The Summer That Was...2009 Edition

Well other than one quick post last week, I have missed a great deal to blog about over the past few months. So for the third time ever here, I'll do a quick recap of a few different things.

So without further ado, here is a recap of the last few months...



The King is Dead

Obviously the story that received the most media attention this summer was the passing of Michael Jackson. While it is certainly sad to see anyone pass away at a mere 50 years, I am certainly in the camp of people who say that this story was massively overblown. I have certainly always been a fan of his music, but his all too bizarre public persona left a great deal to be desired. I am wondering exactly where all of these fans and celebrity friends of his were when he was slowly poisoning himself with drugs and on this sad downward spiral that we all played witness to. From all reports it seemed like Jackson took the media's fascination with his self-destruction to heart, causing him to self-destruct even more.

While any of Jackson's choices remain his own to make, the media, and those of us who consumed any story about how weird he got with great zeal need to shoulder some of the blame for what happened. Everyone talks about how tragic his death was, but the reality is that his life was the real tragedy.

Of course, yesterday there was a huge bomb dropped, where it was revealed that his death is being treated as a homicide. I'm not sure what to believe anymore. I'll reserve comment on that for a later time I guess.

The Point Guard Makes the Pass...or Something Like That

Another huge story over the summer was Sarah Palin's resignation as Governor of Alaska. I know that I was certainly surprised by this one, yet in hindsight I don't know why. Since bursting onto the national stage less than a year ago, she has done everything she can to stay in the spotlight. As she returned to Alaska people started to forget about her. She needed to jump back into centre stage, and Alaska is certainly not the place for her to do that.

I do not truly understand the appeal that this woman has. It's as if someone in the Republican Party said “Hey, George Bush is not stupid, folksy, Evangelical, or hawkish enough” and Palin was born from that. I honestly feel that this woman is the biggest threat to the United States in the world, and the thought of her holding the highest office in the land is downright terrifying. For some reason the Rush Limbaugh wing of the party seems to love her, despite the fact that she proved to be a disastrous addition to McCain's campaign and ultimately lead to his downfall. She is just as much of an empty headed celebrity as they claimed Obama to be.


Free Agent Frenzy

Yet again the NHL's annual summer auction was fast and furious with all sorts of big names changes homes. I will have more to talk about this one later on, but I think that the signings of Cammalleri and Komisarek were the best, with the Hossa and Gaborik signings being the worst. I also really liked the Pronger trade, for both teams, and I think that it places both teams in a solid position when the fall starts.

Heel Turn of the Century

Once more I am going to talk a bit about internet darling CM Punk, who shocked the world when he cashed his Money in the Bank contract in at Extreme Rules on Jeff Hardy. Since then they two have been involved in one of the best feuds that the wrestling world has seen in a while which seems to be wrapping up now with Hardy leaving the company.. I couldn't be happier with this as Punk was made to play a heel, and I'm frankly surprised that it took the WWE this long to cash in on the heel potential of Straight Edge wrestler. (For the record: I CALLED IT...even if I didn't think that it would happen this soon).

Lockdown

After a series of civil unrest in China and Iran, internet censorship is back in full force. Web 2.0 in particular has been blocked. With Twitter, Facebook, and yes even Blogger all getting blocked. Right now I am posting through a VPN. This slows things down and makes life rather difficult.

While I am complaining about it as a mere inconvenience to me, there are many people who are under severe oppression as a result of this. Ignorance remains strength.

On a Personal Note

I had the pleasure of returning to Canada for the first time in almost a year for most of July. It was fantastic and surreal to return after so long, as I truly missed a great deal about home. I also got to head to New York City for the first time ever and I was able to travel for a bit in Western China, which was both all kinds of awesome (read about those adventures here).

Now for the first time since I graduated from Acadia in 2004 I will be doing the same thing for two years in a row. While I find the familiarity of returning to Suzhou a touch daunting, I am excited to be a little bit more settled, even if it is for just a short time.

Until next time,

G

I'm Comin' Home Again...

Well it has come to be that time once again. Yet again I am ready to take the summer off of blogging. Although, I suppose I don't have a lot to take a holiday from here lately.

On Sunday I return to Canada for an all too brief time back in my country of birth. I will be there for just over three weeks (with a quick but exciting sojourn to New York City) before coming back to the Far East, where I'll be traveling for a while before getting ready for my sophomore year in the Middle Kingdom.

This year has been simply fantastic for me. It certainly had some ups and some downs, but all in all China gave me more good days than bad days, and what more can you really ask for than that? Well great friends, fantastic students, career challenges, and new and exciting experiences sure don't hurt.

So China, I'll miss you. Canada, I can't wait to see you, and New York, I can't wait to meet you!!!

I'm coming home!!!!

In my tradition, I'll leave you with some musak to keep you company over the next little while...


Kanye West featuring Chris Martin - Homecoming



Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan



Until next time,

G

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

They say that breaking up is hard to do, and well they sure are right.

With a heavy heart, I would like to inform you that this blog is breaking up. I know that this may come as a surprise to a lot of you on the outside, but trust me, it has been a long time coming. The differences between this blog's rant and rave, nerdy opinions style, and the more personalized travel focus and description of my adventures, has just become too much to bear. As such, from here on out, those two sides shall never meet again.

The opinionated side of the blog won the real estate in the settlement, as such Getting Glenergized will remain focused on my personalized opinions and pursuit of life's nerdy passions, with particular focus on politics, music, sports, and wrestling. While my travel adventures have fittingly moved to a new location, called Reflections of a Backpacker's Soul. The new site has already imported any old travel stories, and has been setting up a nice bit of space. Both sides agree to stay friends, and are going to provide links and feeds to one another, to show no ill will.

More than anything, neither side wants to put you, our readers, in the middle, so please try to make time for both blogs. We understand that you may have less time for either of us, and we don't want to get too needy, but we do love keeping you around, so please stick stay in touch, we'd hate to loose you.

Until next time,

G

(from Getting Glenergized)

and:

Safe Journeys,

G

(from Reflections of a Backpacker's Soul)

Summer Sabbatical

Well it's that time of year again, where I say goodbye for a little while. I head back up to Kodiak for a 6th summer tomorrow (I know, I know, I said that I wouldn't, but here we are...), where I will stay for all of July. After that, my August is mostly going to be devoted to my family and packing up to move to China. So I doubt that I will be posting for a while.

I may make a post or two in August, but don't hold out too much for it, just keep me on your RSS feed and something will pop back up when I arrive on the far side of the world. Until then, be sure to enjoy your summer, if you feel like dropping me a line I can be reached at this e-mail address for all of July.

Enjoy your summer!!!!

Maybe with some Ella Fitzgerald....


...or Sublime...



...or Brian Adams...



...or Modest Mouse (sorry this video is weird but it's an awesome song)...



...or John Travolta and Olviia Newton-John portrayed by Lego characters....



...or Everclear...



...or Bananarama...



...or, well you get the idea....enjoy your summer no matter what!!!

Until next time,

G

News on the Glen Front

Hey all, sorry I haven't been posting much this week, but you know, such is life...

I just wanted to make a quick update for anyone out there who is curious. I spent this past weekend at an International School Job Fair, and needless to say it was a crazy, crazy time. I went overboard and signed up for 9 interviews, for schools in Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, U.A.E., and Turkey.

It was a crazy time, as I ended up running all over the place, and talking about myself for hours, and hours on end. After it all ended, I found myself getting offers for 4 different positions. I weighted my options carefully, and I ended up deciding on a school in Suzhou, China! I am super-dee-duper excited about this, right now. I have committed to a two year contract, so needless to say I plan on doing a fair amount of traveling in the next few years. So for next year, I expect this blog to be a bit more travel focused next year, as I try and share my adventures through this wonderful medium.

In the mean time, I am going to post a few pictures from my day trip to Suzhou that I made when I was in China back in the spring. Hopefully, this will make you all jealous enough to want to come and visit :)






So...should I be making room on my couch for anyone?

Until next time,

G

Personal News of Excitment...

In recent months, I have tried to steer away from any personal stories here on the ol' blogeroo. But in the past week or so I have found two exciting personal stories about upcoming travels of mine.

Over the Christmas Break I will be heading down to St. Maarten to visit my good friend/arch-hockey-nemesis Troy, who is working as a pilot down there. We could potentially do an edition of "The Puck Stop" live from a beach...something wrong about that one...

And in other exciting news. I just found out that I was selected to take a group of students on an international service project to Laos over the March Break. How cool is that? We are going to be going to Luang Prabang to help teach Buddhist Monks English. Best of all, the school is paying for everything!!! How freakin' cool is that?

As luck would have it, my super-friend/Shanghai-Hostess-with-the-Mostest Carrie went to Luang Prabang earlier in the year. So I took the liberty to take a few of the pictures she posted on Crackbook and felt the need to share it with you all...really just to make you a bit more jealous...



Pretty awesome, eh?

Until next time,

G

Happy Birthday to...

...ME!!!

Well, ok, maybe not me as in Glen, but me as in Getting Glenergized. That's right, 365 days ago I made the following post...

"Friday, October 27, 2006...a day which will live in infamy. I have officially joined the blogosphere. I don't so much have a concept, theme, or general idea as to what to have here but rest assured it should be filled with awesomness.

Tune in to find out!!!"

So here I sit, in front of a computer, typing away once more, and my opening post still rings true. I have no idea what the "concept, theme, or general idea" for this blog will be. I began posting quite a bit about myself and any of my adventures, but since then it has changed, as I have tried to make as many posts about politics, sports, the environment, wrestling, or (like the banner says), whatever the heck else I feel like.

Since I can't make a vegan cake for a website, I have decided that in honour of my Blogiversary, I went through each of my categories here on this site and found what I consider to be the best post in each of them. This way, if you are new to me or my blog and want to get a sense of what/who I am then this is your chance, but if you are someone who has been checking this out for a while, you can go on a little trip down memory lane.



About G: We kick of with my most narcissistic category, the one devoted solely to me, and things about my life. I started this one out when I was posting my "Random Acts of Glenness" posts, but it has changed to be a tag for anything where I divulge any insight into my own past/personality. My favourite post in this category was definetly "My 2006 (12/19/06)", where I described the details of a pretty tumultuous year. It probably was the last post where I focused on myself so much, having got all that I needed to say out of my system.

Cruising on the Information Superhighway: Now this is an odd categot, that I don't really post in too much. It's essentially just anything related to this wonderful thing called the internet. My post of choice would be "My Life is Now Over, and I Couldn’t Be Happier (12/6/06)", where I cave into the great temptation that is Facebook. I was right all along, it certainly did take over my life...uggh...

Glen News: Yet another egotistical category of mine. This one about news in my own life, such as graduation, getting a job, or some of the details of my trip to China, including the post "Culture Shock (5/30/07)", where I talk about going through a brief period of reverse culture shock after I get home.

Happy [Insert Holiday Here]: Instead of focusing just on me, these are the posts where I pass on some holiday wishes. Of course the usual suspects like Christmas and Hallowe'en are there, but I also try to include less celebrated days such as Guy Fawkes Night, Holocaust Memorial Day, or my Martin Luther King Day post, "What Would He Say Now? (1/15/07)".

Hockey and Other Sports: In attempt to assert some masculinity I discuss sports here on a semi-regular basis, with the vast majority of the focus being on hockey, including my Fantasy Pool, mine and Troy's Predictaculars, or my personal favourite the newly debuted feature, "The Puck Stop – Episode I (10/15/07)".

Muzzak: And yet another of my nerdy passions comes through. My music posts are generally talkign about how great The Arcade Fire, and Broken Social Scene are. I have made a few attempts at creating solid playlists, with "Music to Break-Up To (12/7/06)", being one of my proudest achievements. Oddly, this has been my most visited post since I started blogging. I guess there are always sad people out there.

Random Tales: This is a big category, where really, I just fill in some random story of my own that may be either entertaining or enlightening. In the past year I don't think that there was any story more personally meaningful than "The Universality of Kindness (4/15/07)".

Rants: The biggest category here, were essentially I just get on my high horse and rant about something bothering me. I have taken many posts out of this category by creating a few more, but these are the ones that slip through the crack. My first official rant, "Hallowe’en – The Critical Analysis (11/1/06)", holds a special place in my heart.

Rasslin’: I originally started hiding my most nerdy of passions from this blog, but then Travis had the idea for a joint post where we discuss wrestling (originally for his blog, which hasn't really been updated...), and hten I just began letting loose with many wrestling related posts. If I had to make one pick it would be "Heel Heat – Episode 3 (9/15/07)", mainly because I'm proud of my Photoshop work on the logo.

Real Politiking: The first splinter from the "Rants" category, and a nerdy historical homage to Otto Von Bismark. I usually stick to Canadian politics in here, but "The Death of a President (6/21/07)", is probably my post of choice in this category.

Remixes and Collaborations: So this one isn't really a category in and of itself, it is just a tag I put on any posts that feature some outside input. The contributors thus far have been McNutt, Travis, Kory and Troy, who have done a great job of stopping me from having to think up original content. I have a soft spot in my heart for "Shades of Wrestlemania – Part I (3/23/07)", because it had three special guests coming together in a pretty great post.

Teachin and Learnin': If the name doesn't tip it off to you, these are posts where I talk about some of the issues I face as either a teacher, or before as a B.Ed student. My favourite post, not only in this category, but that I have made is more than likely '"The Kids Are Alright" or "Why the Hell Do You Want to be a Teacher???" (1/10/07)'

Travelling Tales: A blanket post for anything about travelling, either while I was in China or looking back at any travels in Europe or Asia. A few days after I returned from China and wrote "Why I Love China (6/1/07)", which still rings true to me.

Tree Hugging Hippie Crap: Just last week, after realizign just how many of my rants were about the environment, I realized that I needed a seperate category and here we are. I am a big fan of "And the Counter Attack Begins…(2/01/07)", just because it uses Stephen Harper's own words to show just how little he cares about the environment.

Vegan Talk: Another new addition to the fold. I had made a few posts about animal rights, but they were pretty few and far between. About a month ago, I decided to start a feature explaining why I am a vegan, with "It Ain’t Easy Being Green – Take 2 – The Environment (9/26/07)" being something I'm expecially proud of.

Videos: Ok, so this is actually the biggest tab I have, but it just comes up every time I make a post with a video in it. I'm not going to look through all of them, I'm just going to make a post of the greatest gift YouTube has ever given us...



Why I Love…: This is the only recurring feature that merits its own category, because it really just fits in everywhere, "Why I Love Bloggin’ (4/16/07)", my special 100th post holds a special spot and is probably the best insight into why I keep at this blog thing.

Well that concludes this special birthday post, I hope that you've all enjoyed the past year in cyber-space as much as I have!!!

Until next time,

G

Personal Milestone

October 1st marks an important day on the Glen-Calender (..Glalender?). On this day, 4 years ago I made a really important and influential decision.
That's right, on this day back in 2003 I decided to become a vegetarian. I officially gave myself one calender year to switch to a full-scale vegan, setting myself dates and targets (i.e. After this day, I will no longer eat _______).

When I first made this decision I got a lot of flak, including McNutt's infamous "Go back to your room and think about what you've done" rant at me when I first told him and my father asking "what's her name?", thinking that I was doing it for a girl. Many, many, people said that I wouldn't last a month and well here I am four years later.

In looking back I think that this is one of the best decisions I have ever made, I feel so much healthier, I am in better shape, and more importantly, I feel like a stronger person as a result of that day back in 2003.

That's about all I have to say, I apologize for a lack of original content, I just wanted to wish myself a Happy Veggiversary, and to any other members of the Green Mafia out there, keep on fighting the good fight...in a non-violent way of course...

Until next time,

G

Day 1, In the Books..

Hey there, just a quick little personal note from me. I just wanted to let anyone interested know that today, I finished teaching my first class as a real, big boy teacher!!! And it went super dee duper well.

Since my primary responsibility is that of a Residential Don, I only teach part-time. So I only had one class to teach today, Grade 8 math. The class went by really well, as we went over some rules/regulations and then I gave them some light work, and I asked them an important question for their math journals "If math were a food to me, it would be...". For the record, I told them it would be soy for me, since it's in everything I do, but is often hidden.

I don't have much else to say to be honest, other than a big thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past couple of year to have helped get me where I am right now. I'd like to thank you all personally, but unfortunately this impersonal blog posting is all that I can do for now.

I hope that you know who you are, because I sure do...

Until next time,

G

The Summer That Was...

Hey there, I know that this is my third post since my return from cyber-exile, but we can consider this to be the season premiere of Getting Glenergized, brought to you exclusively here at this blog (ohhh and on Facebook too...).

Anywho, I was just going to try and summarize my thoughts on things that have come up in the past couple of months, be it news, hockey, wrestling, or life in general.


The King is Dead, Long Live the King

That's right, we have a new Home Run King, Mr. Barry Bonds was able to pass Hank Aaron's venerable mark and is now the all-time leader in career home runs.

I'm not exactly a huge baseball fan, but I am both impressed and appalled by Bonds' accomplishments. First off, playing at such a consistently high level for so long is something that needs to be respected for anyone. But on the appalling side of things, the man has been linked to steroids many different times. It's a huge shame that the new sight for records is a cheater. I hope that the person to break it does it cleanly...

Big Brother is Watching...You Protest

At the last summit of the Three Amigos in Montebello, Quebec, the QPP decides that they want to go undercover as some protesters. Fine. They decide that they are going to instigate violence by throwing rocks and other things of that sort. Not so Fine. There is nothing wrong with trying to keep the peace, especially in a volatile situation such as this, but come on, there is a pretty thick line here that was crossed by the cops here. Ohh and they initially denied it too...good for them.

Click here for an actual well thought out opinion on the subject.

Harry Potter Rules, Transformers...not so Much

Enough said.

Free Agent Frenzy...but the Leafs Still Suck

Man, oh man, where there a lot of big names changing sweaters this summer! I've got to say that the teams I'm most impressed with are Philadelphia, Colorado, Anaheim, and the New York Rangers.

I dug Colorado, Philly and the Rangers for signing the big four forwards of Smyth, Briere, Drury and Gomez. Anaheim on the other hand did something pretty impressive, they knew that they had a fantastic team that didn't need much to tinker with, so they just plugged the two big holes left by Selanne and Niedermayer retiring by going out and getting Bertuzzi and Schneider to fill the glaring gaps. Sure Briere and Rafalski may have been better (and more expensive) bets, but Brian Burke did the best with what he could and I'm impressed with that.

Since I mentioned them in the heading, I had best talk about the Leafs. Sure I hate them, but I must say that I am impressed with their two big additions. Toskala is a great goalie and Jason Blake is an incredibly underrated top-level forward. But my only big question mark is the same one that comes for everyone who walks into the ACC, are they ready to be the centre of attention? I have a feeling that the media played a role in Raycroft crumbling down, and I worry if it'll happen to Toskala or not. Sure I may delight at the Leafs crumbling, but I do sort of want to see them make it to the playoffs to lose to the Senators :)

Just to make myself sound like a genius right now, I think that the final four will be Anaheim, San Jose, The New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Maybe It's the Four Toed Statue!!!

Or maybe not...but the next creative dabble by J.J. Abrams looks incredibly promising, and I for one can not wait until January 18th to see just what is going to happen. If you don't know what I'm talking about then give this a watch...

Wasted Opportunities

TNA had their golden chance to make Samoa Joe the Champion of the Universe, but no, they botch that one too. Well done Jeff, well done. If Joe does not win the title at Bound For Glory than the company is going to have some serious problems on their hands.

5 Years and Counting

At my home away from home, Kodiak here, there is a tradition that goes back several years. For every camper and counsellor who has spent 5 summers as part of the community gets a medal in a special ceremony. Several years ago I witnessed a number of my now good friends receive their medals and I looked up at them and I said to myself "Someday, I will get me one of those" and well, guess what, I stayed true to my word.

My good friend, MacAlpine presented me my medal by giving a touching (and inside joke filled) speech about me before I went up and grabbed my hardware. It seems like such a small and trivial thing, but I am incredibly proud of myself for this accomplishment. Every time that I have looked at the medal since I got it I have been reminded of all of the blood, sweat, and tears that I have put into my last five summers, and I am filled with a sense of pride and humility. I'm not 100% sure about next summer or any other ones, but I know that these last five have been so worth it!

Getting Settled In

Here I am getting moved into my new pad to start the daunting task of being a Residence Don/Math Teacher and my first Big Boy job, to say that I'm excited and anxious would be a huge understatement. No matter what happens, expect to find some stories posted right here for your blogging consumption.

Until next time,

G

Back in Blogness

Hey there friends, it's been a while hasn't it?

Well I'm back from my Fifth summer at Kodiak, and I plan on resuming this blog in the near future. I am moving into my new pad this weekend to start my first big boy job and I have lots of thoughts on the summer to share. Stay tuned for more to follow soon!!!

Until next time,

G

The Boys of Summer

Hey there, this is less of a post as it is a farwell. Tomorrow morning I'm heading off to my summer home, Camp Kodiak. I'll be gone until August 20th or so. Being in the deep woods of Northern Ontario (Note: Blogger is not equipped with Sarcastic Emoticon), I will be unable to post regularly, making any blog posts/facebook notes a bit more of a challenge. As such, I am going on a bit of a summer holiday, I will try and make some posts on my days off or any other time I can find, but I make no promises.

If any of you feel nice, I would love to have you drop me a line while I'm at Camp, if not you can be big fat jerk faces...

I'll leave you with the immortal words of Don Henley



Until next time,

G

Culture Shock

Hey all, I returned to Onterrible just a few days, and man oh man, things have been pretty weird for me. Things back in Canada are so different than what I have gotten used to in China. I know that I wasn't gone for that long, but I still have a few questions to ask...

Has everything always been so expensive?
Has the air always been so clean?
Have people always spoken English so freaking fast?
Have Canadians always apologized so bloody much?
Has tap water always been drinkable?
Has outside always smelled so good? (as opposed to pollution and urine)
Has it always been so easy to walk around without a pack on your bag?
Have I always been so glad to be home?

Anyway, I don't know the answers to all of these questions but I look forward to finding them out in the coming months...

Until next time,

G

More on This Adult Thing

Twice in the last couple of months, I have lamented about growing up and staring eternity right in the face. Now, I find myself even more grown up, but far more at peace with it.

That's right, I am officially employed.

Over the past few weeks I have had a couple of transcontinental phone interviews with a private school back in Canada (that I don't really feel like naming on here, just to keep things private. But if you want to know just drop me an e-mail and I'll be happy to talk about it). And well, they have hired me to be a Residential Don.

I'll be living in the student residences, reliving some of my Acadia time, plus teaching a couple of classes (less than a full load), and running some extra-curricular activities. In short, I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing, something fun, different, and not binding.

Needless to say, I'm pretty pumped about this opportunity I have now.

Alrightie that's really all that I have to say. I would apologize for making this blog post self-indulgent and all about me. But you know what? I think 80% of what has been posted here has been somehow about me and you keep reading, so logically I must be a draw.

Blogging, an ego stroke for nerds...hmmmm maybe I should sell that as a slogan to blogger.

Until next time,

G

All Grown Up

Two months ago I made a post about the perils of growing up. Even as I typed about having only 8 weeks left in my program, it seemed like a far off time.

Well the time is now.

I just finished giving my last lesson as a Student Teacher and boy do I ever feel strange now. Already I can feel the terror of adulthood coming my way. I have to start looking for jobs, I have to start thinking about my pension, I have to start thinking about my life in more than one year increments.

But I really don't want to!!!!!

I know that all of my NipFriends back in Canada still have another week to put off this surreal moment but not us over in China. We got to finish a week early which sounds great, but right now I really would love to have another week to hide my head in the sand for just a little bit longer.

My dad has always said that he will die of Eternal Peter Pan Syndrome, he says that he "may get old but will never grow up". I guess the older I grow the more I realize that I am like both of my parents (how is that for a scary thought!!!!), and in this case the apple has fallen directly below the tree.

In the last post I said that I should stop counting down the Days until Spiderman 3, I should get rid of my Superhero pillow case and I should stop making Black Eyed Peas references when I'm teaching.

You know what, to hell with all of that!!!! Just because I'm out looking for jobs and pensions and everything else does not mean that I need to stop having fun. I have the rest of my life to grow up, why should I start now? Why should I start ever for that matter.

So it's decided, I'm putting my adulthood off for an indefinite amount of time. Perhaps the job and pension thing will have to be a little different though....

Until next time,

G

8 Weeks Until Adulthood..

I am growing up far faster than I am ready to.

I just finished off my placement yesterday, which went really quite well, and now I am going to enjoy a week of hibernation. After that I have three weeks left at Nipissing and then I'm off to go on placement in China for 4 weeks (plus staying for another 4 just for fun), and then well...I'm all done. After my last day teaching in China I have officially completed my Bachelor of Education requirements and then...well, there it is, real life staring me in the face.

I really have no idea what to do next year. I have looked into some International Schools and some LD Schools in the Toronto area. I really have no idea as to where my life will lead me, not much new on that front I suppose.

It scares me to think that I could be starting my career next year. For the past few years I have been saying "I want to be a teacher when I grow up", and this year I have been saying "I'm trying to be a teacher when I grow up". But what will I see in 8 weeks when I officially am a teacher? "I'm a teacher now that I'm grown up" sounds far too scary for me.

I guess I am just going through the harsh reality that everyone in their mid-twenties has faced over the ages. I have realized that I am not a kid any more. When I first started teaching I would be confused whenever students called me Mr., but now, I've gotten used to it. Man, that makes me feel old. Am I old enough to be a Mr.? Have I actually done enough with my life to earn that amount of respect? I think no, but all of my students and colleagues seem to think yes.

Is it time for me to stop going to camp in the summer? Is it time that I stop saying 'psghetti? Is it time that I move past my Superman pillow case? Should I not be counting down the days until Spiderman 3? Should I not quote The Black Eyed Peas in a Data Management lesson?

Most adults wouldn't be doing any of those things, maybe some day I'll stop going to camp and start saying spaghetti. Just don't count on me changing my pillow case anytime soon.

Until next time,

G

Welcoming Myself to 2001

It's official, I have officially caught up to trends from 6 years ago. Yesterday, I bought an iPod. My mother gave me some money for Valentine's Day/going to China (Thanks again Mom, I love you!!!) to spend on either on iPod or a Digital Camera. After a while of weighing the options I decided to go with the iPod since I have really wanted one for a long ass time.

I went with the 30 GB Black version. It's very sleek, very sexy, and may be my new best friend. Sad? Undoubtedly. A sign of our times? You had best believe it.

I love being able to hold my collection of CD's and downloaded songs in the palm of my hands. I love that I can find another reason to ignore random people as I walk around. I love that I can show off all of my pictures to whoever I meet. I love the 21st Century!!!!

I had best be off, I'm going to go and find my Space Odyssey.

Until next time,

G

Breathing a Sigh of Relief

Today was a very big day in the world of Glen. I was being observed. For those of you not in Education, it means that a professor from Nipissing came down to my school, watched me teach a lesson and graded me on it.

This is really important since our success in the program directly relates to the observations made. If we do not pass the observation, we do not pass the program. Also, and more importantly, our teaching reports are things that need to be submitted to potential employers for them to judge us on. Stressful eh?

Another awesome fact about it? This would be my first time teaching this particular class. I had been teaching the Grade 11's but due to my advisers schedule I had to teach the Grade 12 class. It worked out nicely in the sense that they had just had a test yesterday and were ready to start something new and move on. But I was now nervous for two reason.

Ohh and one more thing. It was on Two-Variable Correlation....exactly.

I spent a long time getting stressed out about this very big day. I spent more time making sure that my teaching binder was in order than I care to divulge. I planned my lesson with NASA like precision and I thought of ways to make it as engaging as possible to a group of 17-18 year olds.

The stars must have been aligned just perfectly today. Somehow, someway, I was on. I have taught, presented, or performed fairly extensively in recent years and there are very rare occasions when things click perfectly. Today was one of those days for me. I don't know what, I don't know how, but they just did. I was coming up with examples that I never even considered, I was making jokes that made people other than me laugh (for a change), and most importantly the students were engaged for the time that I was there.

I don't mean to sound too braggy, like I know that I do, but I am still riding the high from that lesson. It is days like today that remind me why I want to do this with the rest of my life. It was fun, it was exciting and I loved it. I don't expect every day to be just like this, but days like today make being sworn at well worth it.

I really don't want to take too much credit as the majority of it goes to the excellent group of Grade 12s that I had. They were really involved with the lesson, they were constantly making relevant jokes and they kept me relaxed through the entire stressful ordeal. I really don't know how I can possibly thank them for the huge favour that they did for me today.

If any of my NipFriends are out there reading this, I hope that your evaluation went/goes well. I know that you are nervous about it, I know that you are tired of lesson planning, I know that the kids are stressing you out, but most of all, I know that you are doing a great job.

Until next time,

G

Giving it up for Glent

Hey there Cyberspace, sorry again for the blatant lack of postings. I will once again lay the blame game on my father/step-mother for not having the webernets available at home. And I suppose the fact that my future career rests on the next two weeks or so of my life. Fun times.

This post is a wee bit delayed, but I just wanted to wish all of the Catholics out there a Happy Lent. For the past several years I have given up some of my biggest indulgences. Last year and in 2004 I gave up pop, not an easy thing to do for a Pepsi-addict like myself. In 2003, I gave up swearing, which went well despite everyone I knew at the time trying to make me swear.

This year though, I have decided to give up chips and fries, or chips and crisps for any of my Scottish friends out there. I have realized that I have gained a solid 15 pounds over the past year or so, and while I still feel that I am in an acceptable weight range, I really would like to get back down below 160, where I was for a fairly long time. I feel that doing this, combined with getting back outside to run will help me get back where I want to be.

I hear many of you saying "But Glen, your body is already perfectly sculpted, why not just relax for a bit?". That may be a great point, but I am a firm believer in self-improvement and the whole point of it is to find ways to be better than yourself. Last year, I was running regularly and eating relatively little in the junk food department. Now, I am a lazy ass student subsisting on junk. Therefore, I gain weight, big shock.

I have recently checked out a BMI Chart, and discovered that at 5'10" and 170 pounds I am at the very top end of "Normal" weight for my height, bordering on overweight. While last year at 155, I was right in the middle of the ideal, healthy weight for my height. Kind of a shock I know, the thought that I could actually be an overweight vegan.

So the moral of the story is that I want to get back to were I was and feel as healthy as I did before. Also, I love lent, since it is a wonderful opportunity to be stubborn. Something that I am clearly very good at doing. They say that you should stick to what you are good at now don't they?

Until next time,

G

On the Trail Again

Well hey there everyone, just wanted to make a quick shoutout. I'm currently back at my Dad's on placement and so I probably won't be on here much over the next few weeks. I will do my part to post when I can but I have a feeling that I will be a busy boy.

I'm going to be teaching two sections of Grade 11 College Math and one section of Grade 12 University Math. Needless to say, I'm feeling a sense of excitement and apprehension. I have not done much math in a long time (first semester of my fourth year...that's a solid 3+ years ago) and I have been having my doubts as to whether high school math teacher will be a viable career choice for me. I'm rather excited to figure all of this out, and of course, the dreaded observation that I am going to have on February 28th from my Faculty Advisor (dun, dun, dun....)

In a slightly related note, I have realized of late that I want this blog to be kept from my current and future students as much as possible. As a result, I will be going through at some point and removing every reference to my last name. I do not feel that I have much, if anything to hide on here, I would just like to be able to keep a private life that is separate from my professional life. This is why my Facebook badge was removed and I will soon be turning the name of a semi-regular feature here to "Some Insights Into My Twisted Mind" and scanning through a bit more to get rid of the R word. If you are posting on here, please refer to me by my first name or one of the many nick names that I have. But if you are doing it through my Facebook notes, then by all means go to town and call me anything you want.

So I had best take off, I will do my best to update this as often as I can over the next little while, but I of course, can't make any promises.

Until next time,

G