New ___________

It is a custom around these parts that at the start of a new year, you have to make resolutions. I've had bad luck with resolutions in the past, so instead, I tend to make recommendations.

It is recommended that I keep practising my French so I can be the best French teacher possible.

It is recommended that I enlarge my library of history books (Canadian, mostly) so that I can be the best History teacher possible.

It is recommended that I utilize my newly-purchased copy of Wii Fit at least once a day, at least 20 minutes per day.

It is recommended that I find a job related to my career path, the sooner the better.

It is recommended that I begin planning my wedding, date TBD (but probably 2012).

It is recommended that I keep trying new recipes so that I can be more comfortable in the kitchen.

See? Resolutions aren't so bad or so unfeasible if I call them recommendations. Besides, I really need to be doing all of those things anyway, especially the "finding a job" part.

Which brings me to the next point on the agenda. Just before school let out for the holidays, I attended a Professional Preparation Conference. The name sounds big and fancy, but it was more or less a glorified job fair, with added firepowerworkshops. The most important part of the "conference" was the last day, when school boards from this part of the province (and beyond) set up tables and talked about why we should flood our resumes into their offices for consideration. Being a reasonable and realistic person, I got information from as many different school boards (as well as from many different non-school education job prospects) as possible. One consistent fact that I heard from most of those presentations is that January is the month to start sending in applications.

It is now January. (Duh.)

I spent some time just before the holidays polishing up my resume, which I will send to my unwitting friends for review before I fix it up further and save it as a PDF. Then I have to write three or four different cover letters, one for each school board/non-school education job, using the template that we were shown during the presentation on the first day of the conference. At some point this month, I will have to send out all of these resumes and cover letters befitting the requirements of each school board (through a third-party site or to the school board/employer itself).

Oh, and I have an interview for an internship on Wednesday.

I'm tired already.

On top of all of that, the new semester has begun. Luckily, I still get Mondays off. I no longer have the luxury of Wednesdays off, though, as my elective happens at 8:30 in the freaking morning.

Finally, some thoughts on World of Warcraft's new expansion, Cataclysm.

(No, I will not make a separate post...this post has an on-going theme of "newness", so this is probably the best time in which to discuss this bastion of nerdiness. If you want to avoid the nerdiness, now's a good time to stop reading.)

With my free time over the holidays, I got to play quite a bit of Cataclysm. Quite a bit. My moonkin is level 85, and she is fully kitted out and ready to raid. The drastic shifts in the gameplay for most classes has kept the game interesting going into its seventh year, and Blizzard has renewed its license to print money.

I feel a little bad for healers, since healing in general took a serious blow to the face. However, it's for the best. In WotLK, healers could close their eyes and make random clicks and folks would stay alive. Now healers have to relearn their respective classes and employ some strategy, effectively weeding out those who cannot make the change. Adapt or die, etc.

The current endgame is no joke. Crowd control (an expression which will be completely foreign to people who only started playing last expac) is required in instances again. This time around, though, more DPS classes have some kind of reasonable CC and some kind of silence or interrupt available to them, thereby encouraging Blizzard's policy of "bring the player, not the class".

As for the actual raiding scene...as I stated in the beginning, my moonkin is ready for raids, but has not stepped foot in one just yet. Apparently, my 10-man is going to start up either this week or next, and I will probably have to restrict my playtime to once a week, depending on what night becomes our designated "raid night". I volunteered to put myself on a DPS rotation with my good friend's rogue so that she may be able to see the content and so that I may be able to step aside and do schoolwork if necessary. It's a win-win scenario.

Of course, S will disagree with that...but that's because S wants to raid with me. WoW is kinda *our thing*...but I anticipate that he will get used to the new arrangement, and it really will be better for all of us in the long run. I will still be able to excel in school, and my 10-man will still be able to raid. I'm very excited.

And with that feeling of excitement, I will bring this post to a close. 2011 is a new year with new prospects, new interests, and (hopefully) a new job on the horizon. I am anxious to see what the next 12 months hold.