the last first week of school

that was a fast summer for not working in paid employment.

i'm back at school now. another graduate certificate. this time around: green business management. i've regaled my classmates of the horrors of last year's program and the way that only one dude was able to get a job in the field... which just so happened to be his dream company. it's difficult to remain optimistic in these troubled times.

but, fortunately this time around, the program doesn't feel like a joke. i'm already busy working away on assignments, papers, and presentations. perhaps this is where i can find whatever is left of my motivation to be in school again for the 7th year. i now have more education experience on my resume than work experience. that also means my student debt is pretty fucking outrageous. yet, my options were limited. i could have scrapped school and kept on with my unemployed job search -- to what end? i probably would have been more miserable if i didn't go to school.

i took the last couple weeks of my summer off from the job hunt. mostly, because i was tired of it and there wasn't many places that were worth my time in order to apply. i have every right to be a picky motherfucker and aim for the jobs i feel are the best fit for me -- personality wise and education wise. and to my surprise, i have an interview with seneca on thursday afternoon for a marketing and communications position. it's part-time and works around my schedule. considering the majority of my summer was spent working on market research, marketing campaigns, promotions and so on, i feel like this could be extremely beneficial to me.

in fact, during the first week of school, one of my professors called me out on potentially being a marketing student. he explained to me that when i answered his question, he immediately thought i had a marketing background based on my answer. well, fuck -- i guess the summer internship and project management program paid off somehow.

i've also been up to some pretty fun things lately. i became an orientation staff member for u of t during the parade, concert (kardinal offishall, le sera, & anjulie), and after party. last year, i was an orientation leader volunteer -- basically, i got to do whatever was needed. in that case, i did security for sam roberts. i was pretty ecstatic about doing that. this year, however, as a staff member, i was to manage and look after my volunteers. i ran the carnival area and food trucks. i back marshalled the parade and ensured the parade went smoothly. and then i went to guvernment for the after party -- the first time i've ever been there, and i monitored the lineup for too many underage drunk kids and tried to be as helpful as possible by shuttling people home on the right buses. i left at 1am for home because i could no longer take the stabbing pain in my legs and feet that proved how great of a time i had that day.

fucked up. he's the love of my life.

i won VIP tickets to riot fest in toronto too from exclaim. i was stoked on that. got to see fucked up, descendents, hot water music, nofx, and less than jake. i saw fucked up back in february at steamwhistle -- and it was amazing. the last time i saw less than jake and nofx was in grade 9 and 10, respectively. less than jake at the international centre way back and nofx at warped tour once. i was never really that into the descendents so we didn't stick around for too much of their set. and hot water music was pretty great because chuck ragan is super rad. i wish i knew more songs, though. 

VIP tickets

1 week down, 14 more to do for this semester. and i'll only have 2 or less exams for this semester. finally -- a program that doesn't require final exams testing how well i can memorize concepts and regurgitate information.

first week in toronto

i enjoy toronto immensely but i don't exactly enjoy my commute to school.

i had 2 classes on wednesday, one at 8am and one at 11am. i hate having to be up by 6am in order to make it into class by 8am, though i almost have my commute down to a science now. which is nice, i suppose. my wednesday 8am class is a joke -- pretty much take everything i ever learned from my undergrad and put it into one course -- and there you have my 8am class. then i have a business writing course which is also a joke. entirely similar to a technical writing course i took in my undergrad. and all the assignments are completed in class... at 8am on fridays. god damnit. but i'm getting ahead of myself.

wednesday night, i went out with steve to celebrate our own frosh week. tyler and steve came over. we made perogies and had beers. steve and i went to pegasus on church street and then hoops on yonge, with a late-night stop at mcdonalds. we drunkenly stumbled back to my place and shortly after, corey stumbled in as well and we all hung out for a little while.

thursday, i nursed my hangover and went to school for 4pm and my prof showed up like 20 minutes late because she couldn't find the room (neither could i, damn you seneca and your awful directions/new buildings). the class was business principles and seems like it should be sort of easy. i went with some of the guys from my program to check out the bookstore and found 2 of the textbooks we need -- one at about $60 and the other $90. fuck textbooks. i ate pita pit, headed home, and went to bed early. i was exhausted.

friday, i made it to my 8am class. again, a total joke. we had to write 'tell me about yourself' memos. i made some jokes in mine. i hope she gets them. we had 2 hours to kill before the next class, so 6 of us from the program lazed outside in a green area somewhere on campus and got to know each other. i went home right after the second class (that went on FOREVER), grabbed a sub for lunch, had a quick shower, and met steve at wellesley station. we headed over to u of t and became volunteers for the orientation concert, thanks to corey.

i was stoked. i did front stage security for sam roberts and land of talk. i met sam roberts and KC from degrassi. i got a free poutine and a bunch of other free stuff. i was supposed to help out at guvernment after for the afterparty but i bailed since i was so tired. steve and i left u of t, met up with tyler for a short hangout, then i went home and passed out. it was such a fantastic day.

saturday, i met up with steph and erica at the vegetarian food festival in the afternoon.we ate some real delicious food and enjoyed ourselves in the sun. it was nice to catch up! i took my first streetcar ever. i left harbourfront centre and went over to tyler's, meeting up with juan and adam. tyler made us all some amazing dinner -- then i headed home to get ready. i was back out on the road about an hour later to go to heather's for a predrink before lee's palace. lee's palace/dance cave was sweet and i can foresee me going back there soon.

today, i did a little grocery shopping (bought milk, chocolate milk, raspberries, and orange juice) and only spent $10. i was planning to do laundry but i think i'll save that for tuesday afternoon. gerrad and paul are coming over later to watch the season finale of curb your enthusiasm.

geez, it's been a long week but an excellent week! at least i get to sleep in tomorrow -- class isn't until 1:30pm.

working girl

i had an easy week of 3 shifts at embassy.

monday, i was stocking the cold buffet again with the same dude from last week. except, this week, he tended to disappear when we were the most busy and leave me to run around on my own. my supervisors kept asking me where the dude was. fuck, how am i supposed to know? he's not doing his job and i'm not his keeper! i hope he was yelled at because that was not cool. wednesday, i was on cutlery again. i enjoy it immensely. it's routine, i get it, can do it pretty well, and it's easy. the people helping me are usually pretty nice and the bar kitchen conversations make me laugh.

friday, i was stocking the hot buffet, something i had never done before. i had to look after all of the french toast sticks, milk, yogurt, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, and cooked omelettes. it's a lot to handle when everything is constantly being tapped. there are two lines of each item and the cooks were definitely not cooking and putting them out fast enough at times. so, guests were angry and frustrated. yes, i understand that we're out of _______ but we're getting them as fast as we can. and sure, you can stand there all pouty with your arms folded tight, holding up the line and making the line even longer until you get your ______ but it's not my fault that the 500 people before you took all the food! geez.

the worst part about this week was the way that i had to clean the hot buffet as my cleanup. and well, we throw out all of the leftovers... even when it's entirely full. instead of thinking of starving kids around the world (or even, starving employees working the buffet) we throw out the food. ugh. ridiculous! at least on friday there was a staff appreciation lunch with some decent-ish food for us to eat. i wonder if that will ever happen again.

this week let me have a bit of a life that i missed, which was nice. corey and i got the apartment! he moves in august 15 and i've aimed to move in for september 1st. i'm sooooo stoked! i should be getting my timetable soon i hope and i can figure out my schedule. i really hope i don't have any super early or super late classes. also, my party is next weekend and i should have the whole weekend off. i'm excited about that.

i start sport chek on tuesday evening as my only shift for the week... i think. it could be a long day if i have to work embassy. also, that's the day that embassy is having their orientation but i don't know if i actually have to go to it or not. i don't even know what it entails or where it is. hopefully i can just skip it.

5ish more weeks left!