Mwaha. I am now licenced to do first aid. Really, with this and the sub teaching I’ve been doing, I’m just been taking small steps to becoming more like Nolana (my secret hero?!?).
Author Archives: Gillian
That’s (d) for dumb…
So I’ve been taking a bunch of courses for work lately. The most recent fabulous no-brain needed course is First Aid. Well, maybe not no brain needed, but certainly all one requires is a marginally decent amount of common sense. For example:
There is something lodged in your throat and you are choking. If there is no one around able to administer abdominal thrusts, you should:
(a) Fall hard on your back on the floor and knock the wind out of yourself
(b) Have some one hit you very hard on the back a few times
(c) Throw yourself against a wall
(d) Try to dislodge the substance by administering abdominal thrusts on the back of a chair.
Ummm… lets see. (a) I will die, (b) I will make things worse, (c) I will make myself unconscious.
Yeah, I got 100% on the first half so far.
Update
Got the call last night. Now I have officially taught French and Calculus as well (although Calculus was just a test, but it sounds good). One kid was bemoaning the fact that he had to learn French and he would never use it. I told him I had used mine for three different things in the past three months. He sarcastically asked if I had gone to France or Quebec or something. I said “both, and now I am here teaching you, so it is useful.” Ahhh, learning French is an uphill battle in Western Canada.
The Sub
Yay! I’m a substitute teacher! That is right, ladies and gentlemen, I taught for the first time on Friday, so now I can add teaching to my rather odd list of work experience. Although, I have to admit, it was rather like being a camp leader because pretty much I just had to keep them on task and busy and not running crazy wild around the school. The kids were all pretty good and there was nothing too challenging. I had a band class and 2 PE classes of grade 9 and 10s. The school was the one my step mum works at and Dad subs there sometimes too. So when I introduced myself to the classes, it was always pretty funny. I think the best was the gr 10 girls:
“Hello, my name is Miss Hoyer” (which sounds weird. Why can’t they just call me Gillian for pete’s sake!) – me
“What is your first name?” – girl #1
“Gillian” – me
“Hey, there is another teacher here with that name” – girl #1
“Yeah, silly, she is the teacher for this class” – girl #2
“Oh yeah, Jill” – girl #1
“What was your name again?” – girl #2
“Miss Hoyer” – me
“Are you related to Mrs Hoyer?” – girl #1. Shall we call her the “bright one”??
“Yes, she is my stepmother, and Mr Hoyer, who also subs here is my father” – me
“HE is your father?!? Woah!” – the bright one
“Yes, and now that we have established that there are teachers at this school with both my first and last names, lets get on with class.” – me
Oy yoy yoy.
Extreme Slothness
Yesterday, I was possibly the laziest person I know. Rather than risk my life going outside in a Vancouver blizzard (this is actually the view out of the window. Note the driving snow)…
I decided to stay inside and sew 29 badges on my blanket. We all have these blankets that we sew badges on from everywhere we’ve been and I collected a few when I was in Europe, so on the blanket they had to go.
Now 29 is a lot (not all of them were from Europe, there was Cuba and China and a few other miscellaneous ones) of badges to just sew on while doing nothing, so I decided to watch a movie while I was doing it. Well, three movies to be exact… yes, I am a loser; I watched the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy yesterday. Extended versions. All three. I think I need to nap today to recover.
A very convenient religion…
I had to laugh when I read this article. Family gives birth to sextuplets. Of course you’d be Jehovah’s Witnesses: otherwise birthdays alone would bankrupt you.
Slowly but surely
A few more photos added.
Walmart Saga
I swallowed my pride today and went to Walmart. After my experiences with them last month, which were less than good, I pretty much swore I would never go there again despite the fact that they have the cheapest price for developing photos around. Last month, I walked all the way there (an hour) to get some photos developed only to find out when I got there and had already waited in line half an hour that the machine wasn’t working (although I had been assured it was before I left home). Growl. But today, I borrowed the car and drove there (had to go to Best Buy at the same time anyway to exchange a duplicate movie Christmas present and got the Marie Antoinette soundtrack which I quite enjoy) to finally get my Europe photos developed. After dropping them off I went over to Best Buy and did my thing there then headed back to Walmart on the hour they told me the photos would be ready. They weren’t. Not that I was incredibly surprised, there were 400 photos (give or take a dozen or so) in my order after all . However, I had to wait about 30min more. The lady felt bad and she gave me $9 off of my order because I had to wait so long, so I wasn’t complaining. I would have gladly waited another half and hour to save another $9. She handed over my photos and said they were very nice (I guess they look at them as the put them in envelopes) and I left feeling much better about Walmart . Cut to an hour later when I am at home sorting out the photos and I can’t find any of the photos I took in London… or Munich for that matter… or Denmark… or Sweden… or Freiburg… or Galway… hmmm. It turns out, in a Sesame Street sounding way, that Walmart neglected to give me all of the photos that had names “beginning with the letters F, G, H, K, L, and M.” So now I have to go back to Walmart tonight and get them. Suddenly Walmart is not as cool anymore. Maybe I’ll get another $9 off after all.
Book List 2007
- O Jerusalem – Laurie R. King
- The curious incident of the dog in the night-time – Mark Haddon
- Passarola Rising – Azhar Abidi
- A Letter of Mary – Laurie R. King
- Three Men in a Boat (Not to Mention the Dog) – Jerome K. Jerome
- Three Men on the Brummel – Jerome K. Jerome
- A Monsterous Regiment of Women – Laurie R. King
- Waiting – He Jin
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- A Circle of Quiet – Madeleine L’Engle
- Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt – Anne Rice
- The Journals – Soren Kierkegaard
- Becoming Human – Jean Vanier
- The Summer of the Great-Grandmother – Madeleine L’Engle
- Obasan – Joy Kogawa
- The Inner Experience – Thomas Merton
- Walking on Water – Madeleine L’Engle
- And it was Good – Madeleine L’Engle
- The Care and Feeding of the Offshore Crew – Lin Pardey
- A Stone for a Pillow – Madeleine L’Engle
- The Calvin and Hobbes 10th Anniversary Collection – Bill Watterson
- Sold into Egypt – Madeleine L’Engle
- Red China Blues – Jan Wong
- River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze – Peter Hessler
- A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Bad Beginning – Lemony Snicket
- A Series of Unfortunate Events, Reptile Room – Lemony Snicket
- Stardust – Neil Gaimon
- Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – JK Rawlings
- Peter Duck – Arthur Ransome
- A Circle of Quiet – Madeleine L’Engle
- Eragon – Christopher Pauolini
- Eldest – Christopher Pauolini
- A Generous Orthodoxy – Brian McLaren
- The Blind Assassain – Margaret Atwood
- The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism
- Cry, The Beloved Country – Alan Paton
- An Embarassment of Mangos – Ann Vanderhoof
- Birds without Wings – Louis de Bernieres
- The Glass Castle – Jeanette Walls
- A Passage to India – CS Forster
- Ishmael – Daniel Quinn
- The Goose Girl – Shannon Hale
- Angels and Demons – Dan Brown
- The Ordering of Love – Madeleine L’Engle
- Understanding China – John Bryan Starr
- The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
- The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
Europe Pictures Finally
I’m finally getting around to uploading pictures from Europe to Flickr. I’ll do more as I get around to it and as long as my [borrowed] wireless signal doesn’t keep crapping out like it has been.
gillian's island 