A Dangerous Ennui

*Track of the moment: Thievery Corporation - Richest Man In Babylon*

Family gatherings...

(Holla if you sympathize with the following)

I think the whole idea behind family gatherings, of getting in touch with family, is a cool idea in principle.

That being said, I'm quite sure that I miss half of what goes on at get-togethers, because while the male relatives say hello, sit down, and stay relatively silent, the women...

Well, there's a constant torrent of noise there, isn't there? Not just on the way there, but as I can attest, on the way back. Every female relative in a family gathering insists on dissecting it in minute detail afterwards, so that car rides are filled with "Can-you-believe-she-said-that-and-why-did-he-say-this-why-don't-they-remember-that?"

My guy cousins, we just tend to sit in a sort of pluralist silence. Any topic we bring up is met with agreement, polite inquiry, occasionally a level of fascinated discussion... And then the conversation fades to an acceptably relaxed level. My male cousins and I... We're not conversationalists. I figure, we live with the women in the family (Who are all, relatively speaking, significantly more vociferous than all the rest of us), so we don't need to keep up the sheer volume of chatter. We'll keep the talk on a low simmer, and the women will be in the next room, yapping it up.

Which leads me to my point - When we're all around a table, sharing food and talking, is when the really friggin awkward questions start - "When are you getting married?", "How's that job?". Judgement is such an ugly phenomenon when it comes from relatives, innit?

If you haven't experienced this yet, you will in time. I'm not exactly sure how or why it happens, but it does. Which is why I always find the most comfortable place to close my eyes and sleep when I can't add anything to the conversation, and I've played Bejeweled Blitz as long as I'm willing to for a single session.

There needs to be some sort of bluetooth-based messaging system for the non-parents around a table who have cellphones and want to message without texting so that we can keep ourselves occupied in-between awkward questions, the cheesy uncle-jokes, and unrelated conversations ("Really? You got a punjabi suit from Sonu? Well, that's uh... On sale, hey? That's... great.")

I'm changing into my pyjamas. And then watching another movie. By the way, "How To Train Your Dragon" is an awesome movie. Highly recommended.

Night Blues

Sunday has an inertia all its own - Responsibilities and necessities are subverted to a greater, lazier cause.

This comes about because I know I have (some) work to do, but I'll be damned if I can find the gumption to go about doing it. Laundry? PSHAH, I SAY! I'm mentally exhausted from helping a few people with their respective futures, and nothing quite spells mental exhaustion like going through a graduate application process, or the dreaded initiation to real life, the "résumé build". Both are productive for the people who initiate them, though neither can be considered, even charitably, a 'productive' use of time for those of us who choose to help these poor unfortunates.

The problematic result, though, is that it's 7:30 on a Sunday and I'm tired like Lindsay Lohan on a Monday morning (Ah, Lindsay Lohan jokes. Will she ever STOP being such an easy, freckled and redheaded target?) I have neither the will nor the desire to face the coming week, and I wouldn't mind crawling into bed right now, the only thing stopping me being a shred of dignity that does not want to admit to going to bed before The Simpsons.

Anybody else ever felt this kinda tired before? That achy, gnarly "I want to sit down and not get up until tomorrow morning" tired? What'd you do to get that tired?

More importantly, did sleep help, or just make you more tired?

Crap

I hate when I forget to do things.

I think the students in my (temporary) 12 Resource Management class will understand what I'm talking about.

I will (probably) take care of it on Tuesday, though, so... Yeah

Sunshine is awesome, though. Utterly awesome.

Ay que rico!

So I believe there are something like 30 school days left.

30.

School days.

Man, where did it all go? And there's still MORE?!?! DAMMIT! It seems as though the closer we get, the harder it gets to focus! Right now, for instance, I'm surfing YouTube, watching old clips of Scrubs (Possibly the funniest show EVER, next to The Simpsons). Why, why, WHY do we not wish to do work when it's most important to do?

I'll tell you right now, I'd way rather be in High Park, tossing around a frisbee and soaking up the sunshine, and I envy those of you who have the opportunity to do so. Don't waste it!

After that joyous little interlude... I have to go clean up and plan lessons for today :(

Peace!

Exams!

Heya folks, once again it's time for Mr. K's exam tips roundup:

1) Get lots of sleep. Exams suck, don't let them get to you.

2) Exercise. Especially my students in uni - You don't want the Freshie 15 any more than you want to catch a bad rash from the rez showers. Exercise will help with losing the Freshie 15 - Even if it means going for a walk around campus, or getting your guts together and hitting the campus gym for 20 minutes of cardio, get some exercise in. It'll save your brain and your heart - There are a number of studies that show a positive correlation between 20 minutes of exercise within an individual's target heart rate and increased ability to focus and general motivation.

3) Eat right.

Who am I kidding? University students? Come on... That late-night lure of the on-campus fast food is unstoppable even to the hardiest of souls. In which case, I won't tell you not to indulge, but I will tell you that instead of getting fries with that burger, just get the burger instead. Or, skip the Coke and get fries and the burger.

How do I douse the fast-food craving? Subway. Seriously, they have great options for veggies with my sandwich (I will fully admit to being addicted to the turkey breast sub with lots of onions and pickles, lettuce, green olives, light mayo, and sweet onion sauce. Footlong, of course). Stay the hell away from the Pita Pit - If you don't know what's in the sauce, don't eat it.

4) Time out.

You can't study all the time unless you know someone in the dorms who sells Ritalin and methamphetamines (We called it ADDon - Get it? Add on?), and even then, it's generally not a good idea to use either of those to study if you want to keep your brain securely in your skull for the rest of your life. In-between marathon essay-writing or cramming sessions, I strongly advise you to take a break. You know, something like ten minutes an hour just to stare off into space, or get some fresh air (Okay, okay, I know, some of you use it for a smoke break.) Either way, here's a good way to figure out whether or not you're getting enough break time: Is your skin too pale? You're not outside enough. Go outside (This will not work for certain students *Coughalliecough*). Feeling unmotivated and, dare I say it, depressed? Get outside. Sunshine is the only natural source of vitamin D, a vitamin whose main purpose is the regulation of serotonin, a chemical responsible for mood regulation in humans. In general: Going outside = good. Staying inside and studying until your eyes cross = bad.

That's all for now, folks. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave 'em on the blog!

An Updated Life

Hello everybody!

Well, a big hello to all my current and former SATEC people - Though in truth, I doubt that there are any of my World Issues or Philosophy people reading the blog anymore, being waaayyy too busy with university to consider poor Mr. Kassam :P.

I'm teaching at a school in the west end called Emery Collegiate, it's about as different from SATEC as chalk and cheese. I do miss the halls at SATEC, and I've discovered something - I came back to SATEC a little while ago, before I started here, and I could almost navigate the place blindfolded, it was a little like slipping into a warm bath. Familiar things may be something you sometimes wish to leave, but coming back is a pleasure you rarely get to experience. That being said, it's nice here - The students aren't anywhere near like SATEC (And really, there aren't many schools like SATEC in the TDSB, are there? I mean, you guys used to come visit me during class so I wouldn't get bored! AWESOME!), but that's a good thing; change is sometimes necessary.

I am slowly, painfully, beginning to get organized - Apparently, Bip and I have both learned the important distinction between ORGANIZING stuff that needs to get done, and actually DOING it. It's a subtle, but importance difference, kinda like bringing equipment to a house on fire versus actually USING it.

To all my university people who are still reading this blog (I know you're in lecture while reading this - WAKE UP, PRY THE TIMMIES OUT OF YOUR HAND AND LISTEN TO THE PROF!), leave a message and let me know how life is! Especially if you're at my favourite university! And, if you're reading this in the midst of business class (Because I know you are), or you're in the library, take care not to annoy the librarian, would you?

Also, leave me a message and say hello!

Mr. K

A brief note

I hate getting organized.

I'm trying terribly hard to get everything in neat boxes, with file tabs attached, colour coded, and sorted alphabetically.

Alas, I cannot. So I have one thing to say to all those of you who are super-organized:

Damn you. i don't know how it's done, and nobody wants to pull me aside and give me tips except for "Oh, everyone organizes themselves differently! Find what works for you!"

You know what works for me? ACTUALLY GETTING SOME HELP ON GETTING ORGANIZED! :P

For those of you in university, my problems started then. People in high school and in university, don't make the same mistake, go to the study centre and get some tips on staying organized through the year.

Buy a dry-erase calendar and put down important dates. FOR GOD'S SAKE, KEEP ALL YOUR ASSIGNMENTS AND NOTES IN A FILE FOLDER ACCORDING TO COURSE. It will *really* help.