Jordan's Blogarama

This is a blog telling about what I did in the run of a day and/or my opionion on whatever topic I feel like posting about.... yep, check back often for more details and don't be afraid to spread the word about my blog!

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Announcement:Aug.17th-plans for Aug.18th thru Aug.21st

Attention: I will be getting off work at lunchtime tomorrow and getting Monday off for work because my boss ( the E.D: Executive Director) Melanie at the NLACL thinks I need the time off. So, if your going to try to reach me this weekend, PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE ON MY CELLPHONE!!( as I may be 'out of range' of the cellphone area, I dunno the # for Terra Nova Village, my dad's house Gary's 'at the foof of John's Pond' and some other locations yet to be decided ( And it doesn't help that me having my job caused my job to lose most of his 2 week August Holidays: which 'conflicted' with my summer job hours!!!!) and I probbly won't be anywhere near a phone for most of the weekend!!!)

( I think it had something to do with the fact that YEsterday ( Wedsday, Aug.16th), I was soooo tired from last-minute MUN preparation ( getting registered for orientation, the 'problems' that go with it, trying to get the material to study for my MUN MPT that I will do on Sept.5th/2006 ( As I thought in June that I was going to Acadia and therefore, didn't write the test: big mistake. SO, if you ever think your going away for university(especially for my younger newfoundland friends who are still in high school) REGISTER FOR BOTH MUN AND THE UNIVERSITY YOU PLAN TO ATTEND (as you may find out like me that to 'live on campus' at a university ' on the mainland' ( as we say here in NL) could cost anywhere from 10-30,000$ a year!!!!!! And well, it's best to 'fully register' for a 'Hometown university' as well as a 'Out-Of-Province' one: giving you the option to 'make up your mind over the summer: when things are usually ( and I mean usually) less crazy!

Back on my point, I took to take the afternoon off yesterday in order to get some 'r and r' as Melanie noticed that:

1. That I 'wasn't myself' at work that day ( Because I was tired and stressed from having too much to do for 2 weeks in a row!! and not enough time to get it all done!!)

2. That I 'had too much on my plate' and 'needed to rest' in order to catch up on Orientation Registration, Permit Studying and getting a nap ( I got home around 12:45 p.m: only to sleep for 2-3 hours, talk to Rhonda, my dad's 'maid' who cleaned the house 'Once a week': that's a longggg longgg story for another time ( as I don't know all the details myself!!!)

So ya, remember, if you want to reach me, leave a message at my cellphone # ( If you really really want to) If not, leave a message on me and my sister's line at my mom's house ( You should know it if you really need it. If not, using a phone book, some ;investigative skills' and where I live, you can 'isolate' my number and leave a message (or get my mom or Greg to tell you what my # is). And as for calling my Dad's house, that's not such a good thing as my Dad will be out of town as well: so, you'll just get his Aliant Message Manager.

So that's all I have to say: posting this took an extra 20-30 minutes ( as I accidentally exited out of the original and lost it: only to have to re-type it all out again!!!)

So ya, in summary, I won't be in town: so don't be surprised if i'm not home until some time on the middle-late Monday afternoon or night. If it's urgent or you want to reach me, call my cellphone . If i'm not there, leave a message and i'll get it when i'm actually 'in range'. If not, you'll need to 'wait patiently' for me to return on Monday and set aside planning things for the summer until that following week or weekend!!!! That's all folks for now ( It could be anywhere from 3-5 days before I check my e-mails, have a phone 'working around the clock', use the internet or anything like that, so expect a very slow and late reply...!!!!

Thursday, Aug.17th/2006: The Day of the Crazies 2

As you can see, I was so busy with work, watching the news, eating supper, following the news, Watching Canadian Idol, doing the laundry, registering for my MUN orientation and studying for my permit test that I didn't even have time to get to what I did at work!!!!

Any, so as you know, I got up at 6:30 a.m to get ready for work: getting a shower, getting chnaged to my work clothes (business casual pants and shirt), eating breakfast, packing my lunch (and snacks to eat throughout work), getting my quarter for the daily newspaper and my 'fany pack' ( where I keep my bus pass and stuff) in order to get to the bus stop around 7:25/7:30 a.m. So ya, while waiting on Hemmer Jane in Mt. Pearl, I chatted up with a 'Mount Pearlean' about current issues, the news, my job, school,etc... so ya then at 7:40/45 a.m, my bus showed up to bring me to the Village ( it gets there around 8:00/8:05/8:10 a.m and the bus from there to my Work ( The NLACL, a.k.a the
St.John's headquarters of the non-profit Community Living in Newfoundland and Labrador on Pete St. at the Tara Building (formerly the Ashley Building) to get there around 8:50 a.m! (more details to come!)

So, I arrived at work at 8:50/55 a.m and had a chat with Brad, the NLACL coordinator ( for those of you who didn't read my earlier entires, the NLACL stands for the 'Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community Living') about politics, the news and many other things that I won't get into details about ( as i'm too tired to remember!!!) So ya I was chatting with him until 9:20/9:30 a.m when Melanie got me to work on installing some scanner software ( which had like 5 different photoshop and scanner programs on it !!!). But ya, we weren't able to get it to work so on 9:30/10:00 a.m, I gave up on the scanner and let my co-worker Tabatha work on it instead! ( It couldn't have been as bad as yesterday when Melanie, the E.D ( the Executive Director) accidentally brought in the Software in Portuguese!!!: we need nooooooooooooooooooo idea of what it was saying.... sort of!) You see, my boss Melanie had lived in Honduras, South America for 2-4 months in her life. So, she learned a little bit of Spanish and Portuguese while she was living there working after getting a B.A (Political Science).. and stuff.

SO anywaysssss... then Melanie got me to organize a follow-up study on 'The Rights Futures Program' into chronological order ( It's about an 100 + page document that I organized and put together in about 10 minutes!!). So with that done, around 10:30 /10:45 a.m, I started reading up on the Government of NL's document entitled " Poverty Reduction: An Action Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador". So from then until 11:50 a.m, I spent the time reading through the ' Message from the Premier, Danny Williams ( also known as 'Danny Millions'! unofficially!!!!!) and the Minister of Human Resources Paul Shelley ( At first, I thought Paul Shelley was a girl because it sounds like a girl's name to me for some reason. But ya, I learned Paul's a guy!!!). And ya, I was reading through the 'Executive Summary' of it ( the first 10 pages of info. which is in roman numerals such as i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi, vii,viii, ix and x) .But ya, my Dad showed up at 11:50 a.m to take me to do my Permit Test ( For the 3rd time) at Motor Vehicle Registration ( in Mt.Pearl) Here's my results:

- got 100% ( pass) on Part 2: Sign Recognition and the various Road signs

- got 6 wrong on part 1 ( Your only allowed to have 0-2 wrong in order to pass) So ya, me and my Dad were 'disappointed' that I didn't get my license and we both got a bit frustrated: (only to realize that they have 4 variations of the standard test and I had received the most difficult copy in circulation!!!!)

So ya, after eating my lunch in the car and the way there and getting all that done, I got back to my work at 12:30/45p.m: With about 15-30 minutes to spare before it was time for me to work again! So ya, I chatted with Brad and Melanie ( Is it just me or ever since Brad started working this week, i've cut back the mount of time I spend talking to Melanie) ( Sidenote: this morning, Brad sent me a e-mail from MUN about 're-vamping' and 'overhauling' the introductory psychology program at MUN ( and potentially the entire system!!!) and next wedsday, they're going to have a conference available to the general public in order to get feedback ( Where I did Psych.1000 and 1001 as part of my AP PSych. course and got credit for Psych.1001, i'm in a good position to 'critique' what changes need to be made to the courses) So then I talked to Melanie about my Driver's Permit, Bill C-2: The Federal Accountability Act, its implications,etc....., Politics, Lobbying, The CNDA/CNDS (Canada National Disability Act/Canada National Disabilities Strategy which was ' a Conservative Party of Canada 2006 Federal Election Promise'! which is in the preliminary stages,etc....

So yaaround 1:15/1:20 p.m, I got back to work on the 'Reducing Poverty: An Action Plan for NL' : taking 1-2 snack breaks, 1-2 bathroom breaks, 1-2 stretching breaks throughout the afternoon: Working on typing my notes I had written out on paper into a Microsoft Word Document at my Work I will eventually e-mail mysel a copy of those jot notes and quotes...) and I got through the Entire 'Executive Summary' and photocopied a 3/4 page summary Tabitha Boland ( one of my co-workers) wrote for the Fall 2006 Gateway Newsletter ( it'll be available at http://www.nlacl.com or http://www.nlacl.ca in the coming months. In the meantime you can check out previous Gateway E-Newsletters!)

So ya, I got my stuff ready at 4:10 p.m ( my lunch bag, this week's copy of "The Independent" and Today's Copy of "The Telegram" ( That I brought 'dirt cheap' on the Metrobus for a quarter instead of o.65 dollars (65 cents) and got on the bus to the village. Only, I was suppose to take the Route 1 to my mom's house. But, I missed the bus because I was talking about my Guitar Teacher, Chuck ( formerly at Strings n' Things, until that closed down due to a back location and never re-opened as finding a 'suitable' location hasn't been easy for Gary, the owner of Strings n' Things!) So, at 4:50 p.m, I decided to walk to Mom's house ( which takes about 15-40 minutes: 15 minutes if you run or sprint on a nice cool day or in this case, 30-40 when your 'power walking' in 20-25 degrees weather in a 'Black Dress suit and pants' , 'burning up',etc... so , I got home at 5:30/5:35 p.m: and so began the real 'craziness of today': Family, Extended Family, Step Family, Boyfriends and Girlfriend of Cousins, Aunts, my younger cousins,etc... ( about 15-25 people were at my mom's house from 5:00/5:40 p.m until about 8pm!!!!) So ya, this is what I had for supper:
-2 Hamburgers with Ketchup,Mustard and Mayo ( If it wasn't bad enough that I had a Balogna, Mayo, Lettuce, Pickles, Mustard and Ketchup Homemade Sub Sandwich for Lunch and a 'cholocate Pop-tart this morning!!!!"
- 1 bowl full of mild-medium chilly with beef, green and red peppers,etc...
-1 small plate full of salad
- some assorted fruit
and.... -2-3 glasses of Skim Milk Followed by one glass of 2% Milk ( I'm soooooo used to Skim Milk ,that I find 2% has 'too much fat' in it's taste and content:unlike from primary through grade 6, I found Skim Milk soooo gross that I drank 2 mouthfuls just so I could go into Mcdonalds: otherwise, the Tilleys ( who looked after me and my sister sometimes) told me I couldn't have Mcdonalds, but that's another story for another time!!!!)

So ya, then at 8pm, my step-dad Greg drove me up to Pearlview, Mt. Pearl , I got my 2nd pair of 'unhemmed dress pants' , 'marked' with a pin so they could know where to get them hemmed!, Learned how to wash dress pants: cold water on the 'delicate' setting for 5 minutes, dry for 20 minutes on 'delicate' and iron with an iron!!! So ya, then I talked to Felissa ( she's my girlfriend now : after '9 months of dating!!!' ( Who didn't see that coming?!?!?!??!?!?!) So ya, I spent the last 60-90 minutes updating this blog: from 8pm- 9:37 p.m. But hey, it was worth it!!!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

The day of the Crazies- August 15th/2006

So ya, what a crazy day: I woke up at 6:30 a.m to get ready for work: (after 'hitting the hay' at 10:30 p.m last night) to get ready for work. So ya, after showering and packing my lunch at 7:10/7:15 a.m

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

My Crazy Regatta Day: August 2nd/2006

So first of all, I woke up at around 6:30 a.m ( I missed my chance to hear the 6am VOCM announcement as to whether or not the Regatta was going ahead..) And well, I got up and ready and got the 8:15 a.m Bus to the Village and got the Special bus to Stavanger Drive( The Regatta). And so ya, I walked around ( ran into some of my friends) a bit, looked at all the various stands ( non-profit organizations, profit organ. ,etc..) , got 2 slices of pizza at the Old Town Pizzeria at the Regatta, watched some of the Regatta races and read my copy of the Wedsday, Aug 2nd of ' The Telegram')

At around 11am, I decided to help the Anchormen Barbershop Chorus at selling 'Games of Chance' tickets at their booth at the Regatta (Because i'm an official member of their chorus) from thenon until 4 pm. At first, it was raining a little bit when I arrived at around 8:20/35 a.m, then it started to pour down, really pour down and it only continued to get worse with it 'letting off' a bit on occasion in a rather random fascion. Anyway, I was helping to sell tickets for '10 cents a ticket....!' ( and later ' 25 cents a ticket..!) Also, I was holding up some of the different prizes that could be won, moving them through the air in a rather silly way (ex. making a Bear Medium-sized plush toy and moving its arms to get it to wave at people) and shouting silly slogans to keep people to buy tickets ( I have Justin Foley to thank for that bit of inspiration. But let me give you an example... I once hold a medium-sized frog toy, mainpulated its front legs to get it around my neck in a nuise-like fashion and said, ' C'mon, buy a ticket, your killing me already!' and while waving a bear plush toy, ' C'mon , buy a ticket, it's more than I can bare/bear ( you'd have to speak it to yourself for it to make any sense!)

Other than the fact that the rain might've made some potential customers too busy trying to leave the Regatta ( or do other activities) instead of buying tickets to support the Anchormen Chorus, we all forgot to bring a pitch pipe ( Now, for those of you who aren't into Barbershop, it's a device you blow into in order to hear the first note in the key of the song you wish to sing (ex. A Flat) and each part tunes to that notes and then deviates up or down 1/3 and/or 1/5 to get their first note... and well without it, it's difficult to sing a barbershop song in tune) So ya, we sang on two occasions today ( Once in front of a camera although we were sometimes out of tune and I was the only barbershop 'tenor' ( who usually sings in falsetto))

So once 4/4:15 p.m rolled around, it was raining far, far too much in order to continue selling tickets, so like many other booths, we started to 'pack up and leave' ( Also, one lady went around offering a petition stating that groups that bought and/or rented booths for Regatta day ( which aren't cheap from what i've heard) that they should get a refund because the person responsible for choosing when Regatta Day was going ahead choose a day when it was set to rain the whole day and cut into everyone's margins of revenues for both profit, volunter and non-profit organizations with booths there.... but in my opionion, although this would be a good thing, it wasn't all bad and i've learned to try to make the best of these situations...ideally ( although I sometimes mess up)

Anyway at around 4:20/ 4:30 p.m, I bought myself 2 sausages on buns and a pepsi at the Regatta, put lots of ketchup, bacon bites and hot peppers on them, had a mid-afternoon snack and headed for the 'Special' metrobus going to the Village ( I also bought another copy of today's paper because my previous copy got 'soaked' by all the rain!) and then transfered to Route 1 to go home...

And well then, when I got home around 5:30 p.m, I spent the time continuing to read today's paper, we ( me , my mom and my sister) ordered pizza and garlic finger for supper and watched the movie, ' Last Holiday' ( with Queen Latifah in it) And well, the character Q.L was playing was a middle/ lower-middle class American working as a retail clerk in the cooking section and she founds out that she has ' Larkinson's Disease' and that she only has 3 -4 weeks left to live. So, she decides to 'blow' all her savings in order to go away to a fancy hotel in order to make the best of the last of her days. ( To avoid ruining the movie for you, i'll just tell you what I got outta it) Well, one of my cousions (I'm not completely sure which one) recommended that my mom watch this film as we all discovered last week ( I found out last Friday) that my mom has Terminal Cancer and that she probably has approx. 1 month left to live. And well, the movie for me showed that in such a situation, one should make the best of the time (i.e my mom and anyone else for that matter) and just try to spend more time with family and friends and fulfill some goals that we've always wanted to do

Yet for me, I know that ' living life to the full' isn't just some human idea. It also has its roots in the Bible. I can't remember exactly where but in the New Testament, Paul writes to his readers that we oughta learn to make the best of every situation, and in the book of John in the Gospels, we are told that Jesus came to ' give us life and life to the full' ( Now that mostly applyes to the spiritual side of life but it also extends into the social side too and well, not so much wealth). And the previous Sunday, Laws (spelled more like Lois H.) gave a message on 'The Kingdom of Moab" from the Old Testament and how the Moabites defied God and disobeyed him ( Much in the same way that Lob's two daughters defied god by commiting incest with their own father). And then , you have Job who was punished and tested by God even though he was innocent. So for me, it shows that suffering can serve two purposes in God's eyes: 1. To Punish those who've done wrong ( and to 'open their eyes' so they may seek God) and 2. To test the faith of the faithful and help their faith and relationship with God to grow.

So ya, other than that, i've just been typing on this blog and talking to my friend Sarah C. about how my mom got terminal cancer and about my day today.

Well, i'm going to probably check out Celena Boland's Blog, check my e-mails and that kinda thing. And that's all that I have to say... Until next time... feel free to post comments and i'll keep you posted ( to the best of my ability..!)