Frick... I hate buying textbooks now. I'm really hesitant to spend $80 on a USED text let alone $100+ on a brand new one. Especially when I know I'm only gonna be using for 4 months anyway. Lameness. They can be resold (well, most of them), but even then, it's not like you make all your $ back. Bleck.

Went to the Museum of Nature with Chris and Brett today. We had a rockin' good time... except for the fact that half of it is STILL was closed due to renovations. It won't all be completed til 2009! So basically we saw the fossils, some of the mammals, birds, and an exhibit on Albert Einstein which I considered the highlight. It seemed so small, we were basically done looking at all of it within a hour or an hour and a half. I remember going with my friend Anne-Marie when I was 16 or 17 I think, and at the time the fossil section was closed I think, but we saw everything else, even the plants and stuff on the top floor, as well as an art display of photos of the Arctic. Chris was disappointed that we didn't get to see the area where they had the live bugs and lizards and stuff. It was Brett's first time there, so he didn't know what he was missing. Stupid Museum of Nature and its renovations. Maybe another day we can go to the Museum of Science and Tech, or go see an Imax or smthg at the Museum of Civilization.

I am getting very upset over how my house reeks of cigarettes because my chain-smoking aunt is still staying here. Every day I've expected her to be gone, but no, she sleeps over yet again. The house smells, it's making all my stuff smell. When she's in the basement I don't even want to go there because it smells so bad. It makes it hard to breath, even in my room upstairs. Today my parents and my aunt were gone, so I went and watched TV in the basement, and even though she wasn't there anymore, at one point I started holding up a shirt to my face to breath through cuz the smell was really bothering me and my lungs. I'm annoyed that my parents allow our house to be filled with this vile smoke. It's like, 'Mom, I don't care if it's your sister. Make everyone smoke OUTSIDE at least during the day.' I'm tired of coming home from work and coughing as I walk through the door. I'm tired of having my throat inescapably and perpetually irritated. I can guarantee that when I have my own place it will be SMOKE FREE. Ugh. I just want my aunt to leave so I can get my air back.

/end rant.

Yeah, so I did horribly on my Community Psych exam. I guessed like 20/49 multiple choice questions, and my short answer questions were satisfactory at best. I did good on the midterm, but on this one there were so many questions where I was just like... what, where did that come from? Anyway, it's over now. Ah well. Sigh.

One more exam left! Tomorrow morning. I'm gonna try to own it, but I only have one night to study, so we'll see.

*sigh of relief*

Finished my paper. Classes are officially over. Unfortunately tomorrow I have to spent all my free time before and after work studying for my saturday morning exam :( ugh. Other than that I believe it will be smooth sailing more or less because I'll only have 3 other exams. Well and a 2 page editorial to write, but nothing overly mind boggling. Pretty much if i screw up my exams after saturday, it's my own fault. I am going to try to promise myself now, though, not to leave everything to the last minute like I did this semester. This semester i sorta put the whole first month and a half into finding a new job rather than school. None of that next semester. Heh. Right.
That is all for now.

List of the top 110 banned books worldwide. Bold the ones you've read. Italicize the ones you've read part of. Underline the ones you specifically want to read (at least some of).

( Read more... )

5yrs epps et moi. CRAZY.

First entry from new-to-us computer. Was having trouble with the modem yesterday... turned out I had just not pushed it in hard enough. Chris came over and remedied that. Just working on some key customizations. First download was msn, of course. Heh. Trying to do homework reading too. So long and boring. Ugh. Yeah, the keyboard I'm using is French, b/c our old keyboard is really old. But after observing that this keyboard is in fact french.. I'm thinking of switching back to the other keyboard. Maybe when I get a job I'll just invest in an ergonomic one.
Speaking of jobs, Flagstone's, the new restaurant in Rockland, had an ad in the ottawa citizen (but not in the vision) saying it was hiring, "All positions needed!". It didn't say it's name but it had it's address, so I knew it was Flagstone's. So, I finally went inside to bring my resume, and it's pretty nice.. It's like a Moxie's/Milestone's, except on a much smaller version. The counter at burger king is now the bar, and the behind it they put nice brick and stuff, it's pretty cool. I guess they`re trying to be all casual fine dining. I'm not entirely sure I'd fit in in that environment, but i still hope for employment.. haha. The guy looked at my resume, seemed a little disappointed that I worked in buffet chinese restaurants. He was like, "Chez Moi Restaurant.. was that a la carte? Oh, it was buffet too.." He said he'd give me a call in about a week, though, but I'm not gonna get my hopes up though cuz they might just say that to everyone. I brought my resume the first day their ad was in the paper, so they probably want to see what other resumes they get. I'm sure they're hoping some good-looking experienced servers, etc, come apply from ottawa. Oh yeah, the ad was all like.. "only 10 min. east of orleans".. haha, and like I mentioned, they didn`t put it in the Vision. I guess they`re not hopeful of the Rockland market.. or maybe Rockland people just aren`t good enough for them. Anyway, I dressed all nice to bring in my resume too, so they better call me, bastards. There ad said 'no experience necessary' anyway.
It`s been a week since my interview at Kelsey`s, and I haven`t gotten a call back, so I don`t think the guy liked me. Ah well, at least I`ll be less nervous at the next interview I`ll have, and I`ll have some better pre-planned things to say.

Anyway, that`s all for now.

So.

I started looking for a job yesterday. I dropped off 7 resumes at 7 restaurants: East Side Mario's, Kelsey's, Swiss Chalet, Boston Pizza, St-Hubert, Joey's Only, and Mexicali Rosa's. Kelsey's and Boston Pizza had 'now hiring' signs on them. Mexicali Rosa's said they just did some hiring but something might open up in a few weeks. The rest of them didn't give an indication of whether they were hiring or not.

Fast forward to today: got a call from Kelsey's, went in for an interview at 3:30pm... The guy was nice enough I guess, and he asked a lot of 'scenario' questions. The questions were kind of annoying because I don't know what the Kelsey's "procedures" would be for those varying situations.. all i could give is what i would do at the chinese place, but that might be very different from what Kelsey's would want. One of my answers he said was very good, but the rest i don't know. For one he asked what would i do if a customer complained, so i gave what i actually would do, and only at the end did i throw in that I'd tell the manager.. haha.. cuz I was so used to taking care of customer complaints myself..I told him that though afterwards, to kind of explain my answer. Oh, and another stupid queston he asked was whether I was more of an "order-taker" or an "up-seller".. and I said... "I'm a bit of both".. haha.. I figured they didn't want someone who was just an 'order-taker', but truthfully that's what I am. I'm not all in-your-face 'do you want this and this extra?'.. but anyway, I said I would to a degree, but not so much that it would get annoying. He's like.. "if someone ordered a steak and fries, would you ask if they wanted gravy?" ... i was like, "Yeah, I would... that's kind of a normal question." haha.. anyway. I think the interview went good, but i forgot to ask when he would be making his decision.. d'oh! He said they've been getting a lot of applications because they have a sign out front that said they were hiring. Anyway, there's always gonna be someone prettier and more peppy who could get the job even if they don't have any experience. It seemed like a cool place, I totally wouldn't mind working there, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Anyway, that is all.

Ok, so I've been planning my last year of university, and it has led to a lot of thinking. While i'm sure the whole thesis route could be interesting and rewarding, it seems largely just a means to an end -- grad school. Since at this point, I'm not interested in going to grad school for psychology - i have no grand goals to save the world one fettered mind at a time - doing an honours thesis would be a lot of extra work on my part for nothing. It's weird, but it kinda makes me feel like a bad student in a way. Like I'm taking the easy way out or something when other people are gonna be all stressed trying to get their stupid project done. I also feel like once I leave university i'll have used up my chances to use my brain to learn something that actually interests me as opposed to something that i need to learn to make more money. Then again, I haven't had a lot of "using my brain" moments in my short university career anyway. I'm hopeful that this will change this year.


Earlier in the summer I noticed that uottawa offers a Human Resources Management certificate. However, upon further research, this "certificate" seems to lack some of the fundamental learning material that would be required to become a professional in the human resources field. Also, I wouldn't mind getting away from ottawau. And so my attention turns to college. College also claims to provide more hands on approaches, which, in terms of a post-grad certificate, would be much more useful to me in terms of getting a job. I'm not really interested in going to Algonquin. I have looked at it as an option. It's just that it's Algonquin. Now that I will have the opportunity to go anywhere I want to do this whole furthering my education thing, I want to go the best place possible for me.

I've been doing a tad bit of research on the colleges that offer a post-grad certificate in Human Resource Management. I've perused the websites of Humber, Seneca, Sheridan, and George Brown. I wanna be able to go to the college with the best reputation for business/HR. I know it's lame to care about school's reputations, since it usually doesn't mean anything, but business people seem to care more about that kind of stuff, so i wanna get it right. Also, whether tied to reputation or not, I wanna go to the college that will actually do the best job of preparing me for what it claims to prepare me for. Lastly, co-op. All four schools offer a co-op program of some sort. Through other people's experiences, a school's claims about co-op are not always what they seem. I want somewhere that won't leave me totally hanging in terms of finding a co-op placement, and I also want somewhere that has PAID co-op placements. Getting actual work experience in the HR field is key, and I wouldn't want to get screwed by a lame co-op program.

Humber - http://business.humber.ca/postgraduate-programs/hr-mgmt/hrm.shtml (nice little promo video included.. haha)
Sheridan - http://hrmgmt.sheridaninstitute.ca/
Seneca - http://www.senecac.on.ca/fulltime/HRMC.html
George Brown - http://www.georgebrown.ca/Marketing/FTCal/bus/B408.aspx

I don't know if this is something I'll go directly into next year. I think I'll try to work for a year and save my money, so that if i do decide to go i want end up flat broke, and I'd have more time to get settled, etc. Anyway, lots to think about this year. I'm excited about the possibility of doing something different. All i want is to be able to do something that i can be good at. Granted, HR isn't the most exciting thing on the planet, but it'd be work, for now, with a possible starting salary of $36,000 -- not exactly a fortune, but i'm pretty low maintenance. Also, i want to be able to do something that'll show I'm on a path towards something, as opposed to taking psychology and having the "i don't know" answer for everytime someone asks me what i'm gonna do after school. It's like "I DON'T KNOW DAMMIT, LEAVE ME ALONE"..."I'M GONNA TRY AND GET A JOB, WHAT ELSE?! STOP ASKING."

Anyhoo, off to see Snakes On A Plane with Eppstopher.

So, a few new things.
I finally got my Smart Serve. Yay. It's really easy to get with the "online training course". Especially since you essentially take an open-book multiple choice test.. heh heh. Anyway, that's over and done with. Now I am more qualified to work around alcohol.. haha.
I started back at the restaurant today. And for it having been closed nearly two weeks, tonight wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. Night started off slow, but remained steady. I get to keep all the tips for myself since i'm only working with my bosses, Moon and Winnie... even when they do serving they still let me keep the tips. So i made $45. It is going directly towards my "buy textbooks for school" and/or my "buy bus pass" and/or my "pay car insurance" fund. In other news, I asked chris to put gas in my car tonight b/c gas was "cheap" at 97.8 and i was also on empty, and he put in $8.00! I hope he doesn't get mad when i go to his house with my bicycle to save gas and say if he wants a ride to work he can hop on the back.. haha.
I absolutely need to go to the psych undergrad dep't and finalize my courses. I may as well see an academic advisor while i'm there, as well. Time keeps ticking away, though, and before i know it, it'll be September and I won't be in all my courses.. haha... i don't even know exactly what electives i want. *sigh.... Since i am taking Intro to Microeconomics, however, I am strongly considering taking Intro to Business Management, since both these classes would fulfill requirements for a Certificate in Human Resource Management.
I'm still reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment... i barely read any of it the whole month of July. The first half of it was quite interesting.. and then it got really boring. Interesting stuff is going on, but the dialogue drags on so much that it kills any type of immediacy that would normally keep you reading.
Crime and Punishment also went on the backburner while i started my Teach Yourself French in 24 Hours book. I believe I am now at Hour 9 or 10, but then it went on the backburner to making a new resume, doing job searches, and completing my Smart Serve training. Oh, and playing G.R.A.W.
G.R.A.W. (Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon - Advanced Warfighter) is my first foray into Xbox-live-dom via a first person shooter game. Ahhhhh, it's so much fun. It's the kind of game that requires little thinking, and more doing, but gives you the immediate satisfaction of killing as many competitors as you can.. haha. I'm not actually very good at killing people, given my poor dexterity and incapicity for shooting on target enough times in a row to kill him before he kills me, but gosh darnitt, i'm getting better. It's not the type of game that warrants any addiction or anything, since it is so simplistic, but on a night like tonight when i have nothing to do, mindless scoping out and targeting other players seems like it would be a fun alternative. Since i don't have an Xbox 360, nor do i intend on getting one, i've been playing at chris' mostly after he goes to sleep for the day. So yeah, it does take up a good portion of my afternoon.

So.. the restaurant is being reopened next week because the person who was interested in buying it didn't want it, so it looks like I have a job again. They called me today and asked if i'd found another job yet and if i wanted to come back. It's weird though, I was semi-looking forward to stepping out of my comfort zone and finding a real job in somewhere Not Rockland. *sigh. That, and, I can't imagine I'm gonna be making a lot of money after they've been closed for 2 weeks. No one is going to go back. Then it's gonna close again, and by then I won't be able to get another job in a restaurant because no one will hiring. It's a conundrum. Hopefully my boss' will advertise like mad and stuff so people know it's open. Anyway, I start again next friday.

So yeah. The restaurant closed. I am officially without a job. It feels weird cuz now I know I need to get a new one. I sort of knew there was the possibility of them shutting it down, but I didn't actively go out and find another job aside from what I applied for after school ended, and the interview I had at the National Archives. This sucks, though, because I am low on funds. Well, low enough in that after I pay for school, I will be broke-ass-broke.
So I'm trying to think about where I should apply and stuff right now. But who hires in the middle of the summer? Do I want another job in a restaurant? Do I want a job outside of Rockland? I dunno, but at least I would make more than minimum wage. If I tried to apply to another restaurant, though, I would have to get my Smart Serve first. I'd have to buy the training kit online, write the test, and submit it. And then I don't know how long it takes to get it back. *Sigh, this sucks. I'm gonna be so bored this weekend! And I can't spend any money trying to occupy myself.

Maybe I should go work with Chris' brothers at Tim Horton's? Haha.. oh God :(

On another note, I started watching some yoga shows in the morning, and following along. It's a much more passive way of slowly working myself into shape, which I like.

So i actively started looking at getting a credit card today. ( Read more... )

I got an A- in Psychometrics!
Yay.

Now all i gotta do is finally finish picking my courses for my final year. Eeeek.

Had an un-uber night at work tonight. Very grumpy. Driver's door on my car not closing for some reason. Just checked infoweb for my marks, though, and my frown has been turned upside down...

U.S. History --> A- (i was soooo sure i was getting a B+, or possibly a B in this class; getting an A- after getting B+'s on both my essays means nothing less than i must have completely rocked my final exam, woot woot!)

Human Sexual Behaviour --> A (this is what i expected; such a good, interesting, easy class; wayyyy recommended)

Cross-cultural Psychology --> A- (so i could have pushed myself a little harder and maybe come out with an A, but really, the difference between an A and A- is moot to me)

Clinical Psychology --> A- (3 essays in this class, and i did them all last-minute because of lack of time to focus on this class well; there was no exam so i stopped going to classes half way through; big waste of my time).

Psychometrics --> ?? (currently the bane of my existence; i'm hoping for an A- despite getting a 79% on my final; my final report which is worth most of our grade wasn't that great, but i think it'll get me at least an 80%, i hope. Just waiting on this grade, but who knows how long it'll take my prof to mark our final reports).

So there you have it folks.. If i do get the A- i desire in Psychometrics, then I shall have gotten straight A/A-'s for this semester, the semester during which i had the largest workload to date by far. Next year will be a frickin' breeze, especially since i won't have to worry about getting my scholarship renewed. Even if i don't get an A- in psychometrics, and get a B+ or something, i do believe i will still have my scholarship renewed for next year b/c my average will remain above 80%.

Man, i still can't believe i got an A- in US History. Yay me for pwning the final hardcore.

Oh Exam time! That lovely period in the rainy month of april where they like to throw a bunch of things on you at the same just so you can go w/o sleep and feel stressed and all that good stuff.
I'm finished 3/4 exams. One of them was a take-home. I think I did decent on it, but it was just kinda annoying. The prof seems a little out of it, however, especially when it comes to her expectations. I did bad on my psychometrics exam. Not fail bad, but i guessed of my answers to make a low 70s mark seem reasonable. I'm going to be optimistic, though, and hope i got high 70s or low 80s. It's possible. I got low-mid 80s on my other stuff for that class, so i just want to even it out to a nice A-, at least.
Today was a fun day. Had my 3rd exam. History. Prepare you own question and answer it. Thrice. Such that it would take up all 3 hours to finish writing. Slept about 2 hours last night b/c I was up preparing outlines for it. Then Chris drove me in, but because of traffic I was a couple of minutes late. Ah well, I don't i did too bad... if the prof doesn't like my questions, he can suck my proverbial wang. I got 77% and 78% on my two essays for that class, so all I want is a B... please, please.
Just found out that the final due date for my stupid psychometrics projects got extended by a day. Yay. At least now i'll have a decent chance of studying for my other final exam. :)

Chris wants to get tickets for the sens game on saturday night. I want to go, and I am seriously considering asking my brother and his friend if they'll go to my work for me on saturday night to help out so i can go to the game.
Anyhoo.

Look, it's Chris trapped in time:

http://www.angelfire.com/indie/fawk_u/cam.html

I was bored.. it's not what you think:


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