Yesterday I said I was going to try to squeeze in my two-entries-per-month I was aiming for.
So today I shall.
Yesterday I focused on the negative aspects of January, so today I will focus on the good.
The students whom I have taught since Christmas have all been quite wonderful - a few exceptions to the rule, but overall they have all been a pleasure. While back with supplying I've returned to schools I've taught at before (actually, my two favourites really) and it made me really happy to be remembered and welcomed back. It means a lot to me when someone remembers me, as I tend to assume that I'll be forgotten after a few weeks. I don't think my brain will ever change in regards to that, but it does allow me to be really pleased and happy to hear things like "welcome back" and "don't go". I even had a student groan when he found out what class I was teaching - not because I was teaching his class and he didn't want me there, but because I was teaching the OTHER year 6 class and he wasn't going to have me as his teacher.
Those sorts of things just make you feel really good inside.
My friends, on both sides of the pond, have kept my sanity this past month.
My flatmates have all been amazing (and hilarious) and are rather lovely people. I went out dancing with Lucy (one of my flatmates, another Canadian, for those of you not in the know) for her birthday with some of her friends. It was rather a fun evening, even if I WAS stressing about work. We went somewhere called the 100 Club and there was a live jazz/swing band playing. I, being the knob that I am, invited some guys to ask Lucy to dance since it was her birthday. It kept me amused, at any rate. Sometimes I baffle myself with just how opposite I am to myself.
My nanolondon crew have been amazingly supportive via twitter, messages, and in person. I don't know what I'd do without them sometimes, as it's so important to me to have friends outside of teaching. Although I am blaming them for an addiction to Twitter that we have all mostly been infected with. But, I suppose as far as addictions go, Twitter is rather harmless. They're just such lovely people, the entire lot of them. I just wish I saw them more often, and hope that my more stress-free life will allow me time to do so! Just need to get my act together and actually invite more of them out places, instead of only going when they invite me out. Cause how is that any fair!
Siggy&Jen and Gareth will get their own little mentions as they're Brits but not part of my London crew at all. But Siggy managed to keep me all relaxed when I was stressing out. This is quite the feat seeing as I spent SEVEN HOURS in the Imperial War Museum with him. It was quite tedious! Informative, and interesting information, but not my cup of tea. I did it solely for him and treated it as research for it my parents ever come over to England. I now know that I could easily abandon my father in there for a few days as he would not get through it in one day, and that if I absolutely must spend the day in there again that I shall most definitely find one of those portable stools to cart around and bring a book. In other news - mom and dad, you would both love the museum. Remind me to ditch you in it when you piss me off and hope you can't find your way home, ok? haha. As to Gareth, he is a friend of Tanis (my sister in law for those of you who have no memories!) and the poor sap has been stuck listening to me moan and complain on and off since I arrived in England. He even manages to snap me out of it by sarcastically insulting me somehow or another. (Do keep in mind, this is ME we are talking about, and I don't believe I've ever been not-amused by sarcasm, so well-done Gareth!)
My Canadaland friends. I haven't really talked to anyone very often, but as I'm doing a few shoutouts I'd like to point out that Ashley and Kristin quite stubburnly insist on having shitty sleeping habits, and thus are always awake when I wake up at 6am and are around to chat with. Even when I'm grumpy or inattentive to the conversations, I do always smile at having messages sat there for me while I've gone to brush my teeth. Sometimes I'm just not with it enough in the morning this past month to remember to respond, and sometimes I'm sure I've been snappish but these ladies put up with my splendidly in the morning when they should be sensible and go to bed. <3 Much love to them!
Peri (who will not read this as he does not have the internet at home as he is a loser and also won't know I called him such but this is purely his own fault) I'm going to give his own little paragraph too. (he also won't know that he's getting a paragraph all to himself! This is what happens when you do not use the internet!) Poor, poor Peri. For those of you who can't recall who Peri is, this is because I've only known him since last year at York. The poor soul was stuck having placement with me, plus a rather horrid Education class that we both despised. This meant that he heard me bitch and moan all year, and somehow had to composure to not kill me where I stood. He even went so far as to drive my sorry ass back home after placement, ditching class to go for beer, taking me to get groceries, coming to say hello after I endured the hell that was Convocation, and then taking me out to play pool before I left for England (we were both equally horrid at it!). Peri has done all of that sort of stuff for me DESPITE all the verbal abuse I've thrown his way (although he's never yet been caught unawares when I ask if I can kick him). He's continued that into this year! What a knob, if he was smarter he would have blocked all contact with me. However, as he has a blackberry, he has been getting routinely spammed on my way home from work or when I am otherwise away from the house and need either a laugh a smile or somewhere to vent. And, to further prove to all of you that I am amazingly lucky in the friends I have acquired over the years... he dutifully messages me back and even told me a story upon demand once.
What amazing friends I have!
So while I really have had very little to post about lately, I think a post primarily dedicated to pointing out just how AMAZING my friends is a good way to write a post. I'm just a lucky one, that's for sure.
So my dear friends, I love you all, please keep putting up with my sorry ass!
PS. If I didn't mention you by name or "grouping", I have not forgotten you. It just means that perhaps in the past month we haven't had much chance to speak! So *coughcough*dropmealine*coughcough*
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
January Hell
Salut my friends and family!
It is a testament to how insanely busy my January has been that I have not written twice this month. I've tried to write twice a month for the duration of my time in London, and this month I finally failed.
Perhaps I'll do a meme after this, just to make myself better by seeing (2) next to January! Or perhaps I'll split this post into two posts, depending on what I write about. We shall see. Or perhaps I'll just leave it at (1) so that I will always remember the insanity of this month.
We'll let's see. The last time I wrote was before New Years Eve - I spent NYE in my standard fashion - at home on my own! I completely bailed on the plans that I had, as I was just not keen that day on using public transit! I fail, I know, but to be fair, I had an enjoyable evening watching Mr. Bean and chatting with people back in Canada land, and I did indeed stay up until midnight.
My January since then has consisted of teaching and overworking myself. I've barely seen my friends, and I have both cancelled plans and bailed out early on the ones I've attended. Even when Siggy came to visit me from Bristol, the majority of my conversation was stressing out about work as it was all I could really think about. Fortunately Siggy didn't mind, as I DID spent 7 HOURS STRAIGHT in the Imperial War Museum with him. This is quite the feat for me, and I'm rather proud of that accomplishment! I didn't even complain! It was actually a better museum than I thought it would be, it's really well done. Just not my flavour of history.
The year 5 class I spent January teaching are wonderful children. The other teachers in the school are all quite friendly. I was having a hard time with the school since I'm both new to teaching and new to the country, and in three weeks I had 1 prep period. I was barely able to keep up even though I was working through my breaks and lunch breaks, staying at the school until after 5 and often after 5:30, and still working when I was at home.
I'm no longer at that school, and I'm glad of it. There were offers of support, and the year 6 teacher was quite helpful and I'll miss her, but even though support was offered and I said yes I could use help, I never actually got any. I think the school wanted someone with more experience, even though my experience level has always been open. I just don't know if they realized that when saying that were willing to help a teacher get QTS, that it meant a very brand new teacher and I think stuff got confused. Who knows.
I won't really go into details on this blog, as it's public. All I will say, is that I wanted out. So I've spent the last week back to supplying and have had multiple comments on how I seem a lot happier. Cause I am. My stress level is going back down and I've actually got energy again. When I've smiled and laughed this week - they've been real smiles and laughs. I've actually enjoyed the conversations I've had. When I take some time to relax, I don't feel guilty or stressed out because of x,y,z needing to be done. It's great.
The worst part about the whole experience is that it's making me question if I am willing to put up with the education system in this country. I hate that the job made me feel like I owe Ontario's Curriculum a huge apology! I'm not sure how much of it was the way that particular school was, or how much of it is really country-wide. I'm thinking it's a combination.
The education system here seems about ass-backwards or at least a few decades behind Ontario's curriculum. From what I've gathered from this country, their idea of "differentiated learning" is to segregate the students within the classroom, where the 'smart' students are at one table doing activity A, the average lot are doing activity B, and the 'low' group are doing activity C. The students are expected to all progress at the same rate - which means that there is zero scaffolding being done to help bring the lower group closer to the average. It is basically what I've been taught in Ontario is completely wrong.
In Ontario, I'm used to where all the students are doing the same activity - you just provide extra challenge for the higher students when they're finished, and find accommodations for the lower students to help them achieve the same end goal. It's common practice in Ontario to have mixed ability tables, so that the students can actually learn from each other. Here in England... the students are always arranged in ability tables, so the lower ability students cannot usually turn to each other for assistance. There's no student-teaching going on at all in English classrooms, or at least a very minimal amount.
I've also found that homework is given out for homework's sake. This is COMPLETELY frowned upon and discouraged in Ontario - if you give students homework in Ontario you really have to justify it. Usually it's something that the student didn't complete in class (and you have to justify why they didn't finish in class and why you know they can understand it and finish it at home) or is something that the student will NOT need assistance with. Which means homework is sent home rarely in Ontario.
Also, every school here seems to work on some sort of sticker-reward chart. The students want a sticker for EVERYTHING that they do. it's a little sad. I like stickers and all, but it sometimes feels like it's getting ridiculous here!
Ah well.
I hope that the next time I take on a long-term (I definitely need a break from it for now) that I'll be in a more supportive school, and not a single-form school where I'm the only teacher for the grade.
It's just getting really frustrating how everything here is centered on how it looks on paper.... being able to tick off that a classroom has/uses 1,2,3,4,5.... instead of actual student learning or really looking at if what's in the room is actually being used to an advantage. It just needs to be there, to be seen. As long as it looks good on the paper or in a photograph, then it's a-ok in this country.
I hope I'm wrong about it.
It is a testament to how insanely busy my January has been that I have not written twice this month. I've tried to write twice a month for the duration of my time in London, and this month I finally failed.
Perhaps I'll do a meme after this, just to make myself better by seeing (2) next to January! Or perhaps I'll split this post into two posts, depending on what I write about. We shall see. Or perhaps I'll just leave it at (1) so that I will always remember the insanity of this month.
We'll let's see. The last time I wrote was before New Years Eve - I spent NYE in my standard fashion - at home on my own! I completely bailed on the plans that I had, as I was just not keen that day on using public transit! I fail, I know, but to be fair, I had an enjoyable evening watching Mr. Bean and chatting with people back in Canada land, and I did indeed stay up until midnight.
My January since then has consisted of teaching and overworking myself. I've barely seen my friends, and I have both cancelled plans and bailed out early on the ones I've attended. Even when Siggy came to visit me from Bristol, the majority of my conversation was stressing out about work as it was all I could really think about. Fortunately Siggy didn't mind, as I DID spent 7 HOURS STRAIGHT in the Imperial War Museum with him. This is quite the feat for me, and I'm rather proud of that accomplishment! I didn't even complain! It was actually a better museum than I thought it would be, it's really well done. Just not my flavour of history.
The year 5 class I spent January teaching are wonderful children. The other teachers in the school are all quite friendly. I was having a hard time with the school since I'm both new to teaching and new to the country, and in three weeks I had 1 prep period. I was barely able to keep up even though I was working through my breaks and lunch breaks, staying at the school until after 5 and often after 5:30, and still working when I was at home.
I'm no longer at that school, and I'm glad of it. There were offers of support, and the year 6 teacher was quite helpful and I'll miss her, but even though support was offered and I said yes I could use help, I never actually got any. I think the school wanted someone with more experience, even though my experience level has always been open. I just don't know if they realized that when saying that were willing to help a teacher get QTS, that it meant a very brand new teacher and I think stuff got confused. Who knows.
I won't really go into details on this blog, as it's public. All I will say, is that I wanted out. So I've spent the last week back to supplying and have had multiple comments on how I seem a lot happier. Cause I am. My stress level is going back down and I've actually got energy again. When I've smiled and laughed this week - they've been real smiles and laughs. I've actually enjoyed the conversations I've had. When I take some time to relax, I don't feel guilty or stressed out because of x,y,z needing to be done. It's great.
The worst part about the whole experience is that it's making me question if I am willing to put up with the education system in this country. I hate that the job made me feel like I owe Ontario's Curriculum a huge apology! I'm not sure how much of it was the way that particular school was, or how much of it is really country-wide. I'm thinking it's a combination.
The education system here seems about ass-backwards or at least a few decades behind Ontario's curriculum. From what I've gathered from this country, their idea of "differentiated learning" is to segregate the students within the classroom, where the 'smart' students are at one table doing activity A, the average lot are doing activity B, and the 'low' group are doing activity C. The students are expected to all progress at the same rate - which means that there is zero scaffolding being done to help bring the lower group closer to the average. It is basically what I've been taught in Ontario is completely wrong.
In Ontario, I'm used to where all the students are doing the same activity - you just provide extra challenge for the higher students when they're finished, and find accommodations for the lower students to help them achieve the same end goal. It's common practice in Ontario to have mixed ability tables, so that the students can actually learn from each other. Here in England... the students are always arranged in ability tables, so the lower ability students cannot usually turn to each other for assistance. There's no student-teaching going on at all in English classrooms, or at least a very minimal amount.
I've also found that homework is given out for homework's sake. This is COMPLETELY frowned upon and discouraged in Ontario - if you give students homework in Ontario you really have to justify it. Usually it's something that the student didn't complete in class (and you have to justify why they didn't finish in class and why you know they can understand it and finish it at home) or is something that the student will NOT need assistance with. Which means homework is sent home rarely in Ontario.
Also, every school here seems to work on some sort of sticker-reward chart. The students want a sticker for EVERYTHING that they do. it's a little sad. I like stickers and all, but it sometimes feels like it's getting ridiculous here!
Ah well.
I hope that the next time I take on a long-term (I definitely need a break from it for now) that I'll be in a more supportive school, and not a single-form school where I'm the only teacher for the grade.
It's just getting really frustrating how everything here is centered on how it looks on paper.... being able to tick off that a classroom has/uses 1,2,3,4,5.... instead of actual student learning or really looking at if what's in the room is actually being used to an advantage. It just needs to be there, to be seen. As long as it looks good on the paper or in a photograph, then it's a-ok in this country.
I hope I'm wrong about it.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Come on 2010!
Well... it's that time of year again. The time where it ends. Out goes 2009, in comes 2010.
I, however, live with the school-year. For me, my year basically started in September. If this is Frank's #yearotf, then basically my year is always near my birthday, since I'm mid-August.
So far, this year has been great. By that, I mean THIS school year.
2009? Well. 2009 rather stunk, although I'll mix it up with 2008's ending.
My 2008/2009 year: AKA the last year at York University:
- break up with Luke just before the year starts
- York goes on strike for 3 months
- I can barely afford groceries due to said strike as I was laid off for its duration
- Luke and I completely stop talking
- lose touch with more than one rather close friend
- Uni life was very stressful
- crazy drama revolving around my younger brother
+ spent the majority of 3 months with my nieces
+ graduated! I'm now the owner of a Specialized Honours BA, majoring in English. I am also the (much less proud) owner of a Bachelor of Education, specializing in Junior/Intermediate English
+ despite all terror, applied and went through all the red tape to come teach in England!
My 2009/2010 year so far:
+ moved to London England!
+ realized I actually LOVE living in London!
+ wrote 70,000 words in the month of November for Nanowrimo!
+ met some wonderful people through Nano
+ actually enjoyed supply-teaching!
+ got hired for a Year 5 class starting Jan 2010!
+ learned to let myself spend money when it comes to doing what I want
- as such, I'm not QUITE saving as much as I want to be
- worried that some of my friends back in Canada are going to forget about me or just not bother trying to keep in touch
- miss my friends and that back in Canadaland
As you can see, 2009/2010 year is starting off quite wonderfully. I've never been happier.
I don't do New Years Resolutions, but these are my near-future (how close the near-future is is debatable and up for change) goals:
* finish my novel
* save up money and find my own flat (this I think is quite ambitious living in London!)
* pay Siggy back
* keep on top of my student loan
* get the rest of the 2009/2010 year PLANNED thoroughly
* travel somewhere outside of England
* get a new lens for my camera
They won't be done in that order, but those are the goals. Well. The new lens IS the last on the list, but nonetheless, it is a goal that I have in the back of my head.
I, however, live with the school-year. For me, my year basically started in September. If this is Frank's #yearotf, then basically my year is always near my birthday, since I'm mid-August.
So far, this year has been great. By that, I mean THIS school year.
2009? Well. 2009 rather stunk, although I'll mix it up with 2008's ending.
My 2008/2009 year: AKA the last year at York University:
- break up with Luke just before the year starts
- York goes on strike for 3 months
- I can barely afford groceries due to said strike as I was laid off for its duration
- Luke and I completely stop talking
- lose touch with more than one rather close friend
- Uni life was very stressful
- crazy drama revolving around my younger brother
+ spent the majority of 3 months with my nieces
+ graduated! I'm now the owner of a Specialized Honours BA, majoring in English. I am also the (much less proud) owner of a Bachelor of Education, specializing in Junior/Intermediate English
+ despite all terror, applied and went through all the red tape to come teach in England!
My 2009/2010 year so far:
+ moved to London England!
+ realized I actually LOVE living in London!
+ wrote 70,000 words in the month of November for Nanowrimo!
+ met some wonderful people through Nano
+ actually enjoyed supply-teaching!
+ got hired for a Year 5 class starting Jan 2010!
+ learned to let myself spend money when it comes to doing what I want
- as such, I'm not QUITE saving as much as I want to be
- worried that some of my friends back in Canada are going to forget about me or just not bother trying to keep in touch
- miss my friends and that back in Canadaland
As you can see, 2009/2010 year is starting off quite wonderfully. I've never been happier.
I don't do New Years Resolutions, but these are my near-future (how close the near-future is is debatable and up for change) goals:
* finish my novel
* save up money and find my own flat (this I think is quite ambitious living in London!)
* pay Siggy back
* keep on top of my student loan
* get the rest of the 2009/2010 year PLANNED thoroughly
* travel somewhere outside of England
* get a new lens for my camera
They won't be done in that order, but those are the goals. Well. The new lens IS the last on the list, but nonetheless, it is a goal that I have in the back of my head.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Christmas in London
This will be my first Christmas post-university, and although it won't be the first Christmas I've spent by myself, this will be the first Christmas where I've planned and looking forward to spending Christmas all on my own.
A lot of people have seemed to think it's a sad thing, but you know what? Honestly, I'm quite excited for it. I haven't been this much in "the Christmas spirit" for absolutely years. I think being at York might have affected it - was always so busy and stressed out in November and the beginning of December, that by the time Christmas came all I wanted to do was sleep and play video games. Not a bad way to spend the holidays, but for the most part I really had no excitement about the holidays and only thought "thank gawd, no more essays"
This year? For the last few days now I've been listening to Christmas radio when on the computer. That's right. Christmas radio.
I've also bought and set up the most Charlie Brown of Christmas trees. I am working on a small budget so that's alright with me. It looks cute when it's dark, but during the day it's a little sad to look at! Poor thing. I really dislike putting the lights and garland on the tree though. You can sort of tell by looking at it. Dismantling this tree is certainly going to be a challenge!
I've also went through the process of somewhat buying myself Christmas presents (aka, some things I would have bought myself anyway, plus some knick knacks that I wouldn't have, plus the various chocolates that I only ever have at Christmas). Now.... the nerdy and embarassing part: I had no presents to wrap in this country, and after decorating the tree my next favourite thing is wrapping presents. So I wrapped my own presents, because what else was there to wrap! It made me happy, but once they were all wrapped I really felt quite silly for it. I believe I will feel utterly embarassed unwrapping them, but I really just wanted to wrap something.
I started off my Christmas celebrating by going out with some of the #nanolondon crew (Mel, Jay, Claire, Jen, Ben, Chloe and Sarah plus a few of their friends). We went to a traditional German Christmas Market down at Southbank, right where we've been writing for the past month for nano! It was a great evening, which mostly consisted of food. We had mulled wine (Gluwein) and for most of us, it was our first time having it. I thought it was absolutely delicious. Mel and I also bought roasted chestnuts! I've wanted to try roasted chestnuts since I was a little child, so I was quite excited to finally get to! I was not disappointed at all, as I loved them, which was good since the rest of the nano-crew really didn't seem to like them!
It was a lovely evening with them, and felt very Christmasy to me.
In other news, completely unrelated but is basically an awesome Christmas present for me: I've been hired! It's with a year 5 class who are quite lovely children, in a small and really lovely school. I really like how it feels there. I only found out last Thursday (the 10th) so I'm really very excited! The school is willing to get me my QTS which is possibly the best part, as that's at the top of my priority list!
It's really setting up to have 2009 end on a really good foot, which is the exact opposite of how the year started. Last January was not a good time! I've got a lot on the calendar for now though - dinner with Melissa before she heads back to Canada for Christmas, dinner with my flatmates before they head off, Christmas and Birthday drinks for Frank and the nanolondon crew. Cookie baking at Claire and Jen's, kareokee at some point for Claire's and possibly Sarah's birthdays, New Years at Claire and Jen's, a trip to visit Mel and go to Windsor Castle just after New Years... somewhere in there will likely hang out with Tony, and at some point Jay is going to come over for movies in Wanstead... Plus whatever I end up deciding to do all on my own! So I've got lots more to go.
I also yesterday went and spent the day at Jay's, and while he was worried that his flat would be messy, the only things I could possibly give him shit about where 1. he met me WITHOUT A COAT ON!! 2. he needs to get himself FOOD so he can eat and 3. there weren't any pictures of his girlfriend up! All of which are easily remedied, so silly stress-case had nothing to worry about. I had an absolutely lovely time just hanging out and playing games and watching Dr. Who. Seeing as games and watching tv are Christmas traditions for me (being the only time I really have to do either!) it felt a lot like holidays. Plus Jay just started his Christmas holidays a week early so it really IS holiday stuff). It was really nice to have a relaxing social day, since normally I keep myself running around ALL THE TIME.
Anyway!,I hope that everyone back in Canada is having a wonderful start to the Christmas season, and I really hope that 2010 will be wonderful for everyone.... everyone I know has worked so hard that you really deserve to have things going your way! As for me, I really think 2010 is going to be amazing (even if it does get stressful right at the start when I adjust to working full-time as a teacher!) and I am amazed at my luck at having everything go so wonderful already. Of course, I know that most of it has been due to my own hard work and determination and whatnot, but a lot of it has also been luck. For example - yes I made myself go out and do the write-ins for Nanowrimo. But the luck came in when it turned out that everyone at those write-ins was so awesome! What a fun group of friends to have ran into! It was definitely luck. But I'm rather lucky so I'm not all that surprised.
All the best Canada!
PS. Your snowstorms make me smile.
A lot of people have seemed to think it's a sad thing, but you know what? Honestly, I'm quite excited for it. I haven't been this much in "the Christmas spirit" for absolutely years. I think being at York might have affected it - was always so busy and stressed out in November and the beginning of December, that by the time Christmas came all I wanted to do was sleep and play video games. Not a bad way to spend the holidays, but for the most part I really had no excitement about the holidays and only thought "thank gawd, no more essays"
This year? For the last few days now I've been listening to Christmas radio when on the computer. That's right. Christmas radio.
I've also bought and set up the most Charlie Brown of Christmas trees. I am working on a small budget so that's alright with me. It looks cute when it's dark, but during the day it's a little sad to look at! Poor thing. I really dislike putting the lights and garland on the tree though. You can sort of tell by looking at it. Dismantling this tree is certainly going to be a challenge!
I've also went through the process of somewhat buying myself Christmas presents (aka, some things I would have bought myself anyway, plus some knick knacks that I wouldn't have, plus the various chocolates that I only ever have at Christmas). Now.... the nerdy and embarassing part: I had no presents to wrap in this country, and after decorating the tree my next favourite thing is wrapping presents. So I wrapped my own presents, because what else was there to wrap! It made me happy, but once they were all wrapped I really felt quite silly for it. I believe I will feel utterly embarassed unwrapping them, but I really just wanted to wrap something.
I started off my Christmas celebrating by going out with some of the #nanolondon crew (Mel, Jay, Claire, Jen, Ben, Chloe and Sarah plus a few of their friends). We went to a traditional German Christmas Market down at Southbank, right where we've been writing for the past month for nano! It was a great evening, which mostly consisted of food. We had mulled wine (Gluwein) and for most of us, it was our first time having it. I thought it was absolutely delicious. Mel and I also bought roasted chestnuts! I've wanted to try roasted chestnuts since I was a little child, so I was quite excited to finally get to! I was not disappointed at all, as I loved them, which was good since the rest of the nano-crew really didn't seem to like them!
It was a lovely evening with them, and felt very Christmasy to me.
In other news, completely unrelated but is basically an awesome Christmas present for me: I've been hired! It's with a year 5 class who are quite lovely children, in a small and really lovely school. I really like how it feels there. I only found out last Thursday (the 10th) so I'm really very excited! The school is willing to get me my QTS which is possibly the best part, as that's at the top of my priority list!
It's really setting up to have 2009 end on a really good foot, which is the exact opposite of how the year started. Last January was not a good time! I've got a lot on the calendar for now though - dinner with Melissa before she heads back to Canada for Christmas, dinner with my flatmates before they head off, Christmas and Birthday drinks for Frank and the nanolondon crew. Cookie baking at Claire and Jen's, kareokee at some point for Claire's and possibly Sarah's birthdays, New Years at Claire and Jen's, a trip to visit Mel and go to Windsor Castle just after New Years... somewhere in there will likely hang out with Tony, and at some point Jay is going to come over for movies in Wanstead... Plus whatever I end up deciding to do all on my own! So I've got lots more to go.
I also yesterday went and spent the day at Jay's, and while he was worried that his flat would be messy, the only things I could possibly give him shit about where 1. he met me WITHOUT A COAT ON!! 2. he needs to get himself FOOD so he can eat and 3. there weren't any pictures of his girlfriend up! All of which are easily remedied, so silly stress-case had nothing to worry about. I had an absolutely lovely time just hanging out and playing games and watching Dr. Who. Seeing as games and watching tv are Christmas traditions for me (being the only time I really have to do either!) it felt a lot like holidays. Plus Jay just started his Christmas holidays a week early so it really IS holiday stuff). It was really nice to have a relaxing social day, since normally I keep myself running around ALL THE TIME.
Anyway!,I hope that everyone back in Canada is having a wonderful start to the Christmas season, and I really hope that 2010 will be wonderful for everyone.... everyone I know has worked so hard that you really deserve to have things going your way! As for me, I really think 2010 is going to be amazing (even if it does get stressful right at the start when I adjust to working full-time as a teacher!) and I am amazed at my luck at having everything go so wonderful already. Of course, I know that most of it has been due to my own hard work and determination and whatnot, but a lot of it has also been luck. For example - yes I made myself go out and do the write-ins for Nanowrimo. But the luck came in when it turned out that everyone at those write-ins was so awesome! What a fun group of friends to have ran into! It was definitely luck. But I'm rather lucky so I'm not all that surprised.
All the best Canada!
PS. Your snowstorms make me smile.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
A Reflection on Nanowrimo
(most of this was written while running around London with the most amazing group of writers!)
The Nanorilla Reflection
When I was 7, being the practical child that I was, I would have told you that I would have loved to be a writer, but that I wouldn't be. This wasn't because I thought I was horrible, I just 1. knew it wasn't a reliable job and 2. didn't want to do something that I loved so much as a job. So I decided being a farmer was a better choice (I could only think of farmers or vets as options, as I wanted to work with animals and I couldn't bear the thought of cutting an animal open... apparently I hadn't thought of slaughtering the farms animals!).
One of my life goals has always been to write a novel. Not publish one, but write one. I've had it set as “something to do once I was finished with school” since before I was even in highschool.
I am now done with school, having graduated last June. I have now written almost 70,000 words in a novel. During the past month. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is only 76000 words roughly, to give you an idea of how long it is. It will be even longer by the time it is finished. I've left out a lot of probably-needed description in the novel, since I hate writing, so I will need to go back and edit that in at some point (which will make it even longer). I also need to edit it so that the writing quality is of a higher grade that Twilight (that will be easy though, have you READ Twilight?!).
So I've wrote a large part of my novel and I did it in a month. That's right. One month. As part of National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org). I first heard of nanowrimo while I was at York, and I promised myself I would do it when I finished uni. The challenge for nanowrimo is to write 50000 words into a novel in the month of November. I met that challenge on November 16!
Of course, when I first heard of nano I wasn't thinking about moving to London. I knew that was my plan (to move to England) but it wasn't fully real to me at the time. So I move to London at the end of the summer, which is huge and new, lovely and scary. I was finally starting to live the life that I want to live.
Not much was missing in my life. I love London. I love being here, and being free to do what I want with my spare time. I can start pursuing my hobbies, which are all time-consuming and/or expensive. And while I am not fully pursuing all of them, I have at least began to. For September and October I mostly contented myself with exploring the area and hitting up various parks and museums. Which I love doing.
In all of that enjoyment, I totally forgot about Nano over the last few months.
I remembered about it though. Towards the end of October I realized what I was missing (I was starting to notice a downward trend in my moods by this point). I was missing my social life, which I'd always thought was rather tame. I was really starting to miss my friends (and I still do).
So, when I finally remembered about Nanowrimo, I was super excited. Something to do for the month! I joined the site and planned out a memoir (which I changed a few days before it started, and have been writing something that was completely fiction and rather unplanned). Trolling the forums in my pre-nano excitement, I discovered that I could join a region. I joined the London region, and discovered something far more awesome – write-ins and meet-ups! Apparently people actually get together and write! Who'd have thunk it? Who the hell can write WITH someone? I was a bit unsure of that idea. I thought it sounded a little weird.
Ok, so this may or may not sound odd to you, but I'm actually fairly shy. Once I'm in some situation where I have to interact with strangers I'm perfectly fine and overly chatty (to be quite frank, I'm overly chatty BECAUSE I'm shy and nervous at first, and don't want to stop talking so that I can ignore any weird looks and avoid the potential let-down in someone's response... no one notices this because once I'm comfortable I just babble away happily... but when I first start babbling? I'm NOT happy and comfortable. I'm incredibly nervous and self-conscious and end up giving off the worst impression ever and then get right paranoid). But generally, I avoid contact with strangers as I NEVER initiate. I just respond when someone starts a conversation with me. I'd find it rude not too and don't want to start an argument, so it's easier to respond and be polite and friendly and hope it will be over shortly. So meeting people for Nanowrimo didn't seem like a very good idea to me before November started.
If I had still been in Toronto, I can say I wouldn't have gone. I would have been too shy to go without knowing anyone. However, I'm in London. I really DON'T know anyone. I haven't figured out how to actually meet people here, as I normally befriend people through school or work. Hard to do supplying! I wouldn't find it easy to meet people who share similiar interests, as all my happiest activities are very solitary. If I made myself go to the meets, I reasoned, at least I could have some social contact, with the possibility of keeping myself motivated to write the entire month. I wasn't sure at that point if I was going to tell my friends that I was attempting to do this, as I wasn't sure how I felt about being questioned and was worried about embarrassing myself.
The first meet was going to be during half-term, when I didn't have to work. Thinking back, I probably would have chickened out if I had had to work the next day. I decided to cut my stay at Siggy and Jen's in Bristol a bit short to attend. By doing this, I assured my attendance – I HAD to go since I'd cut a visit with one of my best friend's short! I would have been miserable if I left Bristol early for no reason!
So off I went. I can say now that it's probably one of the best decisions I've ever made for myself. I met some fun and crazy people at the meet up, and it gave me the courage to try attending a write-in. So I went to my first write-in in Bethnal Green, and enjoyed myself. I wrote a lot, and it was nice to be with other writers. Reading the forums, I decided that maybe I would try braving one of the central London write-ins, as they seemed to have a larger crowd and a different atmosphere. I was apprehensive about getting there though, as I work in East London and don't usually know exactly when I'll be finished my day. I was worried I'd be late.
Those of you who know me well, should know about my issues with being late (as in, if I'm going to be late, I will likely cancel or not show up), so the prospect of being late combined with being with people I didn't know and the potential of getting lost finding the venue? Led to a stressful debate.
I dragged my laptop with me to the school I was teaching at that day. I ended up finished remarkably early, as the school day at that school was finished at 2:45pm. Wow eh? I made it to the venue at least an hour early. I wasn't sure that I was in the right place until I found the nano-group amassing tables.
Attending that write-in is probably one of the best things I've ever done. It took a huge amount of courage for me to get there, and I was a huge ball of nerves. I think I only loosened up when I recognized @jayintheclouds from the first London meet and Twitter. Yes, I have Twitter to thank. Oh Twitter, how the #nanolondon crew has used you! The difference between Bethnal Green and Southbank was very noticeable to me; there were a lot more people (increasing the intimidation factor) and it was much brighter and I couldn't hide in a corner in a pub. (I will explain a wee bit about myself here and now – I'm GOOD at mingling with strangers as I'm used to having to do it. It doesn't mean I enjoy it or feel comfortable. Just because I seem happy and cheerful, doesn't mean that I am. I just force it and hope it changes. Southbank was one of those times where I managed to actually succeed in feeling comfortable.) The people I met at Southbank were amazing. They were friendly and outrageous, and it was such an interesting mix of personalities that I was hooked.
I began to go to all the downtown write-ins, because I loved the people that were there so much. I eventually concluded that we all had three things in common.
1.we like to write
2.we're all some variety and level of geek
3.we're all a little crazy
Everyone has been so supportive of each other throughout the month, and getting to actually spend time with such people has been such a pleasure. In a way I feel so close to them all and I've only known them for the month. It feels a bit like a frosh week, except so much better. I haven't felt nearly as lonely in London as I had been, and I really feel like I've just started some proper friendships with some really wicked people. Scarier still, I really think that at least some of those friendships will continue after this is all over.
It feels so silly to write that, about making friends, but it's been a very real, and very emotional, experience for me. I knew I would see people at the write-ins for the month, and that it would likely be friendly. But I didn't actually think that I would meet anyone who could stand the idea of seeing me beyond the boundaries of Nanowrimo. And yet, at this moment, I really feel like some of the people I've met actually enjoy my company, and that is why it feels so silly to write that.
We've all gotten along so well that many of us plan to keep writing together afterwards, and that makes me so happy. It really does, and I think it's the first time in my life where I actually feel like I fit IN. Normally I always feel like I'm on the periphery of a group, floating around on the edges and looking in but never actually belonging in it. I'd just wait until it was time to move on or end up excluded. It doesn't feel like that with the nano-group. It's so weird for me, and until they read this (even though right now they are sitting all around me in Covent Garden drinking caffeine or alcohol) they won't know how much of a positive and profound experience this has been for me, and how much it actually means to me to actually feel that way. Lol [Yes, I wrote lol when I was writing on the paper!], I almost cried writing that and I feel mighty silly. Thank gawd I didn't, everyone would have wondered what the hell was going on! I just never imagined I'd feel like I fit in in a group. I gave up years ago, and definitely thought the opportunity for it even being a possibility was long gone now that I'm finished with school. And yet here it went and happened and I have all of these lovely people to thank for giving me that. I just can't get over feeling amazed with everyone.
In a way, for that reason if nothing else, I really love all of these people.
Now as to a recap of our day so far: It's been such an honour today to go traipsing around Central London writing in random locations, getting crazy looks from strangers, and laughing like maniacs. We met at St. Paul's Cathedral and froze while we gathered and wrote on the steps. Jen and Claire (the lovely organizers of the write-ins) had even made cardboard signs for the #nanorilla Twitter group!
After freezing and writing on the steps of St. Paul's, we retreated into the Starbucks that we could see from the steps. Somehow we managed to get enough seats for nearly 20 of us. I had a Black Cherry Mocha and it was delicious (and it did NOT burn my tongue!). We wrote Stick Novels. On the stir-sticks. Mine was about an airplane.
[Henceforth this is what I've typed at home, everything before I wrote while running around in London]
My first Stick-Novel was a memoir on one side, and a story about a Princess (Cleo gave me the topic). I couldn't think about a Princess name and I accidentally called it Jay, so Jay got a bit insulted with what I wrote, naturally. So I gave it to him and no one else has read it. After, Jay told me to write about a plane. So I did, and this was my stick-novel:
“Once upon a time there was an airplane. It really wanted to be a ship so it crashed into the sea. (other side) Once the plane was in the sea all the passengers drowned. The plane regretted its decision.”
Later in the day at the pub, I wrote two more. One was about beet (Jay's topic) and one was about the rain (Melanie's topic). Everyone wrote rather hilarious Stick Novels in my opinion!
We headed towards Tate Modern, deciding that we needed to be indoors (although I did manage to miraculously keep the rain away all day, cause I've got skills like that. You can ask my dad!). Inside Tate Modern we went to see the big old black room. What was it called? Jay had a moment before going inside, so I was basically his guide dog while in there. Yep, I noticed when I said that at Tate that I'd just basically called myself a bitch. Kept Jay safe and made fun of myself for acting like a teacher at the same time. We then sat in Tate and wrote, and I have no idea what people thought of us as I had my back to the crowd. Jon hit 50k while there, so cheers for that!
After Tate we ended up writing on the BlackFriar's bridge. It was a fun, but short, stop! Had a LOT of odd looks for passers-by, and we had someone stop and photograph us for a while. It was quite amusing. What else was amusing was our group conga-line and that that we had going for part of our walk to there.
We then high-tailed it to Covent Garden, as we were cold and hungry. So what did we do? Sat outside at Covent Garden at a cafe and drank caffeinated or alcoholic beverages. Somehow we had miraculously got enough seats for all of us, ALL TOGETHER! What the hell are the odds of that one!
We then left to go find a pub. It was dark and we couldn't keep writing. This is when we lost the leaders of our pack, as the walk way was too thin and crowded for such a loud group. No fears though, as we found our way there in the end. And spent the next 3 hours or so in the pub, just hanging out.
My fingers are sore, so I am so not giving the day justice in it's recap, but it was a marvellous day and had many many hilarious moments that perhaps I will add in at some point!
The Nanorilla Reflection
When I was 7, being the practical child that I was, I would have told you that I would have loved to be a writer, but that I wouldn't be. This wasn't because I thought I was horrible, I just 1. knew it wasn't a reliable job and 2. didn't want to do something that I loved so much as a job. So I decided being a farmer was a better choice (I could only think of farmers or vets as options, as I wanted to work with animals and I couldn't bear the thought of cutting an animal open... apparently I hadn't thought of slaughtering the farms animals!).
One of my life goals has always been to write a novel. Not publish one, but write one. I've had it set as “something to do once I was finished with school” since before I was even in highschool.
I am now done with school, having graduated last June. I have now written almost 70,000 words in a novel. During the past month. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is only 76000 words roughly, to give you an idea of how long it is. It will be even longer by the time it is finished. I've left out a lot of probably-needed description in the novel, since I hate writing, so I will need to go back and edit that in at some point (which will make it even longer). I also need to edit it so that the writing quality is of a higher grade that Twilight (that will be easy though, have you READ Twilight?!).
So I've wrote a large part of my novel and I did it in a month. That's right. One month. As part of National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org). I first heard of nanowrimo while I was at York, and I promised myself I would do it when I finished uni. The challenge for nanowrimo is to write 50000 words into a novel in the month of November. I met that challenge on November 16!
Of course, when I first heard of nano I wasn't thinking about moving to London. I knew that was my plan (to move to England) but it wasn't fully real to me at the time. So I move to London at the end of the summer, which is huge and new, lovely and scary. I was finally starting to live the life that I want to live.
Not much was missing in my life. I love London. I love being here, and being free to do what I want with my spare time. I can start pursuing my hobbies, which are all time-consuming and/or expensive. And while I am not fully pursuing all of them, I have at least began to. For September and October I mostly contented myself with exploring the area and hitting up various parks and museums. Which I love doing.
In all of that enjoyment, I totally forgot about Nano over the last few months.
I remembered about it though. Towards the end of October I realized what I was missing (I was starting to notice a downward trend in my moods by this point). I was missing my social life, which I'd always thought was rather tame. I was really starting to miss my friends (and I still do).
So, when I finally remembered about Nanowrimo, I was super excited. Something to do for the month! I joined the site and planned out a memoir (which I changed a few days before it started, and have been writing something that was completely fiction and rather unplanned). Trolling the forums in my pre-nano excitement, I discovered that I could join a region. I joined the London region, and discovered something far more awesome – write-ins and meet-ups! Apparently people actually get together and write! Who'd have thunk it? Who the hell can write WITH someone? I was a bit unsure of that idea. I thought it sounded a little weird.
Ok, so this may or may not sound odd to you, but I'm actually fairly shy. Once I'm in some situation where I have to interact with strangers I'm perfectly fine and overly chatty (to be quite frank, I'm overly chatty BECAUSE I'm shy and nervous at first, and don't want to stop talking so that I can ignore any weird looks and avoid the potential let-down in someone's response... no one notices this because once I'm comfortable I just babble away happily... but when I first start babbling? I'm NOT happy and comfortable. I'm incredibly nervous and self-conscious and end up giving off the worst impression ever and then get right paranoid). But generally, I avoid contact with strangers as I NEVER initiate. I just respond when someone starts a conversation with me. I'd find it rude not too and don't want to start an argument, so it's easier to respond and be polite and friendly and hope it will be over shortly. So meeting people for Nanowrimo didn't seem like a very good idea to me before November started.
If I had still been in Toronto, I can say I wouldn't have gone. I would have been too shy to go without knowing anyone. However, I'm in London. I really DON'T know anyone. I haven't figured out how to actually meet people here, as I normally befriend people through school or work. Hard to do supplying! I wouldn't find it easy to meet people who share similiar interests, as all my happiest activities are very solitary. If I made myself go to the meets, I reasoned, at least I could have some social contact, with the possibility of keeping myself motivated to write the entire month. I wasn't sure at that point if I was going to tell my friends that I was attempting to do this, as I wasn't sure how I felt about being questioned and was worried about embarrassing myself.
The first meet was going to be during half-term, when I didn't have to work. Thinking back, I probably would have chickened out if I had had to work the next day. I decided to cut my stay at Siggy and Jen's in Bristol a bit short to attend. By doing this, I assured my attendance – I HAD to go since I'd cut a visit with one of my best friend's short! I would have been miserable if I left Bristol early for no reason!
So off I went. I can say now that it's probably one of the best decisions I've ever made for myself. I met some fun and crazy people at the meet up, and it gave me the courage to try attending a write-in. So I went to my first write-in in Bethnal Green, and enjoyed myself. I wrote a lot, and it was nice to be with other writers. Reading the forums, I decided that maybe I would try braving one of the central London write-ins, as they seemed to have a larger crowd and a different atmosphere. I was apprehensive about getting there though, as I work in East London and don't usually know exactly when I'll be finished my day. I was worried I'd be late.
Those of you who know me well, should know about my issues with being late (as in, if I'm going to be late, I will likely cancel or not show up), so the prospect of being late combined with being with people I didn't know and the potential of getting lost finding the venue? Led to a stressful debate.
I dragged my laptop with me to the school I was teaching at that day. I ended up finished remarkably early, as the school day at that school was finished at 2:45pm. Wow eh? I made it to the venue at least an hour early. I wasn't sure that I was in the right place until I found the nano-group amassing tables.
Attending that write-in is probably one of the best things I've ever done. It took a huge amount of courage for me to get there, and I was a huge ball of nerves. I think I only loosened up when I recognized @jayintheclouds from the first London meet and Twitter. Yes, I have Twitter to thank. Oh Twitter, how the #nanolondon crew has used you! The difference between Bethnal Green and Southbank was very noticeable to me; there were a lot more people (increasing the intimidation factor) and it was much brighter and I couldn't hide in a corner in a pub. (I will explain a wee bit about myself here and now – I'm GOOD at mingling with strangers as I'm used to having to do it. It doesn't mean I enjoy it or feel comfortable. Just because I seem happy and cheerful, doesn't mean that I am. I just force it and hope it changes. Southbank was one of those times where I managed to actually succeed in feeling comfortable.) The people I met at Southbank were amazing. They were friendly and outrageous, and it was such an interesting mix of personalities that I was hooked.
I began to go to all the downtown write-ins, because I loved the people that were there so much. I eventually concluded that we all had three things in common.
1.we like to write
2.we're all some variety and level of geek
3.we're all a little crazy
Everyone has been so supportive of each other throughout the month, and getting to actually spend time with such people has been such a pleasure. In a way I feel so close to them all and I've only known them for the month. It feels a bit like a frosh week, except so much better. I haven't felt nearly as lonely in London as I had been, and I really feel like I've just started some proper friendships with some really wicked people. Scarier still, I really think that at least some of those friendships will continue after this is all over.
It feels so silly to write that, about making friends, but it's been a very real, and very emotional, experience for me. I knew I would see people at the write-ins for the month, and that it would likely be friendly. But I didn't actually think that I would meet anyone who could stand the idea of seeing me beyond the boundaries of Nanowrimo. And yet, at this moment, I really feel like some of the people I've met actually enjoy my company, and that is why it feels so silly to write that.
We've all gotten along so well that many of us plan to keep writing together afterwards, and that makes me so happy. It really does, and I think it's the first time in my life where I actually feel like I fit IN. Normally I always feel like I'm on the periphery of a group, floating around on the edges and looking in but never actually belonging in it. I'd just wait until it was time to move on or end up excluded. It doesn't feel like that with the nano-group. It's so weird for me, and until they read this (even though right now they are sitting all around me in Covent Garden drinking caffeine or alcohol) they won't know how much of a positive and profound experience this has been for me, and how much it actually means to me to actually feel that way. Lol [Yes, I wrote lol when I was writing on the paper!], I almost cried writing that and I feel mighty silly. Thank gawd I didn't, everyone would have wondered what the hell was going on! I just never imagined I'd feel like I fit in in a group. I gave up years ago, and definitely thought the opportunity for it even being a possibility was long gone now that I'm finished with school. And yet here it went and happened and I have all of these lovely people to thank for giving me that. I just can't get over feeling amazed with everyone.
In a way, for that reason if nothing else, I really love all of these people.
Now as to a recap of our day so far: It's been such an honour today to go traipsing around Central London writing in random locations, getting crazy looks from strangers, and laughing like maniacs. We met at St. Paul's Cathedral and froze while we gathered and wrote on the steps. Jen and Claire (the lovely organizers of the write-ins) had even made cardboard signs for the #nanorilla Twitter group!
After freezing and writing on the steps of St. Paul's, we retreated into the Starbucks that we could see from the steps. Somehow we managed to get enough seats for nearly 20 of us. I had a Black Cherry Mocha and it was delicious (and it did NOT burn my tongue!). We wrote Stick Novels. On the stir-sticks. Mine was about an airplane.
[Henceforth this is what I've typed at home, everything before I wrote while running around in London]
My first Stick-Novel was a memoir on one side, and a story about a Princess (Cleo gave me the topic). I couldn't think about a Princess name and I accidentally called it Jay, so Jay got a bit insulted with what I wrote, naturally. So I gave it to him and no one else has read it. After, Jay told me to write about a plane. So I did, and this was my stick-novel:
“Once upon a time there was an airplane. It really wanted to be a ship so it crashed into the sea. (other side) Once the plane was in the sea all the passengers drowned. The plane regretted its decision.”
Later in the day at the pub, I wrote two more. One was about beet (Jay's topic) and one was about the rain (Melanie's topic). Everyone wrote rather hilarious Stick Novels in my opinion!
We headed towards Tate Modern, deciding that we needed to be indoors (although I did manage to miraculously keep the rain away all day, cause I've got skills like that. You can ask my dad!). Inside Tate Modern we went to see the big old black room. What was it called? Jay had a moment before going inside, so I was basically his guide dog while in there. Yep, I noticed when I said that at Tate that I'd just basically called myself a bitch. Kept Jay safe and made fun of myself for acting like a teacher at the same time. We then sat in Tate and wrote, and I have no idea what people thought of us as I had my back to the crowd. Jon hit 50k while there, so cheers for that!
After Tate we ended up writing on the BlackFriar's bridge. It was a fun, but short, stop! Had a LOT of odd looks for passers-by, and we had someone stop and photograph us for a while. It was quite amusing. What else was amusing was our group conga-line and that that we had going for part of our walk to there.
We then high-tailed it to Covent Garden, as we were cold and hungry. So what did we do? Sat outside at Covent Garden at a cafe and drank caffeinated or alcoholic beverages. Somehow we had miraculously got enough seats for all of us, ALL TOGETHER! What the hell are the odds of that one!
We then left to go find a pub. It was dark and we couldn't keep writing. This is when we lost the leaders of our pack, as the walk way was too thin and crowded for such a loud group. No fears though, as we found our way there in the end. And spent the next 3 hours or so in the pub, just hanging out.
My fingers are sore, so I am so not giving the day justice in it's recap, but it was a marvellous day and had many many hilarious moments that perhaps I will add in at some point!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Bonjour, Blog!
Ok. So it's been a month since I've written.
What have I done in that past month? Umm. I went to Bristol to visit Siggy and his fiance Jen! (Except she wasn't that THEN, but is now, and I knew that was coming! hahaha) and I had a great time, even if I DID spend most of my time there sleeping cause I'd been sick!
So that was that week, and then it was Hallowe'en, and I haven't really done much since then.
Except write 50,000 words. Oh yes. That's what my word count has been on msn.
I decided to take part in www.nanowrimo.org this year. I've wanted to participate for YEARS but knew there was no point while in uni. So I had promised myself I would do it my first year out, and so I did.
And can now say that I've written 50,032 words in SIXTEEN DAYS. AND I've worked! Since it's for the month of November, I'll see where I end up by the time the month is done, cause I'm certainly not done the novel.
It's been an extremely social month for me though. As odd as that might be, since I've spent all my time writing. There's a lot of other people in London taking part in nanowrimo as well, so I've gone to various write-ins and meet-ups. A write-in is when a bunch of us meet up at a certain time, with our laptops, and then we ignore each other for a few hours and write our novels.
So I've been out a lot of those, and it's great. Feels like I have a social life again, as I'm sure most people who will read this have heard me complain that the ONLY time I'm missing from Canada is social-time with my friends. I was getting a bit lonely in October, but Nano's helping with that this month so I've been quite happy.
And no, you may not read the novel. It's not finished, for one. And for two, it's an UNEDITED FIRST DRAFT. Half the time my characters sounds the exact same as each other, and there are large segments of dialogue with VERY little going on in between (the setting doesn't help though). And no, I'm also not going to bother explaining my story, because it's complicated and I can't do it justice. I can babble about it in person, but writing it down doesn't seem to work out quite as well. Ask me again when I start spamming the internet about FINISHING a novel. Then we'll talk.
What have I done in that past month? Umm. I went to Bristol to visit Siggy and his fiance Jen! (Except she wasn't that THEN, but is now, and I knew that was coming! hahaha) and I had a great time, even if I DID spend most of my time there sleeping cause I'd been sick!
So that was that week, and then it was Hallowe'en, and I haven't really done much since then.
Except write 50,000 words. Oh yes. That's what my word count has been on msn.
I decided to take part in www.nanowrimo.org this year. I've wanted to participate for YEARS but knew there was no point while in uni. So I had promised myself I would do it my first year out, and so I did.
And can now say that I've written 50,032 words in SIXTEEN DAYS. AND I've worked! Since it's for the month of November, I'll see where I end up by the time the month is done, cause I'm certainly not done the novel.
It's been an extremely social month for me though. As odd as that might be, since I've spent all my time writing. There's a lot of other people in London taking part in nanowrimo as well, so I've gone to various write-ins and meet-ups. A write-in is when a bunch of us meet up at a certain time, with our laptops, and then we ignore each other for a few hours and write our novels.
So I've been out a lot of those, and it's great. Feels like I have a social life again, as I'm sure most people who will read this have heard me complain that the ONLY time I'm missing from Canada is social-time with my friends. I was getting a bit lonely in October, but Nano's helping with that this month so I've been quite happy.
And no, you may not read the novel. It's not finished, for one. And for two, it's an UNEDITED FIRST DRAFT. Half the time my characters sounds the exact same as each other, and there are large segments of dialogue with VERY little going on in between (the setting doesn't help though). And no, I'm also not going to bother explaining my story, because it's complicated and I can't do it justice. I can babble about it in person, but writing it down doesn't seem to work out quite as well. Ask me again when I start spamming the internet about FINISHING a novel. Then we'll talk.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Portobello, Natural History, and random encounter #1
Oiy!
Apparently I have forgotten to keep this up-to-date. I pass off all blame by saying that I have been busy, but mostly work-busy so there is less to write about and less time to write it in.
Since Lille, this is what I've done: Attended some seminars, went to the Natural History Museum and quickly into the Victoria and Albert Museum, went to St. James Park and found Big Ben, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and Random Creep #1, tried some Indian Cuisine finally, went to the Vietnamese restaurant on our High Street, have a class to teach for two weeks, went to HomeBase (sorta like Home Depot) and bought various things to start making my bedroom my bedroom, went out for Thai, went down to Leicester Square to meet Tony at work and go for Sushi, went to the market on Portobello Road and then to Kensington Gardens again...
So now, for the stories.
I decided one day that I wanted to go to the Natural History Museum. I knew it would be lovely. A piece of trivia my flatmate shared with me: the architect who designed the building.. it was his SECOND attempt ever. He was a genius. It's a gorgeous building. So, off I went.. and discover a HUGE LINE OUTSIDE. There was no way I was going to wait in that line, cause I knew it was for bag checks. So, I decide I'll walk down the road to the Science Museum to see what its line was like. On the way to there... I discover this tiny little door with a security person standing there.. and random people going in. Curious, I stopped and asked what the entrance was for. It was for anyone! So in I went to the Natural History Museum.. and totally bypassed the queue.
So take a mental note of that: there is a SIDE ENTRANCE that is not as well known, and lots of families prefer the bigger entrance cause it's more grandoise.
It was an amazing museum, and I did a whirlwind tour of it. I kept stopping to admire the architecture, cause it was gorgeous, and I could have spent all day there (and I did spend most of it) but I had to rush myself. I did NOT go to see the dinosaurs however, even though I really wanted to. But I wasn't waiting in that queue all by myself!
After the Nat. His. Museum I wandered into the V&A museum.. it wasn't fully my thing, and I was exhausted and had gotten a headache so I left again.
The next day, I decided I was going to go to St. James Park as I wanted to see the pelicans that reside there. Despite getting off at St. James Park Station... I was unable to locate the blasted park! (I went the wrong way as I didn't look at signs and just wandered off and had forgot my A-Z book at home). So, instead of St. James Park I discovered Big Ben and Westminster, which I hadn't been looking for. So I enjoyed the area and I did a big huge circle and ended up back at St. James Station (go me and my topographic map in my head, as I had quite the meandering course and still ended up where I wanted to get back to!). I then find my way to the park finally, and I spent at least an hour or two watching the Pelicans. Yes, that's right, I'm a bit of a nerd. They were right up near the fence and OMG the pelicans actually will let you pet them gently. I was so excited that I actually asked some strangers to take a picture of me with them (using my point and shoot, and NOT my Canon Rebel). That's right... I asked a stranger for help.
Since I was in the area, I figured I should probably go over and look at Buckingham Palace.. so I did, and remained unimpressed. lol. So I wandered off to find the Canada Gate that I'd remembered seeing the last time I was there, and find it I did. Then went off to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. What can I say... I really like parks and it was a gorgeous day.
So... I find the boating area and take a seat on a bench and take out a book to read. I'd been sat there reading for ages... when I end up with my first creepy encounter in the UK. (AND IF YOU ARE READING THIS THEN I'LL SAY IT PLAINLY - LOOKING SOMEONE UP IS NOT COOL).
Here is the creep story:
I'm sat on the bench and this guy sits on it as well. I glanced over cause I always do just to see who is sitting near me. It was only a quick glance and I went back to my book. Guy then asks me if there's anything on his back, and says that he'd been laying on the ground (lots of people do) and wasn't sure if there were any leaves.
I'm then not allowed to go BACK TO MY BOOK as this guy keeps talking to me. Now, you all know me... I'm polite. I'm friendly. I've had a lot of experience with random creeps. I've already learned that it's just easiest to be polite and friendly and not bother getting bitchy or rude cause that just tends to lead to more disaster. Within a few minutes this guy has invited me over to his place for tea - saying he lives in the area. I say no and said I had dinner plans with a friend (I didn't, although I made some later!). He then wants my phone number. I say no, but he was persistent, so I ended up saying that I don't KNOW my phone number (which is true, I've ALMOST got it memorized but I'm never sure). He was then going to try to show me how to find out my phone number or someshit like that, and I really DIDN'T want to give out my phone number (since my agency allllways shows up as "Unknown" so I have to answer all those damn calls that I normally ignore... fortunately it's always been my agency!)... so I decided that the easiest way to get rid of this would be to just give him my email (I was thinking of my msn address) and then block him and be done with it.
Of course, I'd had a long week and was tired and worn out and frustrated with the conversation by this point, and what do I do? GIVE OUT MY REAL EMAIL. Stupid ass me. Y'know.. the one with my NAME IN IT. Whoops. I noticed it RIGHT as it was too late and was busy going "fuck fuck fuck FUCK" in my head. So I looked at the time and lied and said I really had to leave to get ready to go out for dinner... so off I went. Thought that it MIGHT have went ok as far as the creepy encounters go... and just from experience and a hunch, I opted to look behind me a few times to make sure that he wasn't following me along at all... he wasn't, so I gave Tony a call and told him the story cause I was looking for a laugh.. then invited Tony out for supper and we found a really delicious Thai place in Isle of Dog.
Now, I shall say that when I got home I had two messages from Creep#1. One was to the email.. and he looked me up on facebook. This is what they were: facebook - " i like seeing your picture Lindsey. Very impressive profile on word press. Will you take it down when I asked you to. I should tell you this privately though. Are you still reeding DavinCi code."
to my email - "Hey Lindsay
Apparently I have forgotten to keep this up-to-date. I pass off all blame by saying that I have been busy, but mostly work-busy so there is less to write about and less time to write it in.
Since Lille, this is what I've done: Attended some seminars, went to the Natural History Museum and quickly into the Victoria and Albert Museum, went to St. James Park and found Big Ben, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and Random Creep #1, tried some Indian Cuisine finally, went to the Vietnamese restaurant on our High Street, have a class to teach for two weeks, went to HomeBase (sorta like Home Depot) and bought various things to start making my bedroom my bedroom, went out for Thai, went down to Leicester Square to meet Tony at work and go for Sushi, went to the market on Portobello Road and then to Kensington Gardens again...
So now, for the stories.
I decided one day that I wanted to go to the Natural History Museum. I knew it would be lovely. A piece of trivia my flatmate shared with me: the architect who designed the building.. it was his SECOND attempt ever. He was a genius. It's a gorgeous building. So, off I went.. and discover a HUGE LINE OUTSIDE. There was no way I was going to wait in that line, cause I knew it was for bag checks. So, I decide I'll walk down the road to the Science Museum to see what its line was like. On the way to there... I discover this tiny little door with a security person standing there.. and random people going in. Curious, I stopped and asked what the entrance was for. It was for anyone! So in I went to the Natural History Museum.. and totally bypassed the queue.
So take a mental note of that: there is a SIDE ENTRANCE that is not as well known, and lots of families prefer the bigger entrance cause it's more grandoise.
It was an amazing museum, and I did a whirlwind tour of it. I kept stopping to admire the architecture, cause it was gorgeous, and I could have spent all day there (and I did spend most of it) but I had to rush myself. I did NOT go to see the dinosaurs however, even though I really wanted to. But I wasn't waiting in that queue all by myself!
After the Nat. His. Museum I wandered into the V&A museum.. it wasn't fully my thing, and I was exhausted and had gotten a headache so I left again.
The next day, I decided I was going to go to St. James Park as I wanted to see the pelicans that reside there. Despite getting off at St. James Park Station... I was unable to locate the blasted park! (I went the wrong way as I didn't look at signs and just wandered off and had forgot my A-Z book at home). So, instead of St. James Park I discovered Big Ben and Westminster, which I hadn't been looking for. So I enjoyed the area and I did a big huge circle and ended up back at St. James Station (go me and my topographic map in my head, as I had quite the meandering course and still ended up where I wanted to get back to!). I then find my way to the park finally, and I spent at least an hour or two watching the Pelicans. Yes, that's right, I'm a bit of a nerd. They were right up near the fence and OMG the pelicans actually will let you pet them gently. I was so excited that I actually asked some strangers to take a picture of me with them (using my point and shoot, and NOT my Canon Rebel). That's right... I asked a stranger for help.
Since I was in the area, I figured I should probably go over and look at Buckingham Palace.. so I did, and remained unimpressed. lol. So I wandered off to find the Canada Gate that I'd remembered seeing the last time I was there, and find it I did. Then went off to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. What can I say... I really like parks and it was a gorgeous day.
So... I find the boating area and take a seat on a bench and take out a book to read. I'd been sat there reading for ages... when I end up with my first creepy encounter in the UK. (AND IF YOU ARE READING THIS THEN I'LL SAY IT PLAINLY - LOOKING SOMEONE UP IS NOT COOL).
Here is the creep story:
I'm sat on the bench and this guy sits on it as well. I glanced over cause I always do just to see who is sitting near me. It was only a quick glance and I went back to my book. Guy then asks me if there's anything on his back, and says that he'd been laying on the ground (lots of people do) and wasn't sure if there were any leaves.
I'm then not allowed to go BACK TO MY BOOK as this guy keeps talking to me. Now, you all know me... I'm polite. I'm friendly. I've had a lot of experience with random creeps. I've already learned that it's just easiest to be polite and friendly and not bother getting bitchy or rude cause that just tends to lead to more disaster. Within a few minutes this guy has invited me over to his place for tea - saying he lives in the area. I say no and said I had dinner plans with a friend (I didn't, although I made some later!). He then wants my phone number. I say no, but he was persistent, so I ended up saying that I don't KNOW my phone number (which is true, I've ALMOST got it memorized but I'm never sure). He was then going to try to show me how to find out my phone number or someshit like that, and I really DIDN'T want to give out my phone number (since my agency allllways shows up as "Unknown" so I have to answer all those damn calls that I normally ignore... fortunately it's always been my agency!)... so I decided that the easiest way to get rid of this would be to just give him my email (I was thinking of my msn address) and then block him and be done with it.
Of course, I'd had a long week and was tired and worn out and frustrated with the conversation by this point, and what do I do? GIVE OUT MY REAL EMAIL. Stupid ass me. Y'know.. the one with my NAME IN IT. Whoops. I noticed it RIGHT as it was too late and was busy going "fuck fuck fuck FUCK" in my head. So I looked at the time and lied and said I really had to leave to get ready to go out for dinner... so off I went. Thought that it MIGHT have went ok as far as the creepy encounters go... and just from experience and a hunch, I opted to look behind me a few times to make sure that he wasn't following me along at all... he wasn't, so I gave Tony a call and told him the story cause I was looking for a laugh.. then invited Tony out for supper and we found a really delicious Thai place in Isle of Dog.
Now, I shall say that when I got home I had two messages from Creep#1. One was to the email.. and he looked me up on facebook. This is what they were: facebook - " i like seeing your picture Lindsey. Very impressive profile on word press. Will you take it down when I asked you to. I should tell you this privately though. Are you still reeding DavinCi code."
to my email - "Hey Lindsay
I googled you.
See the link below. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home
I must meet you soon to discuss with you something important.
I like your girly writting, just between two of us. You look good to my eyes.
Come, come. Let get it going." (dont click the link... I never have)
Yep. Lovely eh? Man was I cursing away by this point. How the HELL are either of those even remotely acceptable? Still haven't fully figured out what was meant by asking me to take it down... I'm guessing a photo. Who the HELL thinks the have the right to ask someone to take down their picture? Fuckhead. I was so mad. I wasn't expecting the messages to be thhhhat disturbing, and who the hell googles you? Yep... I've got some skill in attracting the scum really... I don't know how I do it, I was SAT THERE READING.
So I replied to the email quickly and in anger, but was still trying to be polite so I asked something about what on EARTH could be so important. The reply? "You of course and a couple of kisses in your cheek):" .... *smacks forhead* Good lord. I've now had enough by this point and sent back: "Look, I'm sorry, but that is really just inappropriate. Each message you have sent has been inappropriate, and I'm going to ask you to stop. Goodbye.".
Since then, these are the messages I have received:
"No, what do you mean. I haven't said anything inappropriate. It's between you and me and confidential. Most importantly depends on how one looks at the wording. But I left that to your imaginations, Lindsey. don't get upset. I take a break for a while." (sent the day I'd sent the last message... anyone else get what was meant by CONFIDENTIAL? If it's between me and him.. and *I* say he was being inappropriate.. then it MEANS HE WAS BEING INAPPROPRIATE!)
"Hi Lindsey How's work? It would be very nice if we could begin a normal conversation again! XX SAMAD" (sent the next day.... long break eh?)
"I would like to invite you to an event for movie's, show "theater in Covent Garden", or a trip to Windsor Castle. Would like to join me in one of these event. Please let me." (sent less than a week after the last one... persistent fucker no?)
*slaps forehead* So hopefully that's done, it's been a week since that last one now.
The next week for me was also quite long, and rather exhausting, so by the weekend I decided I was just going to stay at home for the Thanksgiving Weekend and not do anything. It was VERY hard to do. But I know I've been wearing myself so I thought it would do me some good.
Sunday for Thanksgiving I went to Cuckfields for a thanksgiving meal with my flatmates. Had roast chicken, roasted potatoes, and veggies. It was yummy for a thanksgiving meal, but I was really missing pumpkin pie. This country doesn't do pumpkin!!! I was so upset.
Last week I made up for my slow weekend by being out every night: Monday went to Tony's for thanksgiving proper.. we were going to make steak but the car wouldn't work, so we ordered Chinese and watched a movie. Tuesday went to the last of the seminars. Wednesday went to meet Tony downtown in Leicester Square for supper for when he was done work.. we went for sushi and it was delicious, and then we wandered through China Town. Just so you know, London's China Town kicks Toronto's China town's ASS. Thursday I went to Homebase and bought all sorts of stuff for my room that I wanted. Friday I invited Tony over to go to the Vietnamese restaurant on our High Street cause I had heard it was gorgeous and delicious. And it was.
Just so you know, my room is starting to look and feel like MY space. Especially since I put up the shower rod and hung up a sheet on it (it's a work in progress)... and my photo wall. I just need to figure out how to get other photos up on my wall. I will manage it though.
Saturday I went to the market on Portobello Road. I LOVED it. I've wanted to go there since I was a kid and watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I think it's been one of my best experiences.. I left here at 7am to make sure I was there by 8am when it opened (I wanted to avoid the crowd). There was so much to look at! I went on a hunt for small presents for my parents and danny... but the best parts of my day were the things I bought for myself. I bought a GORGEOUS (word of the day apparently!) mechanical bird cage clock... the bird does the ticking and the ball thing in the middle rotates to show the time. I'm not sure when it was made though cause I forgot to ask. I don't care if it's an actual antique or if its a reproduction (I'm going to let myself think it's legit!) cause it's so lovely. The box it came with smells rather oldish.
I also bought myself a 1913 Vest Pocket Kodak Autotrophic Camera. haha. It's lovely. The shopkeeper was lovely too. I was just walking around and stopped when I saw his stall inside and was like "OMG this is the most awesome stall I've seen today! I didn't think I'd see anything this cool!". Seriously, I sounded like an excited little kid. The shopkeeper and I were stood there chatting and I eventually asked how much some of them were... and then I was like "OMG I can actually afford that!!!" and was then so excited that I told him I would just have to buy one. So we picked me out a cute one and he showed me that it was £25 pounds, but said there was one in better condition for £35 pounds. So he said he'd knock off £5 for me for either of them, so I was going to get the £35 pound one.. which he then saw the tag said £30, so he still knocked it down to £25 for me.
(MOM DON'T LET DAD READ THIS PARAGRAPH... it's about all your presents!)
I also was excited with what I bought my dad.... a 1930s barometer from germany. It's just hilarious, I've got a photo of it I can send you. I loved it. I also bought a necklace from that stall, which is very much NOT antique but I really liked it and it was only £3. Mom I bought a small trinket for and I can't say what it is but I can say that it was crafted by a friend of the man who sold it to me. And danny I bought a little soldier that's wearing a gas mask, and is in a "CHARGE!" position. It's holding a bayonet and the arms holding it can move up and down. It's new from the looks of it and the stall, but that was fine with me. The stall-keeper was super cheerful and he and I chatted around.. he helped me pick it out cause I wasn't sure what to get.
So... that's been my life for the past few weeks!
Yep. Lovely eh? Man was I cursing away by this point. How the HELL are either of those even remotely acceptable? Still haven't fully figured out what was meant by asking me to take it down... I'm guessing a photo. Who the HELL thinks the have the right to ask someone to take down their picture? Fuckhead. I was so mad. I wasn't expecting the messages to be thhhhat disturbing, and who the hell googles you? Yep... I've got some skill in attracting the scum really... I don't know how I do it, I was SAT THERE READING.
So I replied to the email quickly and in anger, but was still trying to be polite so I asked something about what on EARTH could be so important. The reply? "You of course and a couple of kisses in your cheek):" .... *smacks forhead* Good lord. I've now had enough by this point and sent back: "Look, I'm sorry, but that is really just inappropriate. Each message you have sent has been inappropriate, and I'm going to ask you to stop. Goodbye.".
Since then, these are the messages I have received:
"No, what do you mean. I haven't said anything inappropriate. It's between you and me and confidential. Most importantly depends on how one looks at the wording. But I left that to your imaginations, Lindsey. don't get upset. I take a break for a while." (sent the day I'd sent the last message... anyone else get what was meant by CONFIDENTIAL? If it's between me and him.. and *I* say he was being inappropriate.. then it MEANS HE WAS BEING INAPPROPRIATE!)
"Hi Lindsey How's work? It would be very nice if we could begin a normal conversation again! XX SAMAD" (sent the next day.... long break eh?)
"I would like to invite you to an event for movie's, show "theater in Covent Garden", or a trip to Windsor Castle. Would like to join me in one of these event. Please let me." (sent less than a week after the last one... persistent fucker no?)
*slaps forehead* So hopefully that's done, it's been a week since that last one now.
The next week for me was also quite long, and rather exhausting, so by the weekend I decided I was just going to stay at home for the Thanksgiving Weekend and not do anything. It was VERY hard to do. But I know I've been wearing myself so I thought it would do me some good.
Sunday for Thanksgiving I went to Cuckfields for a thanksgiving meal with my flatmates. Had roast chicken, roasted potatoes, and veggies. It was yummy for a thanksgiving meal, but I was really missing pumpkin pie. This country doesn't do pumpkin!!! I was so upset.
Last week I made up for my slow weekend by being out every night: Monday went to Tony's for thanksgiving proper.. we were going to make steak but the car wouldn't work, so we ordered Chinese and watched a movie. Tuesday went to the last of the seminars. Wednesday went to meet Tony downtown in Leicester Square for supper for when he was done work.. we went for sushi and it was delicious, and then we wandered through China Town. Just so you know, London's China Town kicks Toronto's China town's ASS. Thursday I went to Homebase and bought all sorts of stuff for my room that I wanted. Friday I invited Tony over to go to the Vietnamese restaurant on our High Street cause I had heard it was gorgeous and delicious. And it was.
Just so you know, my room is starting to look and feel like MY space. Especially since I put up the shower rod and hung up a sheet on it (it's a work in progress)... and my photo wall. I just need to figure out how to get other photos up on my wall. I will manage it though.
Saturday I went to the market on Portobello Road. I LOVED it. I've wanted to go there since I was a kid and watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I think it's been one of my best experiences.. I left here at 7am to make sure I was there by 8am when it opened (I wanted to avoid the crowd). There was so much to look at! I went on a hunt for small presents for my parents and danny... but the best parts of my day were the things I bought for myself. I bought a GORGEOUS (word of the day apparently!) mechanical bird cage clock... the bird does the ticking and the ball thing in the middle rotates to show the time. I'm not sure when it was made though cause I forgot to ask. I don't care if it's an actual antique or if its a reproduction (I'm going to let myself think it's legit!) cause it's so lovely. The box it came with smells rather oldish.
I also bought myself a 1913 Vest Pocket Kodak Autotrophic Camera. haha. It's lovely. The shopkeeper was lovely too. I was just walking around and stopped when I saw his stall inside and was like "OMG this is the most awesome stall I've seen today! I didn't think I'd see anything this cool!". Seriously, I sounded like an excited little kid. The shopkeeper and I were stood there chatting and I eventually asked how much some of them were... and then I was like "OMG I can actually afford that!!!" and was then so excited that I told him I would just have to buy one. So we picked me out a cute one and he showed me that it was £25 pounds, but said there was one in better condition for £35 pounds. So he said he'd knock off £5 for me for either of them, so I was going to get the £35 pound one.. which he then saw the tag said £30, so he still knocked it down to £25 for me.
(MOM DON'T LET DAD READ THIS PARAGRAPH... it's about all your presents!)
I also was excited with what I bought my dad.... a 1930s barometer from germany. It's just hilarious, I've got a photo of it I can send you. I loved it. I also bought a necklace from that stall, which is very much NOT antique but I really liked it and it was only £3. Mom I bought a small trinket for and I can't say what it is but I can say that it was crafted by a friend of the man who sold it to me. And danny I bought a little soldier that's wearing a gas mask, and is in a "CHARGE!" position. It's holding a bayonet and the arms holding it can move up and down. It's new from the looks of it and the stall, but that was fine with me. The stall-keeper was super cheerful and he and I chatted around.. he helped me pick it out cause I wasn't sure what to get.
So... that's been my life for the past few weeks!
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