I found a part-time job, to start later on in the evening. It's with an agency that has a contract with Bell, Canada's top phone and internet service provider (Yes, it's Bell of Alexander Graham Bell, the telephone inventor). I'm supposed to travel to Futureshop stores and promote Bell High-Speed Internet to people, with the hope that they will register or switch from the competitor's (cough, Rogers) service. Good pay. Around $5 per hour more than what I earned from the SCSU Polling Clerk job.

I'm kind of overthinking the job as an intimidating one, since I've to go up to people and strike conversations. I personally hate sales staff asking questions like "How are you today?", etc.. So imagine my position. I surely will get over this, and can never let my supervisor know about this otherwise I would be fired before I even began. Besides, I've never really been to places far outside of the Toronto city by myself with public transit, and yet I've to make my way to Markham and Richmond Hill this weekend. I'm told they will relocate me to somewhere accessible by the TTC, but this week is training up north. Thankfully there's Jessica, who introduced me to the job, on the job tomorrow. I'll see how it goes. Apparently the job won't last long since the agency's contract with Bell expires in April or so.. But a job's a job, so it's cool.

I had dumplings with the ISC at school yeterday, though in a small quantity. Reading Week hasn't been productive for my reading, but I'll survive.

Last semester I participated in U Serve 2006. So when a similar volunteer event, Reading Week Reach Out, was opened for registration, I did just that. I was placed in 'Environment' with Evergreen today, with the task of painting this room that would be used as their office at the under-revamp Don Valley Brickworks.

It wasn't easy to get there. Had to take the subway to Castle Frank station, then take a few minutes ride of cab. The Brickworks is an abandoned brickworks located at the Don Valley which is part of a restoration project. There are plans underway to trnasform the quarry and surrounding area into a public space with gardens and activities, all with an environmental-conscious approach..

Ended up, we didn't have to paint. Rather, we had to clean up the place. I suppose that had been the aim of Evergreen all along in getting us there, since 'cleaning' doesn't sound as appealing as 'painting'. But it was okay.. There was an additional activity at the end that allowed us to make our own notebooks out of scrap paper and cardboard boxes as the cover. Plus, we had a tour of the area..


Heading to the quarry. You can see the depth of the current fill, multiply that by two since, and you can gage how deep the quarry used to be. Replanting and the creation of a filter lake system with public-friendly walkays transformed it to...


The brickworks, with the remaining chimney, 'VALLEY', out of four. You can see the bridge network and frozen filter lakes in the foreground.


The group of volunteers.
We also entered this huge industrial building where it was dark but had sparse holes in the roofs letting in streams of light above, the ground was littered with bricks and debris, the walls were graffiti-covered, but yet was a building with high aesthetic value. I didn't have my camera with me then.. and it eventually ran out of battery. But yea, a cool Blair Witch Project-like area.

The whole masterplan is expected to be completed by 2010 or so with delays. I'll check it out then, since I'm hopeful I would still be here..

Happy Year of the Pig!

My third CNY in Toronto. The Beautiful: the first one that falls during my Reading Week, and with most of my Midterms done. The Ugly: I've been sick since Thursday night. It started with late nights, which led to body shivers, and headaches, and a very bad bout of sneezing, and now the remnants of a cold and cough. And I had to brave the Torontonian winter weather to make my way to school on Friday, and Saturday, which no doubt made things worse when I arrived home. It was especially hard surviving these few days since I'd to study for yesterday's Midterm. Hard for me, and the people sitting around me during the exam since I was sniffling and coughing away.

And is this by coincidence that this is Post #666? Devilish.. Quick think of something auspicious to negate this thought. Erm, how about "lok lok lok" which is Cantonese for three sixes but also sounds like 'roll roll roll' for incoming wealth?!? Magnific!

PS Finally a reason to wear my new clothes!

Monkey soft toys - $50
Digital camera - $500
Monkey blowjob caught on camera - Priceless!


A snowstorm is brewing right outside now. There will be an expected 20-30cm of snow by the end of Wednesday, or so I heard. Kind of cool as I haven't seen so much snow since 2 years ago. The last winter was quite a mild one, and so was the start of this one. I want a Snow Day to be called because I need time to take a break from school and study for the coming Saturday's Midterm. But my friend has the textbook that she will pass it to me tomorrow.

I'm starting my part-time Polling Clerk job tomorrow. A total of 4 hours of duty this week (10-12pm for tomorrow, and 2-4pm on Thursday). Not as much as I expected, but I hear salary rolling in. Besides, if a Snow Day is called, I still get paid.

PS Happy V-day to all. Applies to singles too.

A week went by without me hearing from the SCSU about the training and schedule for the Polling Clerk position. Then, out of the blues, I got a call. Unfortunately for me, French-wannabe Karleng picked that up and started with a "Bonjour!". This reminds me of how my dad loves to joke with my mum and begin a phone conversation with "Mushi-mushi". Freaky. I now feel embarassed to face that guy. Fortunately for me, I got reassurance that this part-time job wasn't something I imagined. So the 'orientation' where we have to sign the contract, get our schedules, and have a little training session, is set for tomorrow, early in the morning at 9-10am. I haven't had to wake up so early to go to school since a year ago.

The information booth for the ISC Montreal Trip was set up early this week. The boards weren't really what I hoped it would turn out, but whatever. Judging from the 2 days that I stood duty at the table in the Students Centre, there's not much of an enthusiastic response. We have yet to go online and pay, have to do that before tomorrow. I just hope it pulls through. More about the trip.. It's a 3-days, 2-nights event, to be held from the February 22-24 of our Reading Week. The cost is at $275 with tax, a considerably good deal. There's a coach from Toronto to Montreal and on the way back, a stop at Ottawa, the nation's capital. In Montreal, there will be a walking tour of the old historicl part of the city, a bus tour of Downtown Montreal, and visiting of places like the Biodome, Notre Dame Cathedral, a jazz club, etc. To top it off, it's a downtown hotel we will be staying at, not some cheap motel.

First Midterm of the semester: STAB27 this Saturday! It's from 9-11am, which worries me deeply regarding the bus schedule. Despite it being 2 days away (with BGYB31's Midterm next Saturday), I feel horribly relaxed. Example, me blogging right now when I should be studying. This semester is supposed to be my buck-up semester.. I need to go somewhere else. My happy place, that includes spontaneous-absorption of knowledge from books. Maybe that can be my Heroes superpower.

Surprise surpise, I'm a SCSU Polling Clerk in-training. I was surprised by the phone call that came just now informing me about the job offer; I let out a "YES" at once. No biggie, but this is my first paying job in Canada. I hope I find a more permanent part-time job, since this only lasts for 4 days. There will be more information coming my way, especially with the training sessions to be scheduled for this.

Anyway, American Idol had a very touching audition last night. It moved me to tears when Sherman Pore started singing. Watch for yourself (YouTube, thanks for always removing the video).. He should have been awarded a golden ticket. Condolences to him, but this is such a inspirational story about love documented on a reality TV show.

Anyway, the song playing now may sound really weird. But I've come to like it from a scene in Cold Mountain, where everyone is in a church singing along. Then the word about the impending war spreads around the congregation, and the men start going crazy as they are all eager to do their part (FOOLS!). It was just ironic how news of the war breaks and the church session gets disrupted.. And they were doing this unusual lifting-hand movement as they sang along.

I'm in school and just came out of a very stressing interview for the SCSU Spring Elections Polling Clerk. My mouth is now dry from that. I arrived at 2pm, and had to wait for quite a while. It was supposed to be a 20-minute interview but looks like I came out way before time. They had 4 interviewers, each with their own long set of questions. I was making funny faces when they weren't looking and letting off nervous laughs. The notification e-mail will come tonight. I have a very strong gut feeling I'm not going to get the part-time job that pays $8.50 an hour, since for every question I used the words 'safe', 'confidential', and 'erm' in an incoherent manner..

BGYB31 tutorial later at 5pm, so much free time till then. The Midterm for this course is February 17th, two Saturdays from this week. Going to catch up with the BGYB51 online lectures and study for my STAB27 Midterm now.