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.

The Countdown Begins - er - Continues...

It has been quite a long time since I have had any space (or time, for that matter) to myself. Practicum ended uneventfully (though it was an amazing experience, as I have alluded to before), and then suddenly we were all thrown into a meat grinder of rapid required reflection. We needed to reflect on absolutely everything...an experience that went well, something we did that we could critique so we could do better next time, alongside several informal reflections - whether alcoholic or not - with the people I have randomly dubbed "the OISE peeps" (appropriate, I know).

It has been a time of massive reflection. And reflecting is all well and good, but now I'm pretty tired of reflecting. It has hit that point where you repeat a word over and over again until the word becomes absolutely meaningless. That's pretty appropriate, actually. The process of reflecting on our teaching becomes a bit meaningless after a time. I can see the purpose of it, but something that is a weakness one day will eventually be changed upon a single reflection on the problem. Instead of hashing it out several times, graded and ungraded, why can't we just be left to our own devices to learn by doing and to do so while learning?

And so the countdown continues. A countdown to what? Well, there are actually two things for which I am "counting down", and now I will list them for you. Okay, the list is mostly for me. But if you're reading this, you might as well indulge me and read the list as well:

1) Christmas

Oh man, am I ever stoked for Christmas. Now that the plans have more or less been hashed out, I have discovered that I will be taking the train ride home for 5 days to bask in the glory of Christmas time with the family. For the first time ever, S will also be coming down to be with my family for Christmas, but he can't come until the 23rd. Whatever, small victories!

My money troubles have been quelled for now with a needs-based scholarship I received from the university. Receiving the scholarship made me realize that my OSAP debt is more or less a ticking time bomb, but now's not a very good time to REFLECT on that (there's that damn word again), so I'm just going to move on.

Slightly related to that, I managed to get my Christmas shopping mostly done. When I go home on the 21st, I will have some time to get those last-minute gifts for the people in my life for whom gift shopping is a notoriously tedious and difficult affair. Regardless, I feel (mostly) ready to begin the holidays now that my shopping is done, and also now that...

2) School is almost over (for now).

How sweet it is! Today is the last day of class for the fall semester. There's a three-day Professional Preparation Conference beginning tomorrow, but that will be useful and interesting. I managed to sleep in this morning by accident, and I missed my last FSL of the semester. Oops. However, I am in the Learning Commons waiting for History to start, and I have my last two assignments to hand in in-hand. Once I have relinquished control of these two pieces of sh--work, and once I have endured the AWESOME PARTY that will be History this afternoon (since even though today is actually a party, History class is always a party to me), I feel as though I will finally begin to count down the days until the holidays. Sure, I still have to haul ass out of bed to attend this conference from Wednesday to Friday, but...it's not quite the same as class.

So that's my personal reflection for today. Dammit, I just used that word again.

Coming soon, a post about World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Why? Because it's out, and it's awesome, and I'll actually have time to experience it in full very soon.

Thanksgiving

It's *amazing* how much more productive I am when I feel sick. I decided to stay home from school today, since when I woke up this morning, I was achy, I had little-to-no appetite, and it felt as if I was nursing a hangover when I hadn't so much as had a single drop of alcohol the previous evening. Since I am trying very very hard to keep myself as healthy as possible, I took this as my queue to take a personal day, catch up on some sleep, and medicate appropriately so I might feel better in time for Thanksgiving.

13 hours later, I do feel 100% better. If I had some kind of bug, it left before it could outstay its welcome.

And it is kinda funny...we have a lesson plan due next Friday for my FSL class, and I think I'm almost done mine already. I spent about an hour on it this evening, since I already had an idea of what I wanted to do, and aside from completely laying it out and ironing out the creases, I think I have a solid lesson plan complete. I guess forcing yourself to be confined to a certain space for an afternoon can help one's productivity.

But as I was working, I was thinking in the back of my mind about Thanksgiving, as my ultimate goal for today was to feel better before my first dinner tomorrow night. I composed a list of things I am thankful for this year.

"What I am thankful for", 2010 Edition:

* Transitioning into my life in Toronto in a somewhat seamless fashion;

* Meeting the fantastic people in my program (and some less-than-fantastic individuals, because even they bring joy in the form of laughter or anecdotes over alcohol);

* The school for whom I am currently volunteering before November, since they have been a great model so far for me and a decent gauge of expectations before my first practicum;

* S, as S is my rock, and that person who helps me keep my feet on the ground, even if he does so while playing video games or engaging in various other forms of nerdiness;

* My cat, because studies show that petting a cat can help lower your blood pressure, and man did I ever need lowering of my blood pressure A LOT since last Thanksgiving;

* The Starbucks by my house, because most of the baristas know me by name, they always genuinely ask about my day, and are fantastic people in and of themselves;

* My family, who tries very hard to help me out even though I should be completely financially independent by now, and who doesn't mind it when I take whirlwind trips home to have them guide me through bureaucratic nonsense that I simply can't seem to handle by myself;

* My online family, those people I hang out with in video games or simply over MSN or AIM, since I have made and maintained valuable friendships because of certain online universes.

Of course, I've probably missed something, or lots of things, but this is a sampling of what I am thankful for this year. Have you thought about what you're thankful for yet?

Well, if you're American, you technically don't have to think about it yet. Whatever, just humour me a little.