Friday, June 16, 2006

Delicious ending

It was a very long day of wacky hair and tape the teacher to the wall at school. After an exhausting afternoon, I had the pleasure to go out to eat dinner with some good friends from work. We ate at this place called "Seven Numbers" on the Danforth. A suggestion from Meghan, a woman with such great energy about her that teaches the behaviour class at school.

The food was amazing and it has been the first real good food I can remember since going to Perigee last year with Paul. It really reminded me of what real food tastes like, and I can't wait to get back into the swing of eating food that actually have flavour.

Show and Wacky Hair

At work, we had the talent show of sorts and the primary choir and myself performed the song "DO-RE-ME" from the Sound of Music. I was 'Maria' and lead the song on stage. It was such a wonderful performance by all.

It was also wacky hair day. I decided to come with my "hair in a bun". Much to the dismay of students, I came fully loaded with a real bun on top of my head, with chopsticks and all! I even wrapped my head in plastic wrap to "keep my bun fresh". The reactions I got from adults was pure laughter and from students, I got tonnes of strange looks and side smirks. My job was done :) I made sure students really understood the real meaning of "hair in a bun", well, at least, I checked to see if they got it or not.

Mother: Gay people need to try to change

While watching a news report on ex-gays, my mother called me down to watch it with her. She wanted me to see how right she is because at that part of the report, they were suggesting how successful it was. Mom was quite pleased with herself. The report later continued to say that the original success of the ex-gay movement was flawed in its approach because it was biased and lead to more frustration, including suicide. A man who went through conversion therapy came on saying that he had tried this form of therapy only to have gone through several attempts at suicide. The end of the report suggested that there is a genetic component to homosexuality, and that it is not something that can be changed.

The take home message my mother took away: At least that man tried to change. You aren’t even willing to try! When asked if she is asking that I kill myself, she only pushed on with saying that I haven’t tried. She hears what she wants to hear, and tunes out everything else.

It really does a number on ones self-esteem and self worth after listening to her. Guess I'll just have to stay out all weekend again, if not just to get away from this hell that I live in at home.

I was having such a good day before this point too...

Friday, June 09, 2006

Full time baby!

I finally got a full time position today! After a night of restless sleep and an early morning interview, the position that felt the best was the first interview I had in the beginning of this hiring extravaganza. The school had actively sought me out to apply for the position and they had faith that I would be their best candidate, and boy, did the energy feel good there. Other interviews felt cold and uninteresting while one was a very warm school yet didn’t have what I wanted in the end. I am so happy to have found a school that wanted me as much as I wanted them in the end. I even got the room that I wanted in the grade one school, with a window!

And the best part is, I still got offered two jobs, so I had to decline one. I was in a very unusual situation where I held the power to tell a school that I was not interested in them even before they made an offer. Felt nice and vindicated for a year of roller coaster job changes.

I can now pay for my condo! Woohoo!

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

The job hunt continues…

I have been looking for a full time position for next September, as I have only been working half time with a LTO on the side. This round of posting is very short, as the positions are posted on Monday, with interviews starting on Tuesday and job offers come on Friday at noon.

Resumes are to be sent by fax, and I don’t trust fax machines, so my anxiety levels were quite high. One never really know if the fax has gone to the right place or even made it to the desired location in the first place.

I’m much calmer now though, as I got 6 offers for interviews out of the 10 jobs that I have applied to. As the calls came into the school and on my cell phone, I got more and more excited, as I had options to choose which job I would like.

One school I interviewed at today even went as far to say that I’m the only one they are interviewing. Boy, did that make me feel good! The other school had a very cute VP, but I didn’t get a very good vibe from the interview. The philosophy of the teachers in the school didn’t seem to match what I would like to do in my teaching practice.

Three more interviews to go, hopefully, I get some more good feelings from the schools this coming week.

My fingers, along with everything else are crossed.