Yeehaw Week: Feng Shui for my Soul

I had a pretty busy week with doing assignments and practicing music. I also conducted some info table sessions at school promoting the upcoming job fair that's happening this week at RIM park. Unfortunately I can't go because I have class all day, but it was good to browse through the employer guidebook, to get a hint of who's hiring. Lately I'm trying to live a balanced life and have a little bit of everything, just trying to keep my head on as I make the last leap towards graduation.

Job Placements
Speaking of hiring, I just applied to three different jobs to give my unpaid services in Public Relations: an internet broadband company, a governmental centre that specializes in connecting scholars and researchers worldwide, and an art gallery. I was a little disappointed not to have heard back from them, so I followed up. Apparently they're still waiting to get all the rest of the applications from our class. The competition is tense. This job placement is a required portion of our diploma, and also a time we get off school. Since the program has had to make time for work, our courses are all scrunched into six weeks and as a result, we have a lot to cover, which is why it's busy.

Wonderful Gifts
Chloe over at Froth on the Daydream sent me some lovely gifts all the way from Greece! I never really knew it snowed in Greece, but that's what it's doing now. Chloe is a journalist and a fine woman who shares my love of music. The package she sent includes a CD, a postcard, and a compass, "so that I will never lose my way." Lately, I'm anxious and uncertain about finishing my school, starting a career, and figuring out my bearings, so it is a nice pick-me-up and reminder to keep things going smooth. I sang to her over the internet, and now apparently I have Greek fans!


Country Night
I was a security guard for the theme night. Of course as soon as I happen to be in a position of authority, who comes in but a friend of a friend, completely drunk. He behaved himself rather well, although he acted silly and made sure I wasn't too rigid and that I join in with him, singing along to the country tunes. I was glad that there was a turnout. It made things less boring. Plus, it was good to see all the big shiney belt-buckles and cowboy hats, the short skirts and the boots. Hearing Cotton-Eyed Joe took me back to grade seven. As the night got later, there was a singing competition where contestents sang a line from their favorite country song. Almost all of them were terrible singers, but they had heart. Three girls got booed off the stage for their rendition of "Achey Breaky Heart", a song that had been played too many times ten years ago, but someone handled Garth Brooks alright:

"Cause I got friends in low places,
Where the Whiskey drowns,
And the Beer chases my blues away,
But I'll be okay,
Now I'm not big on social graces,
Think I'll slip on down to the oasis,
Oh I got friends,
In low places."
(From "I Got Friends in Low Places")

Consulting
In class this week we were presented with a real problem and we were supposed to come up with a summary for the client what that problem was, with an execution plan of finding out what we would need to know to solve it. It had to do with the need to increase student engagement on campus, and as a result, student pride. I go to the college that has been ranked #1 in Ontario for the past seven years but when I asked other students what it had been ranked #1 in, know one could say. It seemed to me that our school suffers an ambiguous identity because it has so many diverse programs. If student pride is to increase, our identity as a school needs to be more distinguished.

Movies
In the last few weeks, I've seen Brokeback Mountain, a heartbreakingly beautiful story about a special relationship between two men who meet each other when they are ranchers on the mountain. It follows them through their lives and interposes their family lives with the dream/fantasy life they escape to together. On the one hand you conclude that they are both repressed homosexuals who want to be together but they are ruled by the prejudices of outside influence, on the other it seems to be a romance more about a peculiar homosocial lifestyle of being free in nature together, with only themselves to depend on for company.

The other movie is March of the Penguins. This movie has great music, excellent cinematography (those camerament must have been cold!) and some astonishing facts about emperor penguins. Morgan Freeman is the perfect narrator. It is a documentary of the voyage penguins make yearly to hunt and mate. I really adored the penguins. They are fascinating! The way they show affection to each other by caressing and kissing with their beaks after searching thousands of penguins just to find the mate they will be loyal to for that year, really makes me wonder whether animals can experience love. A little known fact is that the male takes care of the egg for months and months, going without food, waiting, while the female goes out to sea. He has to shimmy along with the egg under his bottom to keep it from freezing. If it breaks, all the work for the past year is gone!

Web Design
We had some nasty interpersonal conflict this week between some students and our web design teacher. Our class is very unforgiving and the teacher is young and laid back. We talked about the concerns and our other teacher helped us frame the issue in an appropriate way to basically say we're responsible for our own learning. He is actually a very brilliant teacher, but the problem is that some people take advantage of the fact that he's not breathing down their necks all the time and instead use the precious moments of class to chat on msn, then complain that they aren't learning anything. Students complained about him behind his back to this other teacher and boycotted his class (which was very rude). He rescheduled one class to a time when a lab was available, but most students used that as an opportunity to show their lack of respect. The next class, he was visibly upset, and expressed the disappointment of being ratted on by students he had previously been very proud of. He felt betrayed that people wouldn't address their problems with him personally. During the class before it, I was one of three students who actually came. Obviously he couldn't lead a whole lesson though. Instead I got to play around and get better at Adobe Illustrator. I figured out how to make animations by copying images into frames, modify each one subtly, then play through.

Now that things are back to normal, we're making websites in Dreamweaver, which is very exciting. When I learn more, I'll be able to apply that knowledge here, then I'll link my resume and post animations and do all sorts of fun things.

Tarot Cards
Last night I visited Frenchman and we just spent time at his house playing guitar and talking. He has a degree in physics and we talked about philosophy and how the universe is like a matrix that doesn't fall apart only because it is in perfect tension. We debated whether time existed and had one of those deep conversations that are fun to have every once in awhile. He taught me the tree of life and the Kabbala, then we applied it to Tarot card readings. Here is an example of the deck we used and one of the cards that came up. To me this card shows that I sometimes try to overationalize things and ignore my feelings in an attempt to simply get through things, to charge forward, without thinking. I feel rushed and cynical and this conflicts with the pleasure I could derive from good works. It would be better to enjoy where I am right now in this moment.

Tarot cards are a good exercise allowing you to relate and see yourself in the cards. There isn't an absolute right answer to the cards, but you have to use interpretative skills. It can be a helpful hint as to the things that are bothering you and the things you are working on.

Cleaning and Organizing
So now I must clean and organize things that have gotten out of sorts. There are papers and electronic devices and misfiled things all around me. I think maybe if I organize my exterior, it will help me organize my interior.

Feng shui for my soul