Dear 16 Year Old Me

So, even though the "Dear 16 year old me" thing was part of a campaign to raise awareness for skin cancer (a good cause, given this is a huge killer of young people in particular), it has actually made me think back to when I was 16. How I felt about the world at 16 and mostly how I couldn't have predicted what I'd be like at *almost* 24. I can't believe that it's been 8 years. So here it goes...

Dear 16 year old me:

1) Going to university is actually the right choice, even though you thought it was a waste of time and money. Your time at UBCO will make you a better person.  You will meet people that you would have completely disregarded at 16 that will become great friends of yours.  It will also get you out of Kelowna eventually.

2) You will not stay in Kelowna forever.  At 16, you feel so trapped and isolated having to live in a bible-thumping redneck mountain town.  People look at you strangely because you're reading Noam Chomsky and theories about anarchism.  I'm glad you didn't stop doing this - it became the foundation of a love of learning about the world.

3) You will become a suit.  A suit with tattoos and a "real" life that extends beyond the walls of whatever corporation you intend to work for.  You see, 16-year-old-me, we no longer have a government we can even remotely trust. I know that you thought you would be best fit for a career in government policy, but not when it means having to do conservative policy work. Your ideas and intellect will be better prized in the private sector.  You will become a suit (you buy your first "real" blazer at 22, and it's bad ass). 

4) As much as people tell you that being "punk" is just a phase that you grow out of, they're completely wrong.  Sure, you will become a suit and everything that you're probably against at 16, but you still listen to the same type of music and you still go to the same types of shows, even through your mid-20s. You still enjoy the music and the art of punk rock, you just don't "live" it like you are at 16 (enjoy it!)

5) Remember those assholes that think you're a "freak"? Cool story, bro.  They go nowhere in life.  They either follow the redneck path that has been laid out before them (get married, have millions of children, get divorced) or they'll end up having some sports career where they will never get into the major leagues and be broke-as-fuck.  Being a jock in high school didn't pay off for these people.  You will see some moderate successes, but in general these are people that were fairly decent people to begin with.  All in all, karma is a bitch.

6) You have no idea what you want to do with your life. That's okay. Neither does 24 year old me.  The guidance counsellors are full of shit - don't listen to them.  You have this idea in your head that you're going to make up everything in your Grade 12 portfolio and make it a big joke - do it. It'll be so. fucking. awesome.

What's with all this newfangled tea stuff?

Newfangled (definition): "different from what one is used to; objectionably new" "attracted to novelty"

I decided to supply a definition of this since many of my Montreal friends tell me I use words/phrases that they don't understand (six of one, half a dozen of the other, par example).  ANYWAYS, that's not the point. The point is that everyone I know is now addicted to tea and they have these hip new places to buy it.  I don't really think this is a bad thing - tea is much better for you than coffee and contains less caffeine.  But why all of a sudden? Why now has tea suddenly exploded as this new "rage"?  I thought people were still getting over pumpkin spice lattes? *shudder*

For myself, I used to drink loose-leaf tea "back in the day", although my memories are pretty horrific. I've been perpetually afraid of herbal teas since I can remember because of this one tea... It tasted just like dirt and it was a "detox" type of tea.  The only things I knew about it were that it came from China, it was recommended to my mom by her acupuncturist, and that I had to drink it with her because "it was good for me".  Scarred. For. Life.

Until about Grade 12, when I discovered that I actually liked matcha. Not sweetened to death matcha, but traditionally made-in-a-bowl matcha.  That lasted until I started university the following year (and had a job etc.).  I had to *make* it!? Nope. No time.

Since I can remember, I've always had a cup of earl grey tea before going to bed. Twinings. With milk and sugar. This will probably make my tea friends cringe.  "HOW can you drink bagged tea when you clearly know about the BETTER options available to you?" In some ways, I understand this attitude.  I've always thought there was a major difference between brewing loose-leaf tea and bagged tea.  That bagged tea was somehow the lazy cousin of loose-leaf tea.  Well my friends, I'm here to tell you one important thing: Stop being such a fucking tea snob. It's just tea. Get over yourself.

Those who read or follow my blog probably don't fit into this category of the snobby tea drinker.  But if you find yourself starting to become one: Stop. Think of me. Think of me being disappointed in you.

Anywho, I ended up going to David's Tea with my roommate since I was intrigued by the concept and felt I could use some more green tea in my life (I was also just jealous of her vast variety of teas, especially in contrast to my tried-tested-true earl grey). I purchased the Green tea sampler (Sencha, Genmaicha, and the Silk Dragon Organic) as well as a travel mug with infuser.  I guess I'll divide my experience being "reintegrated" into the looseleaf tea thing into the "good" and the "bad"

The good

I was surprised by the quality of teas from such a "hip" tea place (especially a tea place that carries an excess of teas with "fruit flavourings"... or what I like to call barf in a cup). It had been years since I had a cup of genmaicha and I forgot how much I loved it.  I also really enjoyed the silk dragon organic tea (chinese green tea with jasmine).
When I went back to David's Tea to purchase more tea, I realized that the store concept was not conducive to it's location (Eaton's Center). Image upwards of 30 people crammed in a little tea store.  I decided to cut my losses and not return seeing as I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to try a new tea or not.  Instead, I decided to go to the Westmount location on Sherbrooke.  The staff were really quite nice and let me smell a lot of different teas. I ended up buying the genmaicha again (which is what I knew I wanted in the first place) and an herbal tea *gasp* called "Mother's Little Helper", which is definetly a hit. My genmaicha came in a lovely free tin because I purchased 100g.

The bad

The tea tumbler I purchased is probably the worst thing on the planet and since I used it, I could not return it.  The lid doesn't stay on properly and the tumbler leaks like there is no tomorrow.  On numerous occasions, I have tried to screw the lid on tight, resulting in an explosion (and no, the water was not boiling, just hot). I now just use it at home because the infuser works like a charm. I just avoid the lid at all costs.  Still, for $25 I expected more. My room mate can attest to the fact that every time we walked past the store, I'd start swearing and threatening to burn it down. I'm one angry consumer. Luckily, those feelings have passed.
The sencha tea was just okay.  Quality wasn't there as much as the silk dragon.  To me, it tastes just like bagged green tea from Loblaws.
David's Tea doesn't offer a whole lot of selection to the "truists" (those who don't like strange tea... teas with all sorts of non-normal-tea ingredients).  For this, it's imperative that one goes to a "real" tea store. I think even those who love David's Tea can attest that it is a good starting point for people just getting into tea, but there is so much more out there that is so good.  It's similar to Teavana in that idea (although Teavana has teas that David's Tea doesn't - check out both if you can!).


Finalement, je vous recommande David's Tea si vous voulez boire thé encore (comme moi). Cependent, il y a meilleur magasins de thé dans votre ville. à Montreal, on peut chercher thé à:

Cesear's Tea (il semble comme un faux David's Tea)
Thé sante  (sur la rue Decarie)
Teavana (dans NDG)

Vous pouvez acheter thé en ligne, aussi. C'est facile et il y a plusiers enterprises que vendent thé en ligne (compris David's Tea).


Godspeed all of my tea drinking friends!

Learning French

So... Since I've decided to stay in Montreal permanently (or at least semi-permanently) I've been big on trying to learn French.  This has been difficult - Full time grad school isn't exactly a conducive environment to learning another language.  But I've found ways to try and improve.  I took some French conversation courses (just finished my Level 3 - I'm officially an intermediate!) and I try and hold basic conversations with others learning the language (those fluent are still a bit intimidating to me... people speak so quickly!!).

My last language teacher really emphasized that using the language will help you improve. Even if your grammar isn't 100%. Even if your spelling is insane. It's better than nothing. As long as you're taught the grammar at some point, it all sort of "comes together", but I think the attitude that is necessary is that "something" is better than nothing. So I'm going to try and write some of my blog in French.  A few caveats:

1. I will be writing in French from my BRAIN. The only thing I will use a dictionary for is words/verbs if I don't know them.
2. The spelling will probably be atrocious.  The accents? Probably non-existent.  I only have French spell-check on Word. So I may write on word first... but I may not.
3. I'll probably sound like a five year old child. Don't judge.

Parce que si Steven Harper peut parler français, je peux aussi.  

Aujourd'hui, j'écoutais a Radio-Canada et j'ai écoute un article sur Stephen Harper.  Il est un con - Canada est pour vente et les citoyens du Canada ne peuvent  pas l'arrêter. L'achat de Nexen est très mal. Quel dommage. Bien que je devrais écrire un essai sur l'information alphabétisation, je suis très fatiguée.  J'ai un mal de tète.

 A bientôt, Blogger fans! 

Library Crisis Part 2

Well the seasons change, and the people change, and the good times come, but the good times go...

Ladies and gentlemen... A word.

I hate library science.

There, I said it. Worst. Discipline ever. Well, not entirely.  Academically, I find this area to be fascinating. But since I have decided against doing a doctorate (ever - I'd like to be employed someday), a "fascinating area of research" doesn't cut it any more.  I need to find a job. A job where I may not want to die every day of my life.

I came to this conclusion in the summer. I was working in my field and realizing that I hate most aspects of it. Since this realization, I've begun a quest to see what it is I *really* want to do with my life (or at least a good portion of it - apparently career changing is pretty common now).

Firstly, I switched my course selection around to reflect my changing interests. I dropped my research study, but retained my qualitative methods class. This is my new (relatively speaking, I started this blog post in August... and it's not being published until the end of November. Shame.) class schedule:

Fall 2012
Information Literacy
Web Design
Metadata
Qualitative and Ethnographic Methods

Winter 2013
Database Design
Communities of Practice
Digital Curation
Intellectual Capital

The fact I decided to stick it out and finish the MLIS is questionable in itself.  But, I figured I was halfway done, and an unfinished Masters is worse than an irrelevant Masters.

So back to my career strategy. I talked to everyone I knew with an interesting job. I accosted university recruiters, career recruiters... anyone I felt had an interesting position.  At first I felt like I should go into Public Relations and communications.  I'd just do my MA in communications (with a thesis so I could get funding) and call it a life.  Although there are aspects of communications that appeal to me, I just don't think it's a good fit overall.  I wanted an area that had a lot of different job descriptions (and a lot of available work in general for that matter).  I wanted something that combined working with people and my current skill set (research, education, information management, sales).  It turns out Human Resources is a golden ticket field in that sense.

Now I'm not saying traditional human resources is for me - My interest is labour relations. I've been interested in it since high school (I even won a scholarship based on my interest in becoming a labour lawyer).  But once I got into Canadian history and found something I was "good at" and I enjoyed, this idea of going into a career related to labour relations slipped away.  It probably didn't help that I went to UBC - the only industrial relations/human resources courses available are through the management faculty. No thanks.

It's an interesting crossroads.  A scary one too.  But I've decided to take the jump and switch fields. This has become something of a nightmare for a variety of reasons. Let's start!

1) Conventional wisdom tells us that we should never go down, always go up.  This is true for qualifications as well.  Since I already have a B.A., and will soon have an M.L.I.S., it would be best for me to look for a Masters programme to gain the education I need for a career switch.  This isn't as easy as it sounds. There are four schools in Canada with dedicated Industrial Relations/Human Resources/Employment Relations programs at the Masters level: Toronto, York, Queens, Memorial.  After looking at some of the course lists, it's become apparent that I don't have the background in order to do this program and not fail the crap out of it. I don't have a statistics course. I don't have any economics background. I wasn't even sure what organizational behaviour really was until I started my research this year.  This is why three out of the four schools have pretty hefty pre-reqs to their programs including organizational behaviour, intro labour-management, micro and macro economics as well as statistics. So that leaves Queens being the only school with no pre-reqs.

2) Conventional wisdom tells us that graduate programs in Canada that aren't MBAs are all roughly the same price.  *cue psychotic laughter*.  The one year program at Queens is $20000. Not to mention you'd have to live in Kingston (ie. Toronto prices).  The two year program at U of T or York will run you about $35000 when all is said and done.  Memorial's one year program? Roughly $6500.

I don't think you have to be a genius to figure out that this is a little out of my price range.  Even if the best thing in the world happens and I receive graduate funding, that's only $10000.  My maximum student loan for  a one year program is $10880. MATH TIME. That's $20880 of possible funding.  I should mention that I can't get a line of credit when I have a maximum student loan. Oh goody. I can pay my tuition AND live in a cardboard box. Isn't life swell? Queens also has a terrible work study program where students are only allowed to make $400 a month. Kingston's job market is pretty tight, so finding part-time work elsewhere could be a challenge.

My only feasible option is Memorial. They want a boatload of prereqs and work experience. Because hey, let's get to point number 3....

3) Conventional wisdom is often wrong.  Take a quick look on a job site for "HR" even "Senior HR management".  Every employer wants a BA industrial relations, nothing more. A masters in this field essentially says that you're interested in government, research or policy work.  If not having a masters is ever an issue for upward movement in my career, well, I HAVE ONE (and for the sake of argument, I'll say it's in knowledge management - that's relevant, right?)

Perhaps having a Masters will actually tip me off the scale into the  "overqualified" land that I've heard so much about.

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So what now?

Well, I have an almost finished Queens application.  I'll finish it for the sake of finishing it and see what they'll offer me.

HOWEVER...

I'm reapplying to McGill. In an undergraduate program.  My pride is gone.

McGill offers a faculty program in industrial relations.  54 credits of IR, Sociology, and Economics (with a sprinkle of courses from other faculties).  I could finish in four semesters. A second BA. My brain just shuttered a little.  I like to think of it as getting a second major rather than another degree. It makes it sound a little less screwed up.

It's funny how this has become Plan A.  But my Plan B is pretty good too.

Plan B is sort of contingent on Plan A.  Plan A involves actually getting into McGill.  Plan B involves finishing prereqs to go to Memorial.

Then there is Plan C...
Get a job. Get residency. I could go back to McGill afterwards and get cheaper tuition.  This isn't a bad plan either.  I could still take a course or two part time and most jobs in my field are temporary mat. leave positions anyways.  I could also find a job in admin, which would be good experience too.  I planned on taking French all summer regardless, so I'll fall into the category of "good enough".

McGill often offers the Intro Labour Relations class in the summer at night.  I might give that a whirl and see if I'm not completely off my rocker before committing to another degree.

So much to ponder...

Stupid careers.

End of Semester Update

Hello loyal followers, internet creeps and Facebook friends!

It is finally winding down... The semester from hell. Yes, it has been the semester from hell. Classes are now over, but final assignments are still pending for almost every class (I just finished my Preservation Management paper yesterday, so that class is officially over).  My groups have been pretty good for the most part, but I gotta give mad shout outs to my GLIS 620 group who seem to be so on top of it. You guys know who you are.

Summer is almost here in Montreal and I'm really excited! I have tickets to some amazing shows (Planet Smashers/ Big D and the Kids Table, Rev. Horton Heat/Real McKenzies/the Brains and POUZZA fest) that are sure to make my *early* summer awesome.  I'll also be working at the archives over the summer, so that should be a great learning experience as well.  There are some downsides to my summer though: My friends won't be here and I'll have to do a lot of work on my research (I'm hoping to submit ethics this summer, so a lot of work).  All of my courses have now been approved (see #14 below)... so I finally have a timetable that I'm excited to share! I think overall my schedule is really good and there are a lot of things I'm excited to take.

Fall 2012
Metadata and Access
Special Topics - Usability
Research
Qualitative and Ethnographic Methods (Taken through the Education faculty)

Winter 2013
Library and Archive History
Database Design
Special Topics - Digital Curation
Research

Life lessons!

13. Don't procrastinate.  Yes, I know this sounds insane (and I'm just coming down from a fairly productive day all in all), but it's true.  The more you can just sit down and accomplish, the better you'll feel.  I think I'm going to take a stab at my 647 revisions tonight (although that will probably require a drink in hand).

14. People generally mean well.  I've been really agitated at the processes at SIS (School of Information Studies) in terms of getting courses approved and the whole idea of "coding" for departmental approval.  For UBC friends, this process includes a meeting with your academic advisor to choose classes that are pertinent to your life goals, then your advisor has to email the administrative coordinator with the courses you'd like to be "approved" for.  This would normally be a non-issue, but to take any sort of "special" courses, it's absolute madness and NO ONE TOLD ME I NEEDED PHYSICAL COPIES OF EVERYTHING. Ugh. The crazy amount of backtracking necessary made me want to throw up.  I got angry - I blamed everyone at SIS for this. I figured everyone was out to screw me.  Then the apologies started to flow in from all directions.  I realized that I'm asking them for a favour, not something I'm necessarily entitled to. I also realized that it will work out. People are trying to make this work for me. People mean well.

Kony 2012 and a very bad proposal

Lately life has been extremely busy and I'm out more than I'm home.  In a way that has been nice; I miss the rapidity of my undergraduate life.  However, I've slumped so far into doing nothing a lot of the time that I'm really starting to miss a lot of my alone time and TV time.

So in the little spare time that I do have, I often check Facebook or watch an episode of some god awful TV show on Netflix.  Lately, Facebook has been taken over by this "Kony 2012" craze.  I'd like to elaborate on many of the comments that I have left (potentially on your) walls and get my friends thinking theoretically, practically and conceptually about what the Kony 2012 campaign is trying to accomplish.  I'd like to acknowledge that I appreciate the spirit of the video and I appreciate the want of people to get informed about issues happening all over the globe.  That being said, the Kony 2012 campaign has also brought up some serious concerns that I feel cannot all be addressed on one photo comment.

1) If I could compare the Kony 2012 campaign to anything, it would be raging hormones.  Except replace hormones with early post-colonialism.  The constant personalization, the use of "we", and the comparisons to conditions in North America makes it a fairly traditional "white man's burden" or "white guilt" type of video (thus, as far as I'm concerned, the film's intention is not to inform but rather to make you buy into an idea).  World Vision is probably the worst I can think of for using this technique to keep their business charity running. Essentially, it makes you think about all the wrong that white people have done, or all the things that white people could have done to alleviate certain negative situations in the former colonies (especially Africa). Middle-class people tend to be pretty lazy, but they have such high amounts of guilt that they feel the need to donate to these causes they know nothing about to make themselves feel like they are making a difference in the world.  I also hate how it is implied that "we" have to save these people. It's a shame that this attitude and mindset is still so prevalent.  If you're big into discourse analysis, I'd love your take on the post-colonial aspects of the Kony 2012 video.

2) The video does not contextualize the situation in Uganda.  Dude. Just... Look up something on Ugandan history. The implied support for President Museveni throughout the video makes me nauseous.  The Ugandan military has also used child soldiers in the past against the LRA and other neighbouring countries, such as the DRC. A major problem in the North American psyche is that we always have to look for a good guy and a bad guy and this video makes no exception to this (possibly for the sake of clarity, again proving that this video has no intention of informing).

3) The video implies support for American military intervention in Uganda.  Did you support Iraq? Probably not. But hey, the Americans were there to get Saddam, yes? Ruthless dictator, killed lots of people, yes?  So why the hell would you support a mission in Uganda when the principles will be identical to that of Iraq (except there is no monetary gain from being in Uganda aside from the "war is profitable" principle).

I'm not saying you should agree with me, but I want you to do is think about it. De-construct it for all of you post-modernists out there.

ON A CHEERIER NOTE:

Proposal writing is failing miserably. Nothing on paper yet. Blrrhh.

Wheeeeee!

After a very up and down week (pros: got a great job for the summer and potentially all next year, got a meeting with a potential supervisor for my research project, did "alright" on my archives paper, did well on my preservation paper.  cons: did terribly on my management paper for something that I couldn't have possibly caught, roommate problems, general busyness) I felt the need to finally update my blog!

Life Lessons!

11.  Things generally don't turn out how you think they will - but that's okay.  In this last semester, I've had an up and down, twisty-turning thinking about what I want to do with my life (aaagain).  I've decided to try and put together a research proposal for next year that is turning into a nightmare. I've decided to take special topics classes next year. I've decided to take a research methods course through the sociology dept. next year.  Worst of all: I've decided to apply to Ph.D. programs next year.  By programs, I mean only one program and that is the Ph.D. LIS program at University of Toronto.  They have a great archives speciality and faculty that specializes in user interactions in archival contexts.  No other school in North America can offer me that (and trust me, I've tried to look at other schools to apply to and the only other I could apply to in Canada would be UBC, which is wrong for me).  I've also decided to apply for my M.A. in Public History at UWO.  That way, I would gain experience in building digital archival interfaces and exhibits while getting historical experience.  It would also open up more Ph.D. options for the future.

12. Just because you're doing poorly in certain classes doesn't make you dumb. In some ways, it makes you smarter.  I'm in a program that would rather give marks to format than to content, a fact I find really upsetting.  You could write the best paper in the world, but if it's not in APA (and completely correct in APA), you will lose mondo marks.  If your title page is not set up "correctly" or your abstract doesn't have it's own page, watch those marks disappear.  They say they're teaching us for the real world, but I really don't think anyone in the real world gives a shit about formatting unless you decide to continue in academia (even then, those types of things are caught by editors).

Until next time!