Peace Out for Two weeks.

I have a TON of work to do before school ends. So good-bye for now, I will see everyone in two weeks. but I still might blog between that time....we will see.

I will leave you with this quote that I cannot remember who originally said it:

Nobody is EVER too busy to tell you how busy they are.

That's totally me.

Peace Out Dudes.

Blahs

Another picture of me and Steve having fun......ho hum, wish I could be having this much fun now....:( I'm doing homework these days. I feel bad when I'm not doing it, so in other words I'm stressing and don't know how to relax....but that's ok because I'm pretty sure that it's just a student thing to do. I never feel like this when I'm not in school so I'm really looking forward to graduating. I'm taking a mental health class, and I keep diagnosing myself with everything I read it's kind of ridiculous! According to me, I have a "general anxiety disorder" ha ha, well, maybe not that extreme but it is pretty tough for me to relax at this point. Sometimes I think about my future tropical vacation that I am taking in May. I cannot believe that it is almost here, we have been planning this since last April, cannot believe it might actually be a reality soon enough now! All us ladies that are going....there are 6, have nicknamed ourselves "the womenican of dominican!" I have a new obsession: Facebook, I cannot stop facebookin it! Every single day, it's very addicting. Well blog reader, I'm sorry, but I must depart! Homework assignments titled spousal abuse, childhood abuse, anorexia nervosa research paper, and community log#3 are all calling my names! Wow, looking at that list, it's no wonder I never want to do my homework! How completly depressing!

laptops

I got TWO assignments done today! woooowoooo! Tomorrow is D-day. I have the biggest presentation of my life happening tomorrow and I'm a little nervous. I can't wait for it to be over. It is definitly that time of year. All I can think about is school. Sometimes I phone Steve and get sad because I haven't seen him....but then I get back to doing my homework. I haven't worked out in a month. I've been eating a lot of chocolate and gaining weight. I do my own make-shift yoga in my bedroom before bed and when I wake up in the morning....basically the same stretches that we did in grade 10 gym class, but I call it yoga. I rented a laptop from the school to motivate me to do my homework because I have to pay per day. Too bad $5000 dollars for tuition and $1000 for text books hasn't done that already....but I sat in second cup and worked hard for a couple hours with my lap top that has my school name written in big letters across the back. So this is good. I like working in Starbucks and Second Cup. I like how there are alot of conversations going on at once and it's impossible to follow just one, and not to mention the loudness of the blenders and other coffee equipment, and then the music that I have never heard before. All this ambiant noise makes me very happy. Not to mention I always drink a latte while typing away on my laptop. Of course that doesn't help with the whole gaining weight thing. Tomorrow I have to hand the laptop back to the library of my school, but I might not and just keep it for a few more days. Anyway, I'm going to start on more homework. This lady with her laptop is soo happy. That's how I feel with a laptop and now I want one.

grrrrr

so I am currently waiting for one of my group members at the millwoods campus so I can give her some material, it's been 45 minutes and she isn't here. arg. not that I have anywhere to be really otherwise I would have left a long time ago, and yet, here I sit... a little miffed.

READING WEEK!

AHHHH! Reading week is FINALLY here! Now I can have a chance to have some fun and complete some projects that really badly needed to be finished and write some papers I didn't have time for.... So far to celebrate I have had a family day with Steve's dad's side of the family, gone out to cook my absolute favorite bar and danced the night away, (the last time I went out it was september), my highschool girlfriends and I had a get together last night, and cleaned up some things that I had ignored since christmas....so I'm feeling pretty good besides the fact that I'm physically sick but that doesn't really matter because I don't feel guilty about not going to school or field placement when there is none to go to! woooooowooooooo! I have asked Steve to phone me at 12 and ream me out if the project that I am working on is not done by then because I set a goal to be done by 12:00pm! Better get crackin on it, otherwise if Steve reads this blog after he reams me out I'm going to get another phone call....and it won't be pretty. Other than the fact that I hate school, these breaks are quite luxurious. There is no way that if I was working full time I would be able to have a spring break, a christmas break, and a november break, not to mention the fact that I only have at the most 6 hours of class a day.....much better than working, oh who am I kidding I would way rather be working. But I am thankful for the breaks, it's just that when you have so much over your head it is incredibly difficult to enjoy them. For the most part, I am enjoying these breaks.....even though technically I am just doing homework from 10 in the morning till 4......so I'm still working but I am at home and can do stuff in the evenings and no homework is due......ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! My current mood is very happy.

Stupid 3 hour break

This picture is from 2004 Grad photo day. I found it on one of Tab's old websites that she has all these old highschool pictures. I figured I hadn't posted a picture in so long, people must be getting bored! I don't know what I'm going to do with myself with this 3 hour break each monday. It's destroying me. Not only that, but I left my purse in Steve's truck and so I have no money at all! Although it does prevent me from spending unnecessarily at the Tim Hortons downstairs. But having no money is so brutal when your bored! At Grant MacEwan they offer a diploma in massage therapy and are looking for volunteers who want to get massaged. The Massage Clinic office was closed so I'm a little bummed. Having a weekly monday massage would be so nice, and such a great thing during the worst three hours of the week. So I'm already hating school, and I haven't started ANY homework at all. I really should get on it. I need to be more motivated. Unfortunatly, I'm not. Today in class we had to do a smudge. It's an Aboriginal purification ceremony. It was pretty neat, I enjoyed it! No it did not involve praying or worshipping other gods, mom. Anyway, I had better go, at this moment I am bored and probably boring to listen to. Hmmmm, any other things to talk about........last night I ran for 15 minutes! My next goal is honestly going to be 25 minutes. I will let you all know if I can do it, or if my knees give out. Good grief, I'm already an old lady at 20 years old.

People are always so much more ambitious in January than other times of the year

Alright, right now I'm writing in the grant macewan library because I have a 3 hour break between classes today,(how brutal is that) and what else in the world am I going to do besides blog? Well, I could be doing homework, and I have very ambitious hopes for finishing early. For example, today I have a class called Aboriginal Anthropology, a very interesting class. One of the assignments in the class is that you have to write a journal every week about the reading that was required. I'm thinking that if I'm really fast and really sneaky, I may be able to finish all these journals in 2 weeks and then turn the text book back in for a refund! I know what your thinking, ya right, like Jess has the ambition and the determination to do 20 3-page journals in 2 weeks, well I don't, your right. But I'm going to make a valient effort tonight! And tomorrow! By the way, my previous post about getting a toned belly fell through after 2 weeks. So that shows how much determination I really have. It's a known fact that when someone has a bunch of homework due, anything else in the world would rather be done, including toning one's belly. I'm also pretty ripped off about the cost of text books. Two of my courses have text books totalling $20 each, while a couple of my courses have $200 texts. Isn't that completly ridiculous? I would rather pay someone a dollar a page to photocopy, because you honestly only use about 20 pages at the most anyway, well, if your me and you don't do the required readings! Anyway, I guess I better get started, sorry to keep my readers waiting!

And now a little humor at my expense:
A social worker asks a collegue: "What time is it?"The other one answers: "Sorry, don't know, I have no watch."The first one: "Never mind! The main thing is that we talked about it."

A social worker is facing a mugger with a gun. "Your money or your life!" says the mugger. "I'm sorry," the social worker answers, "I am a social worker, so I have no money and no life."

Ah, these are all things that I have to look forward to!

CRUNCH TIME!!!!

I'm writing two final exams tomorrow (monday) Pray for me!

HOUSING CRISIS: EDMONTON

What the heck is with Edmonton and the rising housing prices! It's ridiculous! Last fall I played a game in the Edmonton Journal called "Rome for the Gnome." Gnomes were hidden all over different parks in Edmonton, clues were given in the newspaper and people had to solve the clue, and then go to that park to find the little gnome often hidden under trees. It became a little disturbing when we went to lift up the bottoms of trees to find gnomes and instead would find an entire family sleeping underneath! Mom, Dad, and kids. Unless you were to physically lift up the tree branches, you wouldn't be able to tell that people were sleeping underneath them. Whats really surprising and why you don't see these people during the day is because a lot of homeless people in Edmonton work during the day and sleep in public parks during the night. "Susan McGee, spokeswoman from the Edmonton Joint Planning Committee on Housing, said working people have been living in campgrounds over the summer or sleeping in the city's river valley."(http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2006/10/31/homeless-edmonton.htmledmonton.html) I think that if a person is working full time on minimum wage, they should be able to afford some type of housing or accomodation. It's ridiculous to me that Edmonton is too expensive for people who are working hard to support their families to provide food, clothing, and I don't think that shelter should ever be considered a luxury, especially in Alberta where not having a shelter could mean freezing to death! "Alberta's white-hot economy is creating a new class of homeless — the working poor. The latest survey of homelessness in Edmonton has found that low vacancy rates and lack of affordable housing are hurting those with jobs as well as the unemployed." (http://www.themoneyblogs.com/edmontonrealestate/my.blog/homeless-in-edmonton.html And as for shelters, there isn't enough room. There isn't enough room for people in the richest province in Canada! "168" people in Edmonton each night will not make it into a shelter because either the shelter is too full, (people being turned away) or people will be discharged from a shelter. (http://www.edmonton.ca/CommPeople/HomelessOct02.pdf) People have different solutions to these problems. Some people want to implement a "living wage" for people of an area to earn enough to be able to afford the necessities of life for whatever cost things are priced at in that area. Other people want the government to introduce a type of rent control across Edmonton. There are other solutions such as the prevention of foreign land buyers in the Edmonton area.

It happens to really irks me when I see people who work all day on minimum wage, often long hours, who have families, who don't do drugs or alcohol, are forced to work more than one job, who are responsible, who, because of Edmonton's rising housing prices cannot afford some type of decent accomodation. So, this is just something to think about, especially for anybody who believes that in all conditions being homeless is a choice.

p.s. This is a re-written section of my paper - "The Increase of Poverty in Edmonton", (written with a little more emotion for this blog! lol)

Feeling a little under pressure?

I feel like this dog!

So once again its sunday night and I'm doing homework. If any of you thought that my high school habits have faded because I am now in college and paying for it myself its not true! I'm still the biggest procrastinator of all time, the only thing about school now that is really kicking my butt is that if you don't hand in an assignment, you fail the whole entire course, and apparently kicked out of the program! Which is good for a person like me and bad. Last christmas I asked if I could get an extension on an assignment till January the 2nd. Thinking that I would work real hard before christmas, as if! Who has free time in the days before christmas or wants to make time in the days after??!! Every student knows that you will only start working on the assignment the day or two before its due! I'm not the only one who does this! So anyway, needless to say, my christmas was not all that relaxing last year. Definitly the worst part about school is that you think about it during your free time and feel guilty for not working while your having fun or relaxing. SO, this year I have been making a valient effort to work hard, and it really has paid off. But if your wondering if I have made a dent in those 6 assignments still due........I'm almost done one assignment.........and the rest are all due by thursday and I REALLY don't want christmas break homework. I'm also a person who starts shopping for christmas in October to hopefully be done by the end of November. Unfortunatly that did not happen due to the intensity of my assignments in October and November, now I must shop in December, what a drag.

Is anyone else already feeling some holiday/school stress???

The end is near

So, I did end up getting two of the assignments done and the third I asked for an extension. When I went to class on tuesday, the day the third research paper was due, only 3 people handed in the paper! 3 out of 30! The teacher basically said "all of you asked for extensions, so get the paper in whenever." So that was pretty awesome especially because it means that there is way more people in the same boat as me than I thought. I'm also going to revise a paper I already wrote and change it up a little for this last one...ssshhhhh, don't tell! Although Marla, you amaze me. You only had one paper to write and yet you still asked for an extension! Oh well, we understand you "work" ha ha.

Anyway, tomorrow I lead a group session of about 13 people(my fellow classmates) for one hour. yikes. It's going to be interesting. We are going to start off by giving everyone a christmas festive holiday hershey kiss. And the icecreaker is going to be about christmas so that will be great. But I'm still counting down the days till school ends! only 3 more weeks or so! 6 assignments due by the 30th and 2 final exams by the 12th.......and counting!

So, I just finished one of the three papers due on monday and tuesday. I'm not going to lie, I was seriously bawling by the end of it. So frustrating! I'm almost done the second one! wow, who would have thought that if I started writing both of them on tuesday, I would only be 2/3rds of the way done by sunday night? I totally thought I planned this out but I guess not. Now I will have to have an extension on my paper - and that kinda sucks because it prolongs the pain! ha ha, oh it hurts so much to laugh.

~~~This is a picture of my adorable dog Pepsi and she makes me happy!~~~

Last few weeks of school!

Oh my goodness, school is completly eating me alive! I have 3 research papers due on monday and tuesday, and two assignments due on thursday, one of them being a class presentation where I have to lead group for an hour - its not going to be fun! After this week is over, I will have 2 more assignments, and 2 final exams and then I'm done! Steve and I are going to Banff after school is over and its basically the only thing keeping me going right now! Everytime I don't want to do my homework I picture myself flying down the side of a mountain - in a GOOD way! ha ha. These next three weeks are going to go by so slow and so fast at the same time! My current assignment is about poverty in Edmonton. Did you know poverty in Edmonton has increased 30% since last year? That's a pretty big deal, but I really I hope I get a good mark!

p.s. The picture of us at "the top of the world" is so funny, we look like four year olds in our snow suits, but thats mainly my fault for not having any matching snow stuff - not to mention that ridiculous orange touque! These were taken last year at the top of panorama mountain.