week, Tim sent me flowers at the hotel the second night we were there. More about him and his sweetness later though.

This here is Lindsey and I on the neat old elevator in our hotel.

Here is me with the beautiful flowers from Tim. So that was an awesome weekend and as some of you might know the following weekend is the one I had been looking forward too for months.

 

The Ren Faire.

Yes the following weekend Lindsey, my sister Stephanie, Tim and I headed back out to Ohio and spent time dressed as pirates. I had spent a good amount of my summer so far creating the costumes for both myself and my sister. Tim and I had spent countless hours searching for hats and accessories and this was the weekend it was all going to be worth it for.

Instead of telling you all about it I will link some pictures here…

This is Tim (he is dressed as a middle eastern pirate), my sister and myself waiting for the faire to begin.

  

At a local park we decided to be kids again… those swings were scary!!

Lindsey and I on the slide!! Weeee!

My sister and I on a climbing thingy…I was shaking up there, I’m horrible at climbing things!

Tim and my sister playing Guitar Hero at a local arcade. My sister won.

  The three females in costume!

The captain(me) and her Quartermaster who is flying our colours (the flag).

 

Okay that’s enough of those pics I think, if you happen to be reading this and you want to see me just post a comment.

So the following weekend Tim and I had plans to do nothing! It was the only weekend this summer we were NOT going to do anything. Tim suggested we go out for dinner somewhere nice as it had been about two years since we met. So we dressed up and went to Scaramouche, a place he’d been telling me about since we first started dating. The food was delicious and the view of downtown Toronto was amazing! However what happened between dinner and dessert is the reason this weekend will always be the one I remember the most this summer. Right after dinner and just before dessert Tim got down on one knee and purposed to me!!! Of course I said yes! So he is no longer my boyfriend but my fiancé instead! There is a picture from that night as well as a couple from a few days later when my mom and I went to get my ring sized.

Our waiter brought us ginger ale in Champaign flutes when we told him we don’t drink. As you can see I couldn’t stop smiling! Then again who could blame me?

Tim got the ring in a generic size and we got it sized after he purposed, this is when I picked it up.

The ring on my finger for the first time!

Yes I know they aren’t great pictures, but soon enough Tim and I are going to take proper pictures of the ring and I will post them here when that is done.

Anyways, so since then I’ve been floating on engaged bliss. I love planning things and now I have a wedding to plan. We don’t have a date yet, but heck wedding magazines are fun to look through!!

The following weekend we were supposed to go to Montreal, but our plans fell through and instead we stayed home. We went to taste of the Danforth  and had yummy Greek food and we drove out to Barrie to get my Grandmother home.

Oh oh! I almost forgot! The week after we got engaged, Tim made another purchase! He now owns a black convertible Camaro. It’s a gorgeous car and we’ve had a lot of fun cruising around in it.

This picture was take when we were first looking at the car, and is with the previous owner driving as Tim had not yet mastered the art of stick shifting.

So this weekend we went away, not to Montreal as previously planned but instead we rented a little condo in a chalet near Blue Mountain. We went to the beach, saw waterfalls, drove on some amazing roads, and just had a generally good time. I don’t have the pictures for that yet but when I do I will put them here.

So now I have a few weeks of summer left and I have other plans. My good friend I met in Teacher’s college is coming to Toronto on friday, I’m babysitting my cousins this weekend, I’m going to see a show in Stratford, there is still the EX… and that doesn’t include all the work I need to do to get ready for this school year.

What a summer huh?

It’s been a blast!

Alright that’s all for now.
Tootles
Jessica

Yes it's been awhile.. not this is not where I will bring y'all up to date I will do that another time. Instead right now I'm feeling all Christmassy and I have a need to muse about a couple things.

So in my family Christmas is a very special time of year.
It's my favorite time of year as everyone is happy, together and there are not many bad surprises. Things are traditional and done a certain way, and I tend to like that in life. Christmas Eve we have dinner, generally at Grandma's but that part doesn't need to stay the same. We have perogies, plachinki, cabbage rolls, bubbly bake, kolbasa, and anything else they decide to add that year. It's when I get to see Uncle Chris, Trish and the kids, and it's when we exchange gifts. I guess over the years I've taken this tradition for granted, as I've always expected it to be. There was one year we didn't do it but that was because Grandma was ill, otherwise it has ALWAYS happened. This year I was faced with the horror that it might not actually happen. Mom was in no shape to do it, and Grandma is 80 and can't be expected to continue to do it every year as it is a lot of work to host a big dinner for 13 people. I understand these reasons, but it made me unexplanably sad. I couldn't help it, without Christmas Eve dinner there was no Christmas in my eyes. It's something I've always done, and something I plan to continue with when and if I have children. So it was decided that if I help out the three days before Christmas, Grandma and I could do it.  I felt quite relieved but it got me thinking about traditions, and really the only REAL traditions my family has are the ones around Christmas. Of course I havn't just been thinking about our traditions but traditions in general. I mean some of them seem so very silly, to outsiders, but when it's a tradition that you've been observing since you can remember than it's something more than just a silly routine.

I was on a forum the other night and I saw a topic about Christmas Eve and new jammies. It made me smile because even when she couldn't afford it, mom always managed to get my sister and I new jammies for Christmas Eve. Even now, she tries, of course it's a little harder to find something that fits (me anyways) as well the jammies are a little more expensive so that tradition isn't always a yearly thing. Which is fine, but when it does happen it's all that more special because it reminds me of when I was younger and how lucky I was to have the mom I had. I don't know if she's done it again for this year but I look forward to finding out. She's always tried to hide the fact she bought the jammies, and sometimes she can be very clever about it. However Stephanie and I usually know it's coming before it does.

So jammies aside I had an experience today that really got me thinking. I was over at my Grandma's dealing with a seating emergency (basically figuring out how we were going to fit 13 people in her apartment) and I suddenly asked her where her chimes were. She said she hadn't put them up. Now let me explain, when I was little Grandma always had these two chimes, one with Santa on it one with Santa and Mrs Claus, they also had some holly and other Christmassy stuff. To me they were magical. Uncle Chris used to lift me up and run me down the hall so I could hit them and hear them tinkle. So today Grandma knew where the chimes were and we got them out. I took a really good look at them and I realized that they have seen better days. All they were, was some plastic figurines, with their paint flacking off, ontop of some plastic holly connected to some metal chimes with fishing wire. I was a little discouraged. Where was the magical chimes from my childhood. These couldn't be the same ones..... Then I rang them and the smile returned to my face. It didn't matter than the chimes looked like they were 30 years old and about to fall apart, they still sounded magical and the sound of them brought me back to so many Christmases ago. I told her we had to put them up and we did.

It's this that really got me thinking and I realized that it's not the items that are special because they are expensive or beautiful, but the memories that go along with them and the magic of Christmas that makes them light up the eyes of many of my family members when they ring.

After we hung up the chimes Grandma and I were talking about Christmases past and I brought up the walking santa. When I was like two my Grandma bought me this Santa that plays We Wish You a Merry Christmas, walks and rings his bell. For 1985 it was pretty cool. She gave it to me last year, and told me to keep it for my children and my place when I decorate for Christmas. Mom and I took Santa out last year and tried to turn him on, and he didn't work. We changed the batteries, and still no life. This was upsetting because even though Santa's suit was not as soft as it had once been, his beard was a little grey looking and the bell had almost lost it's ringy ding it was still my Ho Ho. I think I'm going to take the little guy to someone to see if he can be fixed.

Yup so that's my thoughts at the moment, and yes I know they are random but this is my journal so you can deal with it.
Basically to sum it all up, I love traditions, no matter how silly, or old or crummy, they just make the holiday season the special thing it is for me. I'm not a huge fan of change that I have no control over, and Christmas time is the one time of year where I usually know exactly what to expect and when. This is (I've concluded) why I love Christmas so very much.

Alright well Happy Holidays to all that are reading this.
Who knows, I might post again soon....
Jessica

So folks, it's finally happened.
This bear has finished school.
I'm done.
The last day of my placement was last friday.
I got my assessment and did rather well on it.
I'll be graduating, the end of May.
Oh yes, and I'm on the Ready to Hire List for th TDSB.

Life moves on at a pace that I can't seem to slow down.
The snow that was here for the last entry is gone, the weather is beautiful, the grass green and the air fresh.
I do love spring.

So I'm right now off for a couple of weeks. The main concern is cleaning my room. It's still such a mess. Well not as bad as it was yesterday morning as I spent some time working on it then, however it is still not up to my standards.
Not quite sure what else to put here, I'm going to keep this place as active as possible because it's nice to be able to put down my thoughts every once in a while.
Never know what I'm going to say right?
Okay that's all for now.
Tootles
Jess

So I'm sitting in the middle of a snow storm.
It's blowing like crazy.
However I'm not where you might have assumed I am.
This bear has finally come home.

As I said in my last entry, it was really hard to say good bye to everyone.
I hate goodbyes, I really do.
I'm a suck when it comes to emotional situations, I cry watching movies, I cry watching TV shows and I cry when I have to leave someone.
I think part of the reason I hate goodbyes is that it's so hard for me to find people I can connect with, and I found that in Thunder Bay. There were people there I could spend endless hours with and still have a million things to talk about, people I could joke about anything with, people who had similar thoughts and feelings as I do, and people who I could really have a good rant session with. Leaving that all behind feels very surreal... I mean it still hasn't hit me that I'm going to be staying here.
I'm not just here for a week and then have to go back to TB. I'm actually here for good.

Obviously being home has its advantages as well; mostly that I get to see everyone I left behind when I headed on my own to TB.
I wish it was possible to combine the friends I had in TB with the people I love here... I wouldn't care where I ended up living.. just as long as the people I cared about were close enough for me to call to come together on a whim. Heck! Even if we all had to move to Yellowknife I'd be fine with that!!!!

 Ok that's enough of that for now, it's probably something I'm going to be musing on for quite sometime but I don't have to do it all here, all right now.

So I now have a full week ahead of me, off from school.
And there is actually a list of things I want/need to get done. So I figure I can list them here so I don't forget what I want/have to do.

1. Meet with Dad on Monday
2. Dinner with peoples Tuesday night
3. Babysit Wednesday night and spend Thursday with the cousins.
4. Check out any 'teacher stores' in toronto
5. Write some letters to peoples, to practice my cursive writing.
6. Organize my room in a way in which it will be functional while I'm at my placement.
7. Fill out the applications for varies things I need to do.
8. Pay off the LD phone bill from Lakehead.

There are other things, but it's not like I have to do it ALL this week, because I'm not going anywhere.

All right that's all for now. I need to go.. do something... I think.

Tootles for now!
<3 Jess!

 So it's February 21st.
It's a Thursday night and most of the first years who live in my building are not here at the moment.
It's their reading week, and only us Education peoples have class.
The time is counting down, tomorrow it will be two weeks until I am home again, and this time for good.
In a way I am really excited about being home, I'll get to see the people I've missed, and I'll have a whole week off before I get to start my placement. I am looking forward to being in the classroom again.

School has been it's usual, busy and full of things.
At this point I really just want it to be over, no more essays, no more group projects, no more flaky group memebers.... I'm so done with all of that.
However leaving Thunder Bay has it's down side.
I have made a lot of friends here.
I know the last time I was writing here I was complaining about not having any real friends, well at that point they weren't here, they had gone home for their placements. I've realized that the real friends I've made are the people who I've met in the Education program. These are some really awesome people, and girls who I can just really talk too. It's so great, but two weeks from now I'm leaving them and we are all going on our merry ways.
It's sort of sad.
Talk about some mixed feelings!
Well the two weeks are going to be some busy ones. I have to pack up a bunch of boxes and send them home. I'm going to be getting some boxes maybe tomorrow or sometime this weekend. I want to send this stuff so I don't have to worry about it anylonger, and not worrying is always a good thing.

Saturday night Renee is hosting a Sex and the City party. It's going to be fun regardless of how many people are going to show up or not. The following Saturday we have formal. A bunch of us girls rented a room for getting ready before the formal and for spending the night in after.
It's going to be A LOT of fun.

My last day here is going to be interesting.
That morning I have a math exam, and then there is about 10 hours until I need to be on the plane. I know I am going to want to spend  as much time as possible during that day with my friends. Saying goodbye is always hard.... and this time it almost feels like a good bye and not a see you soon, because really I don't know how long it's going to be before I see any of them again. It's going to be an emotional day regardless.

On a MUCH happier note, in January I had an interview with the TDSB, I got the interview before I even sent in my resume, it was rather surreal... and then yesterday Michelle (one of my references) informed me that they called her. It's so exciting, so tecnically within the next two weeks I should be getting a letter from the board telling me if I'm on the ready to hire list or not. *bites nails* Can you guess who is going to be checking her mail everyday?

Ok well that's all for now.
I need to get some sleep as I have a boomwhacker presentation tomorrow.
Tootles
Jess

 

Hey all. So it's been almost a month since my last update.
Placement is amazing. I don't know what else to say about that really, I have an amazing associate and I'm team teaching with someone who's really making it fun and easy. I'm teaching, and I love it.
So I've got some news. I changed my second placement to one in Toronto. I was given the opportunity and after talking to a lot of people and taking it all into consideration I knew it's just going to be better for me if I do a placement in the board I want to work in, get myself some contacts. So I come home March 7th to stay. How all my stuff is getting home I have yet to figure out.
My birthday was amazing, and the 10 days lil Jess was here was so very awesome. Having her here really made the time go by fast and I felt more connected to everyone again. If you want to see my birthday pictures you can follow this link here.
http://lakeheadu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2245739&l=dc880&id=48908408
Those are the pictures from my birthday.

So it's less than two weeks until I come home, and I have to say I am really really looking forward to it.
Sure I love it up here, I have friends (at least I think I do, more on that to come), I love my placement, and I'm getting along fine on my own...
However sometimes it feels so superficial, and I just want the people I know care about me.

I don't know exactly what brought this on.. it's probably a mixture of a couple of things.
First of all, last night was Res Formal, I didn't go because first of all I'm not on the meal plan and I wasn't paying for that, secondly I didn't have a dress and finally in the end I thought that even at the after party I would end up with no one to hang out with. I knew that if I had gone with the girls to the Outpost I would have ended up on the sidelines watching. It would be partially my choice because the party scene is not my scene but somehow I just see myself being left behind. Like I said before there is that superficial feeling... I think I might be in a bad mood partially because last night I went to bed early, and was woken no less than five times because of all the drunken drama that was going on in my apartment. It's bull shit, complete and utter highschool drama bull shit.

So that's one thing that's making me all anti-optimistic......
The other thing is similar and happened just now.
A whole bunch of us went outside to play in the snow.
It was fun, we played some snow football, I played a little but had more fun watching.... until I put my hand in my pocket and realized my keys were gone.
We've got 2 feet of snow up here and some snow drifts that are seriously up to my waist. I was ready to cry.
Not only was it my keys, which are $150 to replace ($150 that right before Christmas I don't have) but they had a couple of really special key chains on them as well. The scorpio one that my mom gave me that was from when she was in highschool, the one Invy bought me at the airport in Texas as well as my D6. So there I was frantically searching through the snow.. I told a couple people as they asked me what I was doing, but no one took any interest to help. It wasn't until they were all done that Bill (of all people) asked everyone to help me look.... there were some very half hearted attempts. I had a mental picture of myself out there on my own until late into the night looking for my keys. However by some miracle while kicking though the acres of snow I found them. I couldn't believe it. The relief that washed over me was amazing. As we walked back to the front of the building I realized that these people that I considered friends didn't even really seem to care that I had been upset. I mean one of them said "So we come back out in April?" It's kind of hard to come to a realization like that.

So that's what's got me really wanting to be home.
I miss everyone, and I just want to be with the people who really truly care....

On a happy note, I have a snow day tomorrow, so this week is going to be a short week...
Yey!
13 more days......
See you all soon.
Jess

 

Hello all.
I know it's been a very long time since I updated here and let everyone know. There have been some little updates that I didn't send out a message for, but otherwise, I've been a bad journal-er. I have excuses, 12 of them actually and they take the form of 12 university classes.  A year ago if you had told me I'd do 12 classes in 9 weeks I would have laughed so very hard at you, but that is exactly what I just did.

Did being the best word in the world right now.
As of Thursday Nov. 8th at 12:30pm, I was officially done any sort of class until January. It was such a relieft. However looking back I thought that these last couple of weeks were going to be stressful for homework, and that I was going to go crazy, but they weren't that bad. I have my lovely group members to thank for some of that, as well we all just seemed to keep on top of things. Most of us even had Wednesday night free, and handed in our assignments before the last day. That's something I'm pretty proud of doing because in the end I always wait until the last day.Had a little extra motivational help to keep myself working on my unit plan.

So Wednesday night, I went out with three of the girls I call my friends here in Thunder Bay. Renee and stayed together after class. We came back to my Res, so I could change and I found a message on my answering machine from my associate teacher, more about that in a little bit. She basically held my hand while I nervously called him. As we walked to the bus she realized her purse was missing! We went back to Res and it wasn't there, we were on our way to the Bora Laskin Building to check there when I realized I had forgotten my ID (they seem to ID everyone who enters a bar in here Thunder Bay) so I went back there and she went to the ED building and we planned to meet at the bus stop. When I got to the bus stop finally I found a smiling Renee, luckily she found her purse and that crisis was averted. Then we went out to pick some things up, and back to her place for Spaghetti. Yum! We watched some Sex in the City and ate the Spaghetti as well as some little chocolate bars (Renee and I had gone the previous week , discount candy shopping and we both had WAY too much candy). We called Rachael and Rebecca and made the plans. Eventually we all found ourselves in this great little pub called Madhouse. It reminded me of a mixture of Mirage and the Ab. Very nice and a great place to sit and talk for hours, which is exactly what we did. Let me mention that through all this Thunder Bay was getting it's first real snow fall and I was on top of the world because of it. I took some pictures but the one below is the one the waiter took of me and the girls.

Rachael, Rebecca, Rennee and Me!

When we all decided it was time to go home I told Renee that I would stay up with her and help her pack if she wanted. She was leaving for home the following day. In the end the both of us just ended up crashing on the couch watching more episodes of Sex in the City. It was fun and we really enjoyed ourselves. She has a very comfy couch.

So some of you might be thinking, well if she's done classes what the heck is she doing in Thunder bay!? Well let me tell you. I will be starting my placement tomorrow (Nov. 12th 2007). I called the school I will be going to Monday night and left a message for my teacher. I was going to do it earlier, but you all know me, my procrastination and my fear of phoning people. I already knew I would be team teaching with another Teacher Candidate, and he had messaged me on Web-Ct saying he had already gone in and met the teacher, so I was even more nervous because now I was behind the other guy. (Yes I know I get far too anxious about things). So like I said I came home to a message on my machine Wednesday night, my teacher had left his cell number. So with Renee in the room for support I called him and waited anxiously for him to answer. He did and he asked if it was possible for me to come in on Friday to meet and for the three of us to discuss our plans for the next five weeks. I said that would be fine. He told me the other candidate was up and ready to teach right away and to basically throw the suggested plan of observation for the first week, 25% teaching the second week etc etc out the window. Basically I was being told I would be jumping right in as a teacher full time. He also informed me he was teaching music to the grade 7 & 8's and he knew nothing about it... so he was glad to have me in his class. When I hung up I was a little more nervous because I wasn't sure I was ready to just start teaching. However he sounded like a good guy, and the short conversations on Web-Ct I had had with the other candidate teacher had him sounding like a good guy as well.
So Friday morning came.
I was dressed and ready to go. We had plans to meet at 12:15. So in my usual Jessica fashion I left the house so early that I arrived at the school 50 minutes early. So I went for a walk to waste time. I found an A&P and a couple other stores that I didn't know were there. When I finally worked up the nerve to stop walking past the school I walked in and went to the office. I gave them my police record check and my TB test and asked where the class was. I had been under the impression I was going to be teaching a grade 6/7 split which is the split from hell because it's between the junior and intermediate division. I soon found out that had been changed and I was actually in the grade 8 class. As we walked up the stairs I was told the other teacher candidate was already there, and I was introduced to the principal as she held the door. So once again this teacher candidate was there before me. :P. Well the meeting went well, both of the guys are great peoples. We stayed for the rest of the day to get an idea of the class. They seem to be really good students. Chris and I have been givin material and told to plan. Our teacher doesn't want us to be up all night writing detailed lesson plans, as long as we know what we are doing, how we are doing it, and what the students will get out of it. He said he wants us to still have social lives. As well he has told us the classroom will be ours, we can change it around if we like we can do as we please. We are taking over. We can tag team lessons, we can teach together, we can take turns, it's going to be up to us. I think I'm only slightly nervous, because right now I feel like I'm grasping at straws, but I think I like this idea of taking over a lot better than being a student teacher observing. This is going to give me a better experience. Of course the fact I'm not doing this all alone is very helpful indeed. So at the end of the day Chris offered me  a drive home because he had his girl friends car. He said he normally wouldn't pick a purple car, but it was hers. I had to laugh when I saw the exact car Steve drives, and insists is not purple. Well I was just informed it is. :P So guys here's what I look like in my responsible adult clothing. Some of the people here said I looked good, and teacher like. Catherine said it took her a second to recognize me. Personally I am more comfortable in my jeans and t-shirt, but I must say I'm glad I bought the shoes. I got some Dr. Scholl's and they are so very comfortable, and professional looking.


This was post rest of day, so the hair is a little muddled up, but otherwise I think you get the idea.

So this weekend was exciting for another reason. My newest D&D campaign was starting. I'm not sure how I got the idea started, but somehow I ended up with eight guys wanting to learn how to play. Over the previous two weeks, they've been spending some time with mean making characters. I've been given some really great elaborate background stories, and the geekiness was a nice distraction from work. Yesterday was the day we started the game. We waitied for everyone to wake up, which took until about 3pm, because these are university students we are talking about. I was up at 10am and getting ready. As well most of these guys had just downloaded the ten day trial of WoW... so we had to pull some of them off that. (I love the fact I have geeks in my house). We took over the common room, the five couches and we set up three coffee tables. I opened the module, a little apprehensive as I knew I'd not had great success with modules in the past. In the end we got through 2 goblin battles, and did some in character chatter and we needed to end. There were some really creative uses of spells, and the game was a blast. I had a good time, but I was getting tired after four hours. Most geeks will know that a four hour game is not at all a long one and not much can get done, especially with eight players in a turn based battle system.....
However we stopped, and decided we want to play next week, possibly on my Birthday. The best part of that game is going to be the fact that Lil Jess will be there, and I will have some female support.

Lenny watching as Brad trying to hide from the camera, I think he's a bit of a closet geek.

Luca Fronzie and Hawt Dawg (Mike) Yes I know it's fuzzy, but I'm getting better at not doing that with this camera.. it's hard..

Hawt Dawg, Mike and a bit of Lenny, as well as what was left of my Halloween candy. I wanted it gone, so I figured the best way to do that was to use it as an offering of sweets at a D&D game with eight male university students.

Blake my necro and Will my cleric. Will is also a Visual Art major, I think I'm going to be talking to him about a character portrait for my favorite little blonde haired gnome...

DICE STACKING! We weren't even officially started yet and already my players were dice stacking, I feel so proud!

You read that right. Little Jess will be here. I'm very excited. She's busing it up here and will be arriving 10:40 Wendesday night. She's staying here from the 14th - 24th. I've discussed it with the roomies and they are all fine with it. Even with the fact that during the day, she'll more than likely be here, and I will not because from 8-4ish I will be in a classroom teaching. I figure, she's closer in age to all my housemates than I am, she's probably going to get along better with them than I do! Everyone is looking forward to meeting her, and I know in the end we are going to have a blast. Yesterday RA Jess (my roomie) came in to my room (which never happens) and asked what I'd like to do for my birthday. She suggested going to Boston Pizza with a group of people. I said I'd be all for that, as I had just spent an awesome Tuesday night there studying with a group of Ed students for the Psych exam, and it had been so much fun. Yes I just said studying and fun in the same sentence. So the plan for the B-day is a game and then off to Boston Pizza. Should be fun.

All right folks, that's all for now, I got me some planning, and shopping to do.
Love you all
Miss you all
Jessica
The one and only.

 

 

TEACHER: We're the Alliance. We're good and noble and only want to help everybody, and we'll totally kick your ass if you dare say different.

YOUNG RIVER: I don't care, you're meddlesome and you poke things into people's heads.

TEACHER: No we don't. *Pokes pen into River's head*

DOCTOR: Ah, she's dreaming again. *Pokes probe into River's head*

SIMON IN MILITARY DRAG: Do I make you nervous?

SIMON FANS: Awwwww, isn't he CUTE?

SIMON: *Stuns everybody with some funky device and rescues River*

OPERATIVE: Freeze frame.

DOCTOR: How dare you watch my video!

OPERATIVE: You idiot, you put key members of Parliament in a room with a psychic! You should fall on your sword.

DOCTOR: I don't have a sword.

OPERATIVE: *draws sword*

DOCTOR: Gulp.

OPERATIVE: *kills guards, paralyzes doctor with Secret Vulcan Hip Pinch, kneels with sword upraised* This is a good death. We're building a better world. And I'm a total fucking psychopath.

DOCTOR: *Falls on sword* Gurk!

OPERATIVE: Now where are you hiding, little girl?

JOSS WHEDON: Wasn't that a cool bunch of transitions? Now watch the intro scene designed for people who haven't seen the series! I promise you'll like it anyway!

SERENITY: *Flies through space, goes in for re-entry*

FANS: Woo-hoo!

PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE SERIES: Why is everybody cheering?

SERENITY: *loses piece off her nose*

MAL: What was that?

WASH: This is going to be interesting. By the way, if you saw the series, you know I'm the lovable, mild-mannered pilot with a deadpan sense of humor.

MAL: Define "Interesting."

WASH: (deadpan) Oh god, oh god, we're all going to die?

FANS SEEING THE MOVIE FOR THE FIRST TIME: LOL! Even if Whedon kills off a character, as he's been known to do, it couldn't possibly be Wash!

FANS SEEING THIS AGAIN BECAUSE JOSS WHEDON IS OUR MASTER: Whedon, you bastard!

JAYNE: I'm a badass with lots of big guns. If you saw the series, you know there's a town where they think I'm like Robin Hood.

ZOE: I'm a bigger badass than he'll ever be, even though I only have one gun. If you saw the series, you know I fought in the big war with Mal and then married Wash.

KAYLEE: I'm the cute, happy, earthy mechanic. If you saw the series you know I totally want to jump Simon's bones.

SIMON: You can't take my sister along on this dangerous job!

MAL: Watch me. River, do you know what you're doing?

RIVER: Do you?

MAL: Pffft. This is what I do.

Joss Whedon: Yeah, baby. This is what I do.

FANS: WOW! That shot went on for like ten minutes without a single cut! That was way cool! Wait a minute, where are Inara and Book?

JAYNE: Let's be bad guys.

GUARD: You need authorization!

JAYNE: *Opens fire*

GUARD: OK!

MAL: Shiny!

RIVER: *Goes into a fit*

JAYNE: Reavers!

REAVERS: GRAAAR!

EVERYBODY ELSE: Run away like little girls!

MAN FROM BAR: Take me with you!

MAL: No! I have to show how dark I am in this movie! *Knocks him down*

REAVERS: GRAAR!

MAN FROM BAR: Augh!

MAL: Bang!

MAN FROM BAR: Gurk.

REAVERS: Aw, man, why'd you hafta go spoil our dinner?

MAL, ZOE, JAYNE, RIVER: Zoom.

REAVER SHIP: GRAAAAR!

SERENITY: *Scoops up away team, plus a piece of the Reaver ship*

REAVER: GRAR!

EVERY CREWMEMBER WITH A GUN: Bang!

REAVER: Gurk.

RIVER: He didn't lie down. They never lie down.

EVERYBODY ELSE: We're going to ignore that bit of foreshadowing because she's always spouting crazy shit like that.

SIMON: How dare you risk River's life! We're off the ship next chance we get!

KAYLEE: No, wait!

MAL: Fine, leave.

KAYLEE: I guess this is goodbye, but because I'm too scared to tell you I totally want to jump your bones, I'll give you advice instead. *Leaves*

SIMON: Boy, I totally wanted to jump her bones. *Leaves*

KAYLEE (to MAL): Gorrammit, I totally wanted to jump his bones!

MAL: He probably didn't want you. If I wanted someone I'd go get her.

KAYLEE: Tell that to Inara! *Leaves*

FANS: Woo-hoo! Go Kaylee!

WEIRD ASIAN-LOOKING ADVERTISEMENT: I'm not a subliminal message!

SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: River, set kickass mode ON!

RIVER: Miranda! *Kicks everybody's ass, including Jayne's*

SIMON: (In Russian) River, set kickass mode OFF!

RIVER: *Faints*

MAL: You got some 'splaining to do!

WASH: Tell me the story again, I love it when Jayne gets his ass kicked by little girls! Especially since he can't stop me from teasing him about it because he's scared of my wife!

MR. UNIVERSE: I'm a hacker with all kinds of cool stuff, but I have a lovebot, so I guess that means I'm pathetic and have no life. Well, enough about me, the Alliance knows who you are so you better run like little girls.

MAL & CREW: *run like little girls*

BOOK: Finally I get a scene. They're going to send an Operative after you.

MAL: You know an awful lot about the Alliance. Someday you have to tell me about that.

BOOK: No I don't.

JOSS WHEDON: *snicker*

FANS SEEING THIS AGAIN BECAUSE JOSS WHEDON IS OUR MASTER: Whedon, you bastard!

INARA: Finally I get a scene too! I'm going to call Mal and not fight with him so he knows it's a trap and won't come.

MAL: It's a trap. Let's go.

OPERATIVE: I'm unarmed.

MAL: Bang!

OPERATIVE: But I do have armor, you idiot. Shoulda gone for the headshot. *Kicks Mal's ass*

INARA: That's not incense!

NOT INCENSE: FLASH-BANG!

MAL and INARA: *Run like little girls.*

JAYNE: Why do we even have these gorram people on board?

MAL: You want to run the ship?

JAYNE: YES!

MAL: Well... you can't!

FANS: LOL!

JAYNE: I'm going to slander your war record.

MAL: *smolders*

ZOE: You want to leave this room.

JAYNE: *Runs like a little girl* I hate it when she does that. Now I'm going to go take care of that little psycho.

RIVER: *Hides on ceiling* Thwack!

CREW: Crap, she's locked us out!

MAL: *sneaks*

RIVER: *points gun at Mal* Go to planet Miranda.

ZOE: All the Reavers in the 'verse are in the way!

MAL: We're going to run like little girls instead.

CREW: Oh shit, they shot up Book's planet!

BOOK: I wish my last moments had a better camera angle than right up my nose! *dies*

FANS SEEING THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME: Augh! They killed Book! Well, OK, at least it could have been worse. Whedon's shot his wad, and we won't lose anybody else.

JOSS WHEDON: *snicker*

CREW: Oh shit, they shot up all our friends' planets too!

OPERATIVE: This is all your fault. We're making a better world. And by the way, I'm totally fucking psycho.

MAL: *snaps* OK, fine! We're disguising ourselves as Reavers and going to Miranda!

SERENITY IN REAVER DRAG: *sneaks through Reaver fleet*

CREW: Oh please, oh please let this work!

JAYNE: *Cradles gun* Oh please, oh please don't let me piss myself!

CREW: Whew. Wait, this planet is full of people who died for no apparent reason.

JOSS WHEDON: *points camera at Wash for no apparent reason*

FANS SEEING THIS AGAIN BECAUSE JOSS WHEDON IS OUR MASTER: AAAUGH! Whedon, you bastard!

WOMAN IN VIDEO: We meant to make everybody calm and happy. They got so calm they happily lay down and starved to death. We didn't mean it, honest!

OFFSCREEN IN VIDEO: GRAAAR!

WOMAN IN VIDEO: By the way, some of the people did not get calm and happy and lay down.

NOT CALM, NOT HAPPY PERSON IN VIDEO: GRAAAR! Munch munch munch.

MAL: I'm tired of running like a little girl. I aim to misbehave.

OPERATIVE: Ha ha, here I am with a bunch of big ships and you're coming straight at me with your dinky little freighter!

ALL THE REAVERS IN THE 'VERSE: GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

OPERATIVE: *runs like a little girl*

RUTTIN' HUGE SPACE BATTLE: *Ensues*

WASH: I am a leaf on the wind. *Shows the world what a badass pilot he is*

MAL: We're being followed! They shot us!

WASH: It's OK, I'm a leaf on the wind!

SERENITY: *skids to a stop, losing many pieces*

FANS: Oh my god, they killed Serenity!

CREW: Oh my god, we're alive, Whedon didn't kill any of us!

FANS SEEING THE MOVIE FOR THE FIRST TIME: Whew. Wait, why is my friend who already saw this movie cringing and whimpering?

WASH: Whew. I really am a leaf on the wind.

GIANT SPIKE: No, you're a leaf pinned to a chair.

WASH: Gurk.

FANS: AAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH! No, he can't really be dead! That's not really a foot-wide spike in his chest! You can't really kill Wash! Waaaaaah!

JOSS WHEDON: *snicker*

CREW: Run like little girls! If Joss killed Wash, nobody's safe!

JAYNE: Well, maybe I am?

ZOE: I'll hold them here.

MAL: Everybody hold them here, I'm going for the transmitter.

INARA: Joss, you bastard! We're up against Reavers and you made me wear nothing but a leather bra and carry a wimpy-ass little crossbow! I bet I'm next on your kill list!

ZOE: Joss, you bastard! You killed my husband! I dare you to kill me too so I can haunt you from the afterlife!

REAVERS: GRAAAAAR!

KAYLEE: Crap, we really are all going to die.

SIMON: My only regret is that I didn't get to jump your bones.

KAYLEE: Really? Well, then I want to live! Joss, if you kill him now I'll stuff a compression coil up your ass sideways!

MAL: Boy this transmitter is hard to get to.

OPERATIVE: Especially if I shoot you in the back. Good thing I just have this wimpy stunner or this movie would be over right now.

MAL: Good thing I have a real gun. Bang!

OPERATIVE: Shit! *hides*

MAL: *swings on chains*

OPERATIVE: Shoulda gone for the headshot again! *Paralyzes Mal with Secret Vulcan Hip Pinch*

REAVERS: *break down door*

ZOE: GRAR!

REAVERS: GRAAAAAR!

CREW: We're all getting shot! Get inside the blast door! Oh crap, it won't shut!

FANS SEEING THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME: Whedon you bastard, you really are going to kill them all!

FANS SEEING THIS AGAIN BECAUSE JOSS WHEDON IS OUR MASTER: Wait for it.... wait...

RIVER: My turn! *Throws medical bag, shuts blast door, gets dragged off by Reavers*

MAL: Neener neener, I wasn't really paralyzed. *breaks Operative's throat and shoulders, ties him up, sends video to the whole 'verse*

FANS: Woo-hoo!

OPERATIVE: Dammit, Whedon, you said I could kill him! *Watches video*

MAL: Wow, crew, you're all shot up. Where's River?

RIVER: *In closeup, punches out a Reaver who looks an awful lot like Joss Whedon*

FANS SEEING THIS AGAIN BECAUSE JOSS WHEDON IS OUR MASTER: *snicker*

REAVERS: Grar?

RIVER: GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! *Kills all the vampires, I mean Reavers*

FANS: Wooooo-hooooo!

BUFFY FANS: Haven't we seen this somewhere before? Oh well, it's still way cool!

ALLIANCE TROOPS: GRAAR!

OPERATIVE: Stand down. Everybody gets out of jail free. These aren't the droids you're looking for.

MAL: Well, the ship is fixed now. I still want to kill you, Operative.

OPERATIVE: That's OK, you'll never see me again, I'm either going to fall on my sword or kill the whole Parliament, but I won't tell you which because I'm still a total psycho.

FANS: Whew, for a second there, we thought Whedon was going to make him the new pilot or something!

KAYLEE AND SIMON: *Totally jump each others' bones*

FANS: Say, who *is* going to fly the ship now, anyway?

RIVER: *flies ship.*

FANS: Whaaaat?

SERENITY: *Loses a piece off her tail.*

CREDITS: *Roll*

THEME MUSIC: *finally plays*

*** Warning this is probably going to turn into some sort of whinney rant as I have been grumpy all week***

Yup, exactly what the title says. 

Laundry.

I put it off, but that's very possible because this bear does tend to have a lot of clothing, so the fact that right now most of it is dirty is kind of scary. I started with the rather small pile of whites, because none of those need to be hung up and they can all easily be moved to the dryer. The laundry facility (if one can call it that) is rather lacking. We have two washers and two dryers. Yes the washers are the nice big front loaders that makes the fact I don't have a downy ball a non-issue, but still it's rare to find any of the machines free. And that sucks ass.. I guess it might be harder for me because the times when I find myself able to do laundry are the same times that everyone else can. Maybe the best way to deal with this is to sneak out in the middle of the night and do laundry? Although that does seem a little extreme, it might actually be the best solution.

So it's Friday night. If I had my choice I would be gaming, but not with the small group threatening to start up here (more to come on that later) but with my real gaming group. Damn do I miss weekend games. I want to play my new bard, and I want to be running and plotting games. Nope instead I'm way up in Thunder Bay on my own with all my friends back in Toronto. Yes I do realize I am doing this for myself, and it's true I am enjoying the program. I am going to be a teacher, there has been no doubt in that for at least the last five years. But that doesn't keep me from going all juvenile once in a while and complaining my ass off. Ok so, the workload is crazy, but it really looks a lot worse on paper than it really is. There are three weeks of class left and everyhing is due between now and the 8th of November. I'm just going to have to force myself to scheduale time to actually do thing. Make myself work hard and not slack off. However most of you know I am a procrastinator, especially when it's pertaining to a project I don't want to do. An example, my lesson plans? I'm doing them this weekend because I think they will be fun, as for me planning a lesson is very very similar to plotting, and we all know that's something I really enjoy doing. However let's look at an example at the opposite end of the spectrum. This Monday I had an essay due for my Multicultural and Aboriginal Class. I didn't want to do it, so it didn't get done until the night before and it was done pretty much half assed.

This is my problem. I have learned to deal with it, and I guess I just need sit down, shut up and do the work.

Bleh.

However to keep myself doing the work, tomorrow one of my friends here, Laura is going to bring her laptop and work on an essay in my room with me. I think that will help keep me on topic, because otherwise I'll be prone to letting my mind wander. 

There is however a bit of a light on the horizon. As I mentioned before there is a possible D&D group happening here some point in the next couple of weeks. The first years have mid-terms so start time is varied. It's not going to be a lot of work for me because I am currently subscribed to the Pathfinder books which have a whole world already created, as well as modules which are really well written. A couple of the guys here are interested (oh my god all guy gaming group save me now!!!) and I said I'd run a game or two to see how it goes. One of the guys wanted to start this weekend but Mid-Term wise it's not a good idea, so instead I am going to run through character creation with him at somepoint tomorrow after I have been productive. So that should be fun.
 
I feel good that I'm getting my laundry done though. So I guess I'm calming down a little bit.
It's just been a hard week..
I've decided to start hanging up most of my clothing, and using the set of drawers for something else.
You all know me, I love changing things around in my room and such, and with the tiny space it's a little hard to move things around.

This entry has sort of been all over the place, sorry about that.
I just needed to rant.

I have some picture from the bonfire my house had on Wednesday, I think on Sunday I'll take a break from work at somepoint and post a normal entry with pictures as well as a list of all the fun and less negative things that have been going on.
I'll update you all on my thanksgiving weekend.
I'll let you know the fun things me and Ed girls have been doing
And I'll let you know how things this weekend went.
Love you all
Jess

Crayon box survey

RED = ANGER
1. Are you currently mad at someone? No and it tends to take A LOT to get me mad.
2. Which of your family members has the worst temper? I'd say Steph, but she's not so bad anymore....
3. Have you ever thrown something at anyone? Uh yes, not very often, but it happens
4. Does your face turn red when you're angry? My face always goes red...
5. When you're mad do you prefer to stare angrily or yell? In the rare situation that I do get angry it really depends on the what's going on. I yell sometimes, and I stare angrily sometimes, however more often than not I'm more sarcastic than anything else.

ORANGE = EXCITEMENT
1. Has anyone ever thrown a surprise party for you?My 21st Birthday my mom went all sneaky and did an amazing job regardless of the unfortunate circumstances...
2. Are you easily excited? Yes, it's sad how easily I can get excited. Which tends to make for a lot of let downs.
3. What event is coming up that you're most excited about? Right now? Well either Halloween, starting up a gaming group here, Nov 8th, but more than all of those would be Dec 15th, my flight home!
4. If you won a million dollars, what would be your first thought? "This can't be real!"
5. If you could have anything right now what would it be? Things to be the way they are here in Thunder Bay but for all my friends and family to be close by, so basically I want a teleportation machine to be available, cheap and safe to use.

YELLOW = SELF DISCOVERY
1. Name: Jessica Ann Cook
2. Birthday: November 17th 1983
3. What's your main goal in life? At the moment, to get through this school year and then get a job.
4. Do you want or have children?Someday
5. How do you want to die? Surrounded by friends and happy;.

GREEN = OPINIONS
1. Are you against gay marriage? Not at all, I fully support it.
2. Lower the drinking age? No, I think if anything it should be higher, but I have odd opinions about that as most people know.
3. Capital Punishment? Is in the same boat as murder.
4. Abortion? That's for the person to decide for herself.
5. Democrat or Republican? Canadian! Woo!

BLUE = LOVE
1. Do you love someone? To not have love in your heart is to be sad and empty and I consider myself very full and happy.
2. Do you have a bf/gf? Yes yes I do.
3. Is it better to have loved and lost than never loved at all? See question one. A year ago I might have said no, but now I think I'm a little less cynical and I think that any kind of love is worth it in the end.
4. Do you believe in love at first sight? I am a fantasy type of girl, so yes.
5. Would you tattoo your lovers name on your body? Nope, not so hot on the 'getting words permanenty plastered onto my skin' thing. Pictures maybe, but it would take A LOT of thought.

PURPLE = Q&A
Q: How many beds did you lay in today? One, my own.
Q: What color shirt are you wearing? Red
Q: Name one thing that you do everyday? Check my e-mail
Q: How much cash do you have on you right now? Whatever is in my wallet, so probably about $20 or $40
Q: Look to your left. What's there? School work on my desk, stick notes one the wall with important numbers, and a some pictures of my best friends.
Q: What's the last piece of clothing you borrowed from someone? It's not usual that I borrow clothing.
Q: What website(s) do you visit the most during the day? Gmail or Facebook
Q: Do you have plants in your house? Nope, they would probably die.
Q: Does anything hurt on your body right now? Not at the moment
Q: What city was your last taxi cab ride in? Thunder Bay, on my way home from the airport last Monday.
Q: Do you own a picture phone? Yes but it's in Toronto
Q: Recent time you were really upset? It's been a while since I was 'seriously' upset.

PINK = LAST
1. Person you saw? Bill my roomie
2. Person that said they loved you? Mom
3. Movie watched in cinema? Simpsons Movie (don't go out to the movies often)
4. Song you listened to? Seasons of Love from RENT
5. Person you talked on the phone with? Mom

GREY = TODAY
1. What are you doing right now? Posting some pointless journal entries
2. What are you doing tonight?Hopefully hanging out happily because my assignment is done.
3. What are you going to eat next? Erm, don't know.
4. Did you accomplish anything today? I got the numbers for the books I have to get at the library....
5. What shoes are you wearing? None at the moment, my tootsies are bare.

BROWN = TOMORROW
1. Is? Monday.... school blah
2. My plans are? Go to class, and do work I guess
3. Are you going to laugh? I usually do.
4. Any TV show you watch coming on? Not a big TV fan.
5. Do you know what you will eat? Whatever I decide to make I guess. Maybe perogies or hamburgers....

 Hey guys. It's Friday morning nad I still have about half an hour before I have to go to class, so I decided to answer this little question.
It's one I'd really have to think about because there are a couple options that I'd like to pursue...

In no particular order

1)Texas with Steph
2)Texas with Lil Jess
3)Send Steph and Lil Jess to Texas without me.
4)Home for the weekend.. wait I'm doing that!
5)Scotland with Lil Jess
6)Somewhere warm with my mom where we would be catered too
7)PEI with my Grandma
8)Someplace Disney with another Disney lover
9)............I guess that's all I could think of for now. There are probably tons of other places, but I don't know which one I would want to go to.

Watch this movie when it's mentioned in the text, NOT before it wont make sense.

Greetings folks!
Look I didn't fall off the face of the planet! I'm actually still here... yes yes I know I know, I've been a little out of communication... but there are good reasons for me not posting last Sunday or anytime since the last post for that matter. I've been busy first of all, and secondly I've also been sick.

So let's address the busy part, and we'll go with the positive busy aspect!
I actually went out and did some things in the last two weeks. (Holy crap Jess with a social life!? I know I don't believe it either!!) Well is started on Tuesday (as in the 17th) some of us Ed girls decided we all knew that no work was going to get done on Tuesday nights (because all Tuesdays are the spawn of the devil) so we went out. We had plans to meet at Boston Pizza for some food and maybe a drink or two. There were four of us. Rebecca and Rosanna in one car, and Jenny and I in the other. We made plans to meet there, however Jenny and I needed to go to a bank machine first to make sure we had cash on us. So we did that and got to Boston Pizza thinking Rosie and Becka would be there... they weren't. So we waited, for almost a half an hour, and Jenny realized that since neither of them were from Thunder Bay it was possible they had headed to the other Boston Pizza. (Apparently this fair city has two..) So we decided to head over there. We got there and the girls were not there either. So we decided to just stay and eat. We ordered, I had a very yummy plate of wings, and a Mudslide which was almost too good to be legal. The next day we found out that Rosie and Becka had gotten lost and arrived at the BP we had been waiting at, about five minutes after we left. Oh well we all had food and no one was hurt.

So two days later, a bunch of us are in the change room for gym and Becka mentions that there is a small play house presenting "Little Shop of Horrors" and that here and her husband (Theo) were going, and that we should make an event of it because student price is a lot cheaper than the normal price. I said I'd love to go and she said, she could pick me up. So we went. We met up with one other girl Theo and Becka knew as well as Renee who met us there. Before the show we stayed in the lounge, Becka and I indulging in a Smirnoff cooler, and Renee and the other girl each ordering a glass of wine. The actual theatre itself was small but very classy. The show was really good, and was enjoyed by all. 

Then this Thursday I actually went out with Jenny to a bar across from the Casino, know as Jack's. Of course I didn`t go until AFTER the CSI premier.... There was a live band..... which was hokey... actually the whole place kind of was. Becka and Theo showed up later, and I found out that Jenny's boyfriend knows my roomie Jess. Otherwise it was basically too loud and crowded for my taste.

So what about the other kind of busy? Well you all know the reason I came up here for. School. So it's been keeping me very busy. It`s slightly crazy and I was a little behind because of last weekend but I`ve finally gotten to a point where it`s a manageable load so there is no reason to panic. The JB will still get all her work done, no doubt there. Although I really haven’t been able to stay up late to do it. My mind just sort of conks out, and I fall asleep. Oh well I guess that`s just getting me ready for getting up early during my placement.

So what else let`s see...  Ok so the other reason I didn`t post last week is because this bear has been sick. I spent MOST of last Sunday asleep on my bed instead of doing most of my readings. I did venture out once, and you will see that in picture and video form later. But yes I have been sick and it has kept me from being REALLY on top of things, so that`s why I didn`t get to post in here. Thank god for mom and the pharmacy she sent me up in my first care package. That made it so I was level headed enough not to miss a single class. (I love my mommy)

So I said I got out once last Sunday and that is quite true. So let me set the scene up for you. One of my roommates Bill has a remote control boat he`s building, and last Sunday he got it to a point where he could take it for a test run. I didn`t want to miss that so I headed out with him (in his funny floppy hat) as well as a couple other people from the house, and I played photo-and video-grapher. So here are the pictures (and video) from THAT event.


This is a blurry image of America Mike (foreground) and Lenny (background)
It`s on the initial trek through the hall way.

We have here Mike and Lenny`s backs, and the guy in the funny hat is Bill with his boat. I`m sorry about the fuzzy...

This is my roomie Jess. She`s such a cutie!!!!!

Here we have some preparations. American Mike in the foreground, and (from left to right) in the background, Blake, Bill and Tyler.

Here they are post it dying in the water and Bill jumping in. So from left to right is Blake, Bill and.. umm some guy.

Luca and Bill trying to figure out why the boat died and didn't start again.

This is Lenny down by the water, he's not in my house, but he spends enough time there that I know him. For those of you who know him, he looks and sounds like Tibby but is  MUCH nicer.

American Mike down by the water.

Here are the boys trying to figure out why the boat died.

Blake who was Bill's second in command, or his number 2.

Ooo look it's all nice and smooth.

Standing by the lake.....picking at something

Maybe if I tinker with this thingy....

Skip skip skip, skip the stone....

I don't know, it's f'ed up.

A lower view of the toy all the boys are playing with.

Let's move it to the table...maybe that will help.

Let's twiddle with these things a little more... otherwise, I give up

So there is going to be a youtub movie at the beginning of this entry, watch it, it's SO funny. It starts off with the boys trying to start the boat and then what happens from there. Please ignore my horribly loud voice, that tends to happen when you are the one holding the camera. As well there probably is an excess of swearing in this, I am surrounded by University students, so take this as a warning.

So that was Sunday.
On Saturday we did some really fun things as well. We took a trip out to this small restaurant called "Lakehead Restaurant" It's very homey, there are all sorts of old 50's style things on the walls, there's even a real workable juke box. But the one thing that is really neat about it, is the fact that if you want something there you get it. You need more cutlery, then you go behind the counter and get it. Want a pop? Go to the fridge and get one. The lady who runs it is very up front and will tell you how it is, but she is awesome.
As well you will get an amazing meal for under ten dollars. The food is amazing, home made and very yummy! Also if you don't finish your mean you get charged an extra 25 cents, and that gets donated to a chairty..  If I have any visitors while up here, that is one place I will take you to for sure.

So where else did we go?
Well we went to the town game store.
As you can all imagine I was very excited. American Mike is a Warhammer player and has offered to teach me all about painting minis so I was thinking of getting some and starting to do that.... Yeah so there are a lot of gamers here... just the wrong kind. Both Lenny and Mike play Magic, and Mike is getting everyone started on Warhammer... some of the guys have said they would be interested in a D&D game.. but I'm not going to have time for that... so it's probably a good thing there arn't a lot of my kind of gamers here.
Unfortunately the store was a huge let down. There dice supply was lacking, I had all the D&D books they had and they only had the Warhammer Minis and not even the fantasy ones... I was not impressed..... (So I'm SO looking forward to this up coming weekend....)
So that night I had plans to stay in, and one of my roomes, Brad did the same..... and somehow, we ended up dumping the magnetic poety on the coffe table and playing around with it, with different house mates. As well we decided we needed to order the 'sexual innuendos' one... seeing as with the normal one the only sentences that were made were all sexiual in nature anyways.....
Here are some pictures from that....

From left to right, Brad, a girl who I actually don't know, and Blake

WORDS!!!

We are playing with words....

Brad, that girl I don't know, Sabina, and Blake... arn't we cute?
Oo oo and you can see our attemp at creating a frunk with the skunk and the frog going at it on our fridge.

This is Lindsey. She's awesome, she brought her books because there were A LOT of word magnets we didn't know...

Hmm what if we put this one here...

Words, words, words!!!
So that was my Saturday night.. I'm such a geek. I'll keep you all updated when we get the new magnets as well. :P

So what else is there to catch up on? Well my roomies and I have all decided that it's probably going to be a better idea if we start getting our own food. It's going to work out better (yup I'm always an optamist) because we all have varying scheduales, and this way we can just eat whenever, and then do our own dishes. So this past Saturday, I went out to the "Real Canadian Superstore" and did my grocery shopping. It was fun to be able to go through the store and just buy what I wanted. Mom has taught me well in how to stay on a budget, and I kept to the 'no-name brand' things for the most part. I ended up getting a lot of stuff, and I'm going to be cooking, so this is going to be a great experience! I'm excited about it.

So what else happened this weekend. Well Friday I spent quietly with Jess and one of her friends watching Shrek on tv and then a couple of episodes of Sex in the City. Holy crap do they cut out a lot!!! I then got a call from mom, and we were on the phone for almost an hour. It was good to talk to her and catch up, but I think when I come home next weekend I need to figure out what she did to the sound on the computer so I we can do the MSN thing again. It will just be cheaper.
So then Saturday during the day I had gone shopping and then I spent some time working on a power point, and I made a call to Billy and Vicki's and had a quick conversation with the gaming group to let them know I was a little late for game and I'd be there in about a week, then later that evening I met up with my group for a project, but we were done sooner than I had planned. So I went to my room and I was working on the power point for it. I was playing around with animations and the like, and Laura came up behind me and sat down on my bed. We ended up having a really good conversation, some real girl talk, which was nice. She's a great person and the two of us really get a long. She sort of reminds me of another 19 year old I'm so fond of.....
I spent most of Sunday, doing my readings and posting this entry. The internet was being all slow so I had to finish this up today (Monday), during my psych class..... don't worry I'm not missing anything. I have the slides and I am listening to her. As well I spent some time talking to Tim on MSN and figuring out what is going to happen next weekend.

So I am offically stoked for coming home. I have friday night basically planned, going to a game on Saturday and Sunday Grandma is doing Thanksgiving dinner. A lot of people are going to be there, Mom, Grandma, Steph, Steve, Tim, me, as well as possibly Uncle Chris, Trish and the kids if they are free. It's very exciting. Apprently Grandma has even made perogies, which is making me hungrey right now... damnit.. I want it to be friday. There is a chance one of my housemates is on the same plane as me, which will be good because then we can take the cab to the airport together. Yey! I am going to be so excitable during my one class Friday afternoon......

Honestly though I'm just excited to be home, see everyone, and not have to do work.
Four days!!!

Alright guys, I think I've made you read enough for now.
Love you all
Miss you all
See you soon!!!
Jessica

Hi folks!
It's Sunday again and I've decided I'm going to make another post. It's going to contain a look at the place I am living in. I figured that I'm going to try and post every Sunday and if I feel the need I'll post inbetween, but I think the picture posts will happen on Sundays.

So this past week I went to all of my classes, and I'm still very happy with it all. I know I'm going to be overwhelmed with work, but I'm pretty sure I can stay on top of it all as long as I stay organized. I figured it's probably a good thing all my friends are in Toronto because this way I can't be as distracted and I will spend more time with my nose in my books. They are pretty entertaining books too.

Tuesdays are officially going to be my least favorite day as I have class from 1-8 without a single break. A couple of the other Edies and I have decided we might make Tuesday night a ritual and spend time out and about after class, because we all know we arn't going to be getting any work done that night. Otherwise my class scheduale is pretty good. I have plotted out when all my assignments, tests and presentations are happening, and well it's going to be a lot of work.

But I do have good news! This bear is going to be heading back to Toronto for Thanksgiving! Before I had left Tim had mentioned coming to visit or bringing me home but we figured we'd have to look at what my work loard was going to be like. Well I plotted it all out Wednesday night and the week before and after the long weekend are pretty light so me going away for the weekend was do-able. Tim went ahead and booked the flight for me, I couldn't be more happy, or thankful, it was so very very very awesome of him. :D So yes, I'll be home from Friday afternoon until Monday night the weekend of October 5th to the 8th. Yes this bear is excited.

So what else?
Well I'm getting to know my roomies better, and they are all awesome. They are respectful and we all get a long really well.
As for the house mates, well I'm dealing with the 'party people' by using my new headphones to drown them out with my own music. Campus is so very beautiful, and I'm learning to make my way around Thunder Bay better now. It's pretty easy to get most places, and the act that tuition covered a bus pass is really helpful.... but the buses here are crazy. I'm used to the N/S and E/W buses of the TTC, but here they go all loopy and I really need to get used to them. 

Alright well that's all for my rambling so let's get to the fun part. The pictures.


So I went outside to start the pictures and I decided I'd show you my slippers....what can I say? I'm random.

This is the front door, I was standing here and I realized I was going to want to show my window, so I didn't go straight in.

The window with the open curtains is mine, the one of the first floor that is.

See the carebears and the Pooh Bear stickers? That's how you know you're peeping into my window....

So back to the inside for the tour, this is the box where you would enter my number (4412) so that I could let you in the building.

So this is the first door... (there are three) that has a key. I'm in apartment 1, on the first floor, also known as Shebandowan... or She Bangs Your Mom.

When I got here they handed me five keys. I now have stickers on them to know which is which.

Pop Machine... after the first door, before the second, and far far far too expensive.

Those are the thee different houses in my building.

Shebandowan obviously  being the best...

The second door, a little blurry but you get the point.

Tigger gets us past this door.

That greets you as you enter the floor.

This is the door to the common room. I have only been in there for house meetings and to take these pics.

The above mentioned common room. I think they are going to spend house funds to get a TV for here as well.

I helped Jess (the RA) with this board. We ran our of red letters...

Some useful information I didn't notice until taking these pictures.

These are the couches that 'most' people have in their apartments as well. They really arn't all that comfy.

There is a semi-kitchen thing in the common room.. but no stove.

The laundry room. With someone's clothing strewn about, not mine though.

We have two washers, two dryers and a sink.....

The hallway to my room. I'm getting an almost "Shinning" vibe from this... all we need are two creepy twin girls...

My door, the only time it's closed is at night, or when there is no one home. Otherwise it is always open.

Jess has this hear little sign that tells all the other students where she is at all times. The life of an RA.

Walk in the door and turn to the right. That's our table (with Bills model boat in progress), the sink (yes mom we have two sinks) and the storage room.

Counter, Mircowave, Cubbords and the stove, Steph I think it's either the same as the one you have, or the one Grandma has... one of the two. Oh and those little round things on the left stuck on the fridge are spice containers, they are pretty cool.

The fridge, our couch (which is a futon and SO comfy) and the big ol'window.

The open door is mine, the one beside it is Brad's. We have two of the not so comfy chairs and one from Ikea.

Our Tv and the hall way to the other bedrooms and the bathrooms.

More of the TV and the start of the closet. No mom the crutches were not for me. Bill did something stupid to his knee while playing some house football. Poor guy...

Closet and door. SO you've seen a full circle from the entrance.

The big bathroom, I didn't take pics of the little on as it's only a sink, and toilet.

Isn't this a cool bath mat? I love my room mates...

Look it's a JB  in the mirror!! (I'm in my sweats cause these pics were taken Thurday after my gym class)

The shower/tub is actually really cool.... yes mom I am going to go out and buy a rubber non slip mat, I just havn't done it yet....

My room!...... a rather messy my room....

A box o stuff that still needs to find a place in the kitchen. Our kitchen is rather well stocked, but we were thankful for some of the things in that box. Like the rubbery brush things, the potatoe peeler etc.

My bed, unmade and how it's probably going to be for always. I don't really make the bed, I just make sure the bottom sheet is tucked in.

My bedside table. Those stones in the little glass thing I bought at the dollar store they are really really neat, and I have the photo album from Lil Jess.

I put Narnus above my head, on the wall. I've also picked up a really nice sketch book for a really good price and I'm working on all sorts of new maps of Narnus for when I come back...... It's going to be so cool!

The dragon poster of Billy and Vicki's. It's got a proud spot beside my bed. I've gotten some compliments on it already.

My giant bulletin board.... a full view.

Some pictures I printed out, mounted on construction paper and posted. Love you guys!

Yup I'm a geek and super organized. I'm posting my readings weekly so I can keep on top of them.. with that many different classes I have to.

The next couple months and how much is due and when.

My desk, with my computer... which I love to peices.

The other side of my desk.

My shelf. The big black book on the bottom is the new Narnus book.. ooo

My lower shelf.

And finally my dice, my books and one of my favority bears.

So that's all for today folks.
If I feel the need too I will be posting again during the week.
Hope you enjoyed.
Talk to you all soon
Jess

So as most of you who are reading this might know I am away for school at the moment. On my own for the first time in my life and farther away from Toronto for a longer period of time than I have ever been in my whole entire 23, almost 24 years on this planet. I thought it would be hard, and I would be all emotional and weepy, but really I'm not. It's surprising if you know me, I was the girl who used to get home sick at friends sleep overs. I was the one who would cry uncontrollably at Brownie or Girl Guide Camp. This seems to have changed for the better. In all honesty I am having a great time here. I have room mates that I get a long with. We've decided to do the food thing together which makes life SO much easier. We had our first big shopping out together yesterday and it went swimmingly, other than the fact I wasn't feeling so hot. So the room mates are awesome. What about the apartment itself? Well my room is awesome. I feel at home in it now that I have all my stuff and I think I am going to be perfectly fine living here for the next eight months. Over that time I will "Jessica-ize" it and it will grow with me, I mean I already have my map of Narnus on the wall. :D The apartment is big enough, we keep it clean, there are two bathrooms, and the main one is actually bigger than the one I have at home. No reason to complain there at all. What about the school work? Well I've been to all of three classes and one seminar. The weird thing is that I feel that I am finally learning things that I will actually be able to use and apply to my future career. Ok so maybe it's not weird as much as it is true, because that is what I am doing. Sure there are a lot of books but so far they are materials that I am going to be able to take a long with me and use in the actual classroom setting. So all is good there. The campus itself is beautiful, as you can see in my last post, and that's only a small sample of the beauty here. The Ed building is a little far from residence, but I can't complain about that yet, maybe when I'm knee deep in snow but not quite yet. Honestly I think the only thing I would change would be to bring all my friends close and then it would all be perfect.

So then what is up with the title of this entry?

Well as I've already stated I'm almost 24, I've gotten over the dramas of highschool. hell I was over those when I was still in highschool. At the moment I'm living on residence in the apartment with my floors RA (residence assitant) and her friends from the last couple of years. Both of the guys are in their second year and I think Jess is in her third. So the oldest one other than me is 21. That's not an issue, I can deal with that. However what was brung to my attention over the last couple of days is that none of the other apartments on this floor actually have a stove. I was a little perplexed at this and I didn't understand why.. then it was brought to my attention that everyone else on this floor is in first year. So most of my house mates are 17, 18 or 19. That in itself didn't seem to be a problem to me, hey one of my besest friends ever is only 19 and I love her to bits, so this should be fine. All week it was fine, people came here to use our stove and make potatoes, (there is a guy we have dubbed potatoe man) and we all seemed to be getting along fine. Bill and I have come to calling our housemates "the kids". He's even got a following of them that I really should tell that they don't really have to do what he says..... Anyways so like I said all week it was fine, that is until we hit Friday night. Friday night happened and for some reason all the kids went a little crazy. Bill was staying home that night because he did his crazy drinking Wednesday night and we were just sitting around the living room. Well one of the rooms decided they were going to throw a toga party. I seriously don't understand the point of that..... one of our neighbours Gabe, was having one heck of a hard time getting the sheet to look properly. He ended up coming in here asking for help and then when I couldn't tie the peices together asked me to staple them. I'm pretty sure at this point he was already pretty intoxicated. Actually the whole floor seemed to be. So the night continues on with the odd drunk person poking their head in and making a comment of some sort, when suddenly someone flies down the hall bawling her eyes out. I later found out from one of her roomies that was hiding out in our apartment that it was one of those 'he said she said' stories and that this one girl was already making a name for herself as a slut on the floor.

What are these people in highschool or something?

I asked myself this and then realized that, less than three months ago most of them were. And that the experience of being on their own was new to them as well, but for them it probably meant more freedom. I grew up with a mom who is easy going, and trusts me and living at home is probably just as good as living on my own for the freedom aspect of it all. For most of these kids it was a new thing. So then hopefully it will wear off as the year progesses and class get to be a little more challenging and taking up time.

Right?

Well I can only hope.
As you all probably know, (once again) I don't drink. Of course there has been the odd occasion where I tried something here or there, but I've never been drunk. It's just a personal choice. So I think because of this I don't understand the need to "let's go get hammered" or "I'm going to get so smashed tonight that I'll be throwing up my guts by midnight". It jut doesn't make sense to me. I'd never want to do it and I don't see why others would either. Oh well, I guess that's part of what makes me who I am right?

Alright, that's all.
I'll post more later and I promise next time there will be pictures.
Lubs you all
Jess