June is Over Already!

June 30th, 2011 Thomasso

June 2011 has got to be the most prosperous month I have had in a very long time when I compare it to the last major time period back in September 2008 with the same results. This month, I had graduated, or officially finished being an undergraduate. I then found meaningful employment. And from being at the convocation ceremony, I got leads that could start my post graduate down on the road to my dream career as the doors opened up once the pomp and circumstance cleared the air. On top of all this, the visit by my mother. The support from my friends who wanted to be there with me as I went through transition of graduation was incredible. It was so nice to have everyone that wanted to share the experience of the convocation ceremony with me.

The major mile stone of finishing classes has still not fully sunk in. Even while I was at work today, I was thinking that there was something missing, that I was forgetting something. I was thinking that I may have an assignment, or a paper that needs to be handed in, you know that nagging feeling that you forgot something. In other words, I still carry around that guilty feeling that my work day is too light and that I need it weighed down with numerous tasks of dead-line torture.Yeah, I think I have gotten use to begin over loaded? How sick is that?

Today – with so much freedom, I find myself making more mistakes. I feel so lazy now that I know there will be no one critically marking my work so I get sloppy and careless. I realise that there are critical markers in my life now, they just do not give the feed back that my profs did. Instead they constantly adjust my evaluations that they have of me through passive reactions. I have to vigorously push myself with the same amount of discipline that was driving me during my undergraduate days from my instructors. Is this maturity?

The shock of June was meeting a professor that I had when I was in my first year at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Mr. Richard Floyd, a professor of Sociology at kwantlen received an award as Professor Emeritus. This was a man who truly inspired and touch so many around him. The effect that he had on my life was incredible. I am truly privileged to have been a student under him. He was the first person in my life to “open my eyes” on issues that taunted me like how does the cycle of money really work. He showed us all in those classes the world around us as we focused on what makes our social structure work, and why we are what we are today. That course was focused on looking at several perspectives: the good, the bad and the ugly of our society as it is, and is not, and the illusions that we see of it. I will never forget those classes with him.

But June was, in my mind, the spring of 2011. Literally, in terms of weather in my life. The winter that kept lingering from January, and did not stop until June. So, I like to say, we only had a three week period of spring. Even now that we are now officially in the summer season, the spring weather still lingers. So too did the effect of the convocation have on me as I truly blossomed into my next metamorphoses of life during that ceremony. Wearing the graduation gown and tassel, was, well, a dream like state that only could be appreciated until after I had to take them off. Together, the cool weather made wearing the cap and gown bearable during the convocation worked out in terms of being comfortable. Is not what life is all about, begin comfortable?

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Safety Food

February 9th, 2011 Thomasso

My last extreme adventure of the week is over, the Food Safe course that I need. I wrote the exam today at the Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey campus. I was given an hour to write it, and it took me less than twenty minutes to write it. I needed a minimum of eighty percent to pass, I earned eighty-eight percent. This is not too bad for someone who has had very little experience with food handling.

When I finished, I had to wait around for the rest of the hour while the director came back to officially sign me off as completed. She then congratulated me, and asked me to wait in the front office as she dashed off. She had to print off my certificate.

The director presented me with the certificate, a nice thick piece of paper with a gold sticker on it, and said that I am welcomed back any time. The certificate actually looks very cool. Along with the certificate came the wallet size certificate that you carry on you when at work, plus a source booklet for quick referencing.

I am so glad that it is over and done with. Now I can send off my proposal and see what kind of bites I get with it. With the SCR-course, First-Aid and Food Safe, I hope that I have all my bases covered, as I spent a lot of time a money on these courses. There is no way that I could have done all of this while doing classes and worked at my hourly job. The time and travel restraints were just too great. It was like I almost needed to be in two places at once.

I fulfilled my objective of getting all of this done before February 15, 2011.  Now for the dirty work of Contract Law.

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Band-Aid Solutions, Level One

February 5th, 2011 Thomasso

Around 8:35am I was surrounded by seventeen other members of a class that was about to embark on the day long course of occupational first-aid, level one, recognized in the Province of British Columbia, and we were all tried, spending our Saturday morning there, to learn the art of saving lives at the most basic level.  I took the course for many reasons, but mainly to enhance my skill level and add more to my growing arsenal of qualifications needed for my career. With my eyes barely fully awake, I was writing notes on how to do risk assessments on a patient in need of first-aid, and begin the procedures needed to aid that person in distress. Then before I knew it I was standing in a open area with all these people as I was asked to lay on the ground, plant my elbows on the hard ground, and hold the head of the perfect stranger and apply something called C-Spine. At that point of the day, all of this was overwhelming, but mostly because I was still half a sleep.

Half the course was in the classroom, taking notes from the lecture, and other other half was in the open area, doing the practical. Everything from how to the roll the person over, to proper techniques in making sure the patient does not suffer from further injury when the first-aid is being administered, was drilled into us. Then back into the classroom, more lecture, then back out in the open area for more practical, more drills, and so on. During the last half of the class, the training got more gruelling as we got into CPR, dealing with a choking victim who had passed out and now was not breathing and  his  heart stopped beating. We did the CPR manually, and with a defibrillator, which was a totally new experience. That was the first time I ever used one of these devices. The machine talks to you, and also monitors the patient as you perform the CPR! That is cool!

At the end of the class came the little mini exam of twenty questions. Yes, I passed, with a score of one-hundred percent, but surprisingly the class average was about seventy-eight percent. No one failed, but the questions were simple, so I can only figure that people must have rushed through it and got careless as some questions were set up like trick questions. Anyway, before we all knew it, is was dark outside and the whole day had gone by, it was time to leave.

I am happy that I did it. I was reluctant when I first signed up for the course, but now I see this as something that will benefit me, even if I do not use it in my new career. So there, another feather in my cap of work-related merits. Monday I tackle food!

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Solstice, Oh Happy Day of the Year

December 21st, 2010 Thomasso

It is finally here, the shortest day, and the longest night of the year, and now the longer days are a coming.

This is going to be a action packed day. Once I’m done with work, I’m off with my friends.

Even though the day looks very miserable, it did show promise this morning when the sky cleared up for a brief moment and allowed the sun to shine. But now as the day progresses, it is probably, more than likely, going to rain, continuously. But that will not dampen our celebrations.

Today is also the last official day of the Fall Semester at Kwnatlen. Yes, there are some who are still writing exams. I feel so sorry for them because the time off starts tomorrow. Most of us were fished our exams two weeks ago, and some, even earlier because of having in class exams. Oh, well, I’m finished, I did my time with it, and I’m not going to rub it in for the next generation of students goring through the bowls of Kwantlen. I wish them good luck and happy times.

Tonight I meet up with some of my old classmates. I am looking forward to that very much. I miss the old gang. We did a lot. We shared a lot. We survived it together. You just don’t throw that kind of friendship out to easily, no matter how far apart our lives will go in our separate carers.

I know, I’m sounding kind of mushy right now. Just a minute…

OK, that’s better.

I’m still waiting on my grades. I thought by today I would have them, but I guess my profs were heavily loaded up with marking. Hopefully by tonight I’ll know where I stand. Fingers crossed. I’m so nervous and excite at the same time!

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Done

December 15th, 2010 Thomasso

I just submitted very last piece of work for my degree. It is over. No more homework! No more long drives and painfully late nights in classrooms and libraries. Heck, no more endless hours of reading, typing and writing.  Although it is unofficial, I have now gone from undergraduate to graduate as of this point in time. I like saying that because it has been a long haul.

About fifteen minutes ago, I sent off my last paper by email. It was a take-home exam, the worst kind because they are critiqued as if they are a published books for the public market. I spent over ten hours on six double spaced pages of text answering just two little questions from a single source. Every letter of text had to count. You go over your allotted six pages, then it is not marked. You go under, you loose marks because of missing information.

The really weird thing is I am not that excited. Yes I am happy, but I am not throwing a party or buying myself that super dinner with friends, but in fact, I feel nothing special. I was just thinking, “what next?”

In the new year the real work begins. I put my higher education to good use. I start, hopefully, working in my field of expertise then!

But in the mean time, I have to go in for another eye examination. My eyes are getting worse. The glasses that I got six months ago do not work any more, and the headaches are worse too. I am far-sighted, and one eye is worse than the other. Perhaps this is my old age kicking in, but it sure kicked in with a vengeance.

So in the mean time I have about three weeks left with my current employer. They are nice people, but they are going through some pains of stress themselves with the way the economy is going. Running a business today must be sheer-hell!

Well, off to bed.

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Frustrated

December 13th, 2010 Thomasso

I’m frustrated right now with my take-home exam.

What happened was, I started doing the research for the paper when I figured out that I had gathered way too much information for what I needed. I realised that I wasted over five hours of time on it so far. The requirements are, three double spaced pages of text for each question, with a total of two questions for the exam. The total value of the exam from the whole course is thirty percent. So naturally I started gathering what I thought was, or would be, the equivalent of what a paper would be for a value of thirty percent. My premise was based on a third or fourth year paper, not a first year paper.

When I started compiling the date and then structured my arguments, I quickly ran out of room, reaching the three page limit. I tried condensing the information even further, but came to the conclusion that half of my research would need to be taken out to meet the requirements.

Frustrated, I took a time-out, and revisited the syllabus and then realised what error I made. The term “over kill” could literally describe the level of input I initially put into it at this point. Frustration was trying to choose what to keep and what to throw out.

Tomorrow I will spend another couple of hours reworking the data and dumb everything down. Hopefully this will give me enough time Wednesday to proof read the document and have it submitted for midnight Wednesday.

My only incentives right now are the dead-line and the weight of thirty percent of the overall course grade. Getting it finished and polished for presentation will be something that I will regrettably have to do up to the last minute.

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Happy Admass!

December 12th, 2010 Thomasso

Although it has being less than twenty hours since my initial lease on freedom, I still have this one teeny weeny little assignment to finish, due on Wednesday, so relishing in freedom is still a new feeling. The assignment is chugging along, but I have to collect all of the data for it before I can begin to start the writing process. There are a couple more chapters that I have to read until then. So I am not completely free yet. Instead, I do not have to commute to classes anymore—which will save me as far as time goes, so banging off this “take-home exam” should be fine and pleasant on my mind and body.

The process of employment now starts up again. I have two major interviews set up for next week. Basically I am preparing for  a more lucrative engagement with my new career, which is the reason why I choose to finish at the end of 2010. This is when most of the federal government contracts kick in and new rules, laws and legislation starts to ramp up as far as Canada’s penal correctional systems goes. With the net widening of many laws in the Criminal Code, the abundance of the criminal population entering into the correctional system is overwhelming. This is one sector that is booming, but in order to tap into that, you need credentials – hence my B.A.

A Side Note:

I do not practice the Christian faith, or any other faith for that matter, but I study and research these customs and practices from these faiths with great interest. Mainly I see the what effect that certain celebrations have on young children. I was in the local Big-Box Store in Langley City the other day when I overheard a mother scolding her child, a young girl about the age of eight, or so. As I turned down this one isle in the toy section, there on the floor was this child having a temper tantrum. The mother watched onwards trying not to show her weakness. When the child saw me, she screamed even louder, laying on her back kicking the air, but the mother did not budge from her tough position of not buying the item the little girl wanted.

Soon the child quieted and ceased her flailing and grandstanding, and joined her mother’s side as they walked away down towards the sales department. It was not until I over heard the mother telling her husband to pick up the item on the following day and they would present it to their daughter during the holidays. This sadden me because what I saw was the incorrect way that dealing with children who create such a spectacle at her age, and then have the gift rewarded afterwards. That did not sit well with me.

A friend of mind, a social scientist, once told me that they have renamed the Christian holiday, known as Christmas to Admass, the day of commercial success and great profit margins in Canada. Admass, as I now call it too, has certainly created a force to be reckoned with for business and investment throughout the world as factories and supermarkets all rely on this one event to push them though their yearly business cycles. Sadly for this little girl who threw the tamper tantrum, she is also a byproduct of this frenzy time of year too.

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The Final Week

December 5th, 2010 Thomasso

The fourteenth week of the semester will start tomorrow and my biggest concern is will I be ready for it. I’ve practised my French homework, and did most of the on-line activists for French. I’m psyching myself up for the Political Science final that is a take-home exam – those are often the toughest, so really it is sit down and go over everything again and again until I’m sick.

I spent more time doing my windows, putting plastic barriers up to help with the heating bill. I’ll have virtually no income for January and February, so I really have to pinch my pennies. So I’m doing everything I can to save money and live comfortable at the same time. It’s tough with inflation starting to ramp up.

Speaking about inflation, I cannot believe how expensive everything is getting? All my bills, including rent and electric have jump by about 4 percent. I was going to buy a new jacket for the winter, but I might have to stock with the one I got now and fix the zipper on it. This is a sign if how tight this season is going to be, so spending is going to be controlled even more. Last year I went through several cost cutting measures, but now I’m seeing that I have to go further, and back then, those were though cut-backs. Ultimately too these means cutting back on income-tax going to the government – sorry Gordon and Steven – you guys are going to have to find another sucker to support your lifestyle with. Snicker. The poor starving student does have some perks.

I have to raise a glass up to the founder and whistle blower of WikiLeaks. This guys has got some serious balls. But this has also made the government of Canada that much more accountable. Yes, I have found that once the leaks started surfacing, people who normally were passive about their government became active, and that I think is very healthy for a democracy. This now gives each and everyone of us a look at big brother , although most will forget about it by next week, just the few moments of reading WikiLeaks, getting people talking, was very healthy. I hope there is more. I therefore give my “stamp of approve” for WikeLeaks just on the bases of merit and truthfulness that is has brought to the public.

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Work pluss Home Equals No Fun at All

November 29th, 2010 Thomasso

Yes, I’m still cranking out this term paper for my Political Science class. It is 95 percent done now. Just need a pretty cover page and a good proof read, then it is off to the printers.

Work is going well, I guess. I can feel the stress in my “trainee’s” voice as I pass all of my knowledge onto her. Sadly, they thought that what I did at the old warehouse was just a walk in the park. They had no idea the width and breadth that is involved in such an operation, let alone the riggers of keeping on top of everything, including the manual labour.  Oh, did I say manual labour – yes I did. In fact, that seems to be the missing part of the whole equation for running a warehouse, the lifting, moving and operation of mobile equipment. It is one thing to work behind a desk, but quite another concept when the actual operations of the warehouse are carried out. Awh, the labourer. Fun stuff.

I can feel the end nearing now. The classes are really winding down. I have to pinch myself just thinking that this is it – soon no more classes. Oh Gods, I have done 40 courses – and it will be over soon – in 10 days, 4 hours and 24 minutes. Give or take a few seconds.

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The Twilight of a Semester

November 27th, 2010 Thomasso

I’m taking the time to type out a little post here becuase I wanted to somehow record this weekend as I move into the last week of the semester marking the very end of my undergraduate life as a student. A lot has happened in the last final weeks leading up to this moment. Some were memorable, while other events, well,  I just want to forget that they ever happened. I have many people who support me, while there are others who wish I would not move on – as change seem to be a real issue for them, but as they say in French: C’est la vie. Change will happen no matter what.

I have only three final assignments left before I am done this term. In each class there is a final, and I have a major paper that is due by next Wednesday. December 2nd 9th will mark the end to my classes while I have the exam (take home) that needs to be done in the following week. I have four more trips out to Richmond, and two in Langley, and then I can hang up my gas key with the SUV.

Speaking of the SUV, that saved my day having the 4X4 option. I was able to easily manoeuvre around on the roads covered with snow from the snow storm last Thursday, making my trip out to Richmond a breeze. Sadly, and with anger, the campus was open, but my prof cancelled the class and only communicated to everyone by email. As I came directly from work, there was no time or means for me to check my email, so I made the trip for nothing. Yes, anger.

For the next 24 hours, it is hunker down time and crank out this paper for my Political Science class, then read and memorise like crazy for the two finals thereafter. Yes, the very end is when you do the most work during the semester, so no rest for this poor soul.

Correction: My last regular week of classes will end on the week of December 2nd, however, December 9th is really the last week of classes and when the entire semester is finished. It is confusing becuase the academic week starts on Mondays and ends on Thursdays, with a three day long weekend. We truly live in a different world indeed  -  from the rest of society.

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