Sick

I am sick. I think I ate something at Theology Pub last night that didn't agree with me. I had not missed any school yet and yesterday I left early with a wicked headache. I was able to come home and spend some time with Rich and relax before pub night. I was feeling better by the time we were there but I don't know what it was that upset me.

I was up at 4:30 feeling awful. Took some Advil and tried to feel better. I only had 2 hours of class today and then a bunch of us were going to go for brunch after class. I had a group presentation today too that I had to go for. I didn't go.

I have never bailed on a group like that before I feel terrible. I also am worried about my grade as well. It was only worth 10% but still, I'm not sure if I will be able to make it up. I'm waiting to hear from my prof still. I emailed and asked her not to penalize the group for me being sick. I hope they all forgive me! I took gravol and slept till 11, and I'm still feeling queasy so I'm curled up at home trying to feel better.

Rich isn't feeling well either but he's stuck at work.

For those of you missing out on Theology Pub you should check it out - it's great! I get so much out of it usually. Very challenging and thought provoking.

Sunday begins the 4 weeks of placement. I am so looking forward to it but I'm very nervous. What if I don't know enough or musically I'm not developed enough? What if the other girl who is doing it with me is so much better (with her BMu and Masters degree) that I don't measure up?

Back to my couch.

There's no place like home....

I am in Toronto. I just finished my first observation day and I am exhausted. I hardly did anything that I feel would cause this exhaustion but I think it was more the adrenaline and excitement and the late night.

The school is awesome. The music department has over 600 kids in - how incredible is that? I did get to do a tiny bit of teaching today. One kid was struggling playing the trumpet - he couldn't even make a sound on it, just air. So one of the teachers (who are all great by the way) asked if I wanted to give it a shot. So we worked for about 10 minutes and lo and behold - a sound! He did great once he got that initial sound and we worked on 3 notes or so. My instructions were "get him to make ANY sound....please!" so I think they were happy with what we accomplished.

The crappy part of this is being away from Rich. It really sucks. It sucks being away from my home too. I can't just go get the book I forgot in the other room - it's 100km away. I feel very disjointed being away. Pray I get through this next month without going completely bonkers!

So I have to mention a fabulous person. She absolutely rocks. She is helping us out with Chewie while I am in school with walking her on Rich's long days (which could be a very annoying task - especially on days like today). She came over for a crash course in Chewie yesterday before I left and she was such a big help. She made me stay on task getting packed and ready to go, getting a bit of tidying done first, and then the most fabulous thing, was she offered to pick up some things for me that were seriously stressing me out. She gave me a bit of extra time to do some homework and spend time with Rich while she did an errand for me. So thank you so much! You are a true friend and Rich and I appreciate you more than you know.

The Rise and Fall of Film Noir

In support of my little brother Gary, who rocks, I wanted to post links to his award winning videos he did at school with a buddy last year (award winning...seriously!)

The series is called The Rise and Fall of Film Noir

And you can see the episodes here:

Episode One - The Pilot
Episode Two - The Dragon Cometh (Meet Peter and Gary)
Episode Three - Super Sweet Eighties Music Video
Episode Four - Keep It In The Family (Part One)
Episode Five - Keep It In The Family (Part Two)
Episode Six - Sons of Mothaz (Music Video Mother's Day Tribute)
Episode Seven - Ask Not What Your School Can Do For You
Episode Eight - Got Game?
Episode Nine - Finale (Gary and Pete look back and give their thank yous)
Gag Reel

That's all of them! And I feel the need to add, contrary to what the films may indicate in certain spots, both boys are straight. Seriously.

Wicked

WICKED IS IN 24 DAYS!!!!! I am so excited. I also just saw that the school I will doing my placement in is offering tickets to Wicked for the kids. How perfect is this school for me!
Yaaaaaaaaaayyy for hubby who is taking me. SECOND ROW Wooooohooooooo!

School Continues...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

When I did my undergrad I didn't study really. I slacked off, didn't do the readings, and really wasted a lot of time. I regret that. I got ok marks but I always had that excuse if I didn't do well I could say I didn't really study or hadn't put any work into it so it was no big deal. When I started school this time I've been lucky enough to just focus on school. I have been doing ALL my readings, all my homework has been done well before the night before, and I've really tried hard to manage my time well. My fear was, what if I put all this work in and I still just did ok?

We got our first paper back this week and I was worried. I flipped to his comments and..... wooohooo 90%! So the crappy part of all this is when you get hired your undergrad marks actually help determine your pay scale, but your B.Ed. has NO bearing on that! Oh well. It was encouraging to say the least.

Another thing that happened this week was that we got our placements for our first practicum. Most of you know I commute to Toronto 3 days a week (which is exhausting and expensive). We were really looking forward to practicum cause it meant 4 - 5 weeks of no commute, I was supposed to do it in Hamilton. Apparently the teacher I was supposed be with went emergency mat leave, so they had to find another place for me. I did get what looks like a great school. Big music department with at least 3 full time music faculty which is crazy. Because of the whole situation I am moving in with my grandparents for a month. It's great I can do that, but I am really upset about it. I don't want to leave Rich, he's a huge support for me. I am super excited and very nervous about placement. The school looks incredible, and looks from their website to be very much the type of program I'd like to run someday.

Off to do homework. Happy Turkey weekend!

School Shootings

I am upset. I just saw on the news about another school shooting in Pennsylvania. This time it was at an Amish school, and at least 2 children died. They said on the news this is the third school shooting of this kind within ONE WEEK in the US. Then of course Canada has it's own share with the Dawson College shooting. Why does this keep happening?

The Dawson College shooting happened before my first week of school. It took until last Thursday for us to finally discuss it, and that was because someone finally asked why we haven't discussed it. All the shootings have been weighing quite heavily on myself and other students in my classes. I don't want to get to the point that when I'm getting dressed for school when I'm teaching and thinking, "oops I forgot my bullet proof vest!".

I hope and pray it stops soon, although I don't think it will. I think most of the shootings have been in high schools, which makes it all the more scary for me. I know the schools have great policies in place for trauma response, but I never want to experience that. What are the chances of that? School is supposed to be a place where you can learn with no fear. Will that ever happen again?

Two side notes
First, As tragic as the shooting in Pennsylvania was today I did have to smile inside when I heard that they called 911 from the school. I know that Amish societies do use phones for certain things, especially emergencies, however it still seems kind of off they'd be using phones! Glad they do though.

Second, Rachel and Nathan were engaged yesterday and Rich and I missed it being in Kingston visiting my family for the weekend. Congratulations to you both and have fun planning! You are adorable and I hope you have a long and happy life together!