Technological Dilemma

This is my mp3 player. It's a SanDisk Sansa Fuze I got as birthday gift in 2008 I believe. As evidence by the tape holding it together it's been pretty well used/abused to the point that the screen messes up, I can't pause, the wheel hardly responds so forget about lowering or increasing the volume, I can't hear anything out of the left earbud, and I have a hard time shutting it off. It was pretty banged up by the time I needed more space (since it comes with a microSD expansion slot). It served me well for 5 good years and it's about time I need a new one.

The store it was purchased from no longer carries the Sansa Fuze nor any other store I know of in the city carries it's next generation, the Fuze+. Sure I could purchase one on the internet but the reviews for the Fuze + are not so favourable on amazon.

So what options are there? With the file sizes growing larger as well as my music collection I'm looking for something that can hold more than 4GB of space. 16 GB should suffice I think. From the brands that I've seen, I'm looking at HipStreet, Sony, and Apple.

I have never heard of the HipStreet brand before and I'm guessing it's something along the lines of the COBY mp3 players: the cheap ones if you're not looking for anything fancy. HipStreet has a touch screen device that comes in 16GB but reviews of it are not that satisfactory so there's no chance of me getting that one.

Sony also has a 16GB mp3 player. It costs less than an apple product and it not being an apple product I'll be fine with random file formats (as I have mix of mp3, wma, and aac). Sony is also a recognizable brand. I could go with it but I don't find it aesthetically appealing with a very limited colour selection (black). Asthetics shouldn't have to with the sound quality and when I listened to the sample track in the Sony store the sound was okay to me (or maybe it's the headphones that they were selling). With this I believe I can use windows media player or winamp to transfer files.

And the choice I'm leaning towards is the iPod. It's not cheap but it is quite attractive with the metallic colour choices and it's a well known brand. As for what to choose, I'm stuck between the nano and the 16GB touch. The touch costs more than the nano and has extra features such as a camera and wi-fi capabilities, features that are something I would rather look for in a smartphone or a tablet. My current phone (a nokia c3-00) may not be Skype friendly but it can still access Facebook and I can upload photos with my phone to Facebook. My main purpose is basically to listen to music while I'm on the bus, in the car, or walking to places so I may lean towards getting the nano over the touch (I don't need to play angry birds or temple run and I have candycrush on Facebook). The drawbacks to this are the touch screen and how I upload things to the device. I find touch screens are so sensitive that I fear that I'll break it at some point within the first year or two but I guess I can by an accessory like a cover to take care of that (more or less protect it). And then I hear the only way to upload tracks to it is through iTunes (which I already have) and with some of my files being wmv I wonder if they will play or will I have to find the cd's I got them from and rip them into a compatible format.

So basically my dilemma is between should I get an iPod or a Sony Walkman. Should I go with quality or aesthetics? Should I move onto something different or stay with something similar to my old mp3 player? Is the $149 dollars worth buying an iPod or should I go with something $40 cheaper? I may be from Canada but a Black Friday sale might make the difference. I guess I'll find out by then

Hey you, why aren't you sleeping? Or better yet, get a damn job! (an update in the life of well, me)

So this month I graduate with my ESL teaching certificate. What do I do next? How about getting a job? But where do I find one?

Qualifications aside, I'll work anywhere. By anywhere I mean here in Canada or teach English overseas. When it comes to overseas I'm quite picky. My ideal places I want to work in are Russia, Turkey, or the Gulf. In that order. The places I want to avoid are Japan, Korea, and China. Why do I want to avoid the last three? Mainly out of disinterest and because I believe those places are popular.

But something tells me I shouldn't be picky about an overseas location. In the places I want to avoid I can get some job experience before going to the places I want to go. At the same time I want to do something that makes me happy. If I am unhappy at a job or place where I work it could lead to depression. Each area, places I want to go and places I want to avoid, have a 50/50 chance of me being happy. I mean I've been to Russia before and I have an interest in seeing Turkey but I have no idea if I'll end up being happy or not there. I have a disinterest in getting a job in Korea but if it boils down to me having to get a job there just to go on an adventure I'll apply for a job there and who knows, maybe I might fine something there to keep me happy.

So my credentials will be this:
BA Linguistics
Pronunciation teacher via a student experience program
TESL certificate from an accredited institution (will need accreditation status with TESL Ontarion)
Practicum sessions where I observed and led a class
and maybe add in learning some Russian, Arabic, and Turkish (being in the learner's shoes and observing teaching methods)

But some places may want things like
- BA in Education, BA in applied linguistics, MA applied linguistics with some ESL concentration, specialty in some other subject (if teaching something like high school math)
-CELTA (teaching in Europe), TEFL (specifically for overseas), TESOL (possibly interchangeable with TESL but it's a more recognized name)
-a CV instead of a resume or along with a resume (I haven't written any papers that are academic journal quality. Maybe some countries use CV over resume).
-x years of experience teaching (makes finding an entry level job not so easy)

And then there are things that scare me:
-Will need copy of passport and other official documents (Why not ask for a photocopy?)
-Will need photograph (not that scary, but someone who is blonde and looks "American" may be chosen over a Canadian who is of mixed background. Yet again one of my lung specialists I've visited to see if I have asthma or not marked me down as Caucasian under race.)
-tourist visa (sure you can get residency and work permits in the country, but I'm not taking my chances at ending up as an illegal worker).

At the same time I have connections. I've asked one of my former classmates for her experiences and then there's this guy I've met on the internet who has been doing overseas teaching for a couple of years (and I believe he started out in Korea). I may not be able to pick and choose where I want to work but at least I can count on them for advice.

Last posting I mentioned I'm taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge. So far I seem to be ahead of the game, as in typing more than 1667 words every day. One thing I experienced from this so far is if you haven't told people in your household in person that you're doing this challenge they will communicate with you. At the same time I'm not comfortable with telling this to my parents as from my perspective they will not understand or possibly want to know what I'm doing. I'd comment more on it but my brain needs a rest.

Am I Up For a Challenge?

Well then, I seem to be behind in my English is a Hard Language series of blog posts. I still have an interest in continuing those but not in the order I have planned (alphabets, language categorization, sounds, syntax, etc.) but maybe do it in an order in which I feel like. I do have incomplete drafts on my usb drive on things like the verbs 'to be' and 'to have', language families, gender, sounds, and word order and may pick up on one of those for my next postings, or maybe just work on intro posts for each section so whenever I do a random post from one of the section at least no one would be lost.

Speaking of challenges, I am going to tackle NaNoWriMo. The challenge: to write a 50k word novel within the month of November. I've heard of this years ago, through housemates back in university and from one of my Facebook buddies. I see myself the chance to do it as I'm not currently employed and not having to worry about writing a 5-10 page essay that needs proper citation about a topic in which I have a hard time writing about. In order to meet the challenge I have to produce 1666-1667 words per day and it cannot be something previously published.

Not that I have anything previously published but I still have an account on the site FictionPress. There were stories on there, albeit incomplete, but I took them down basically because if I want to post something there again, I sort of want to start off fresh. All of them were done during the period when I was still religious and with my views changed I don't really want to keep them up there. Pretty much the best one I had on there was a story about a team of high school students who fight monsters and evil spirits while at the same time attend a Catholic high school based on locations in my hometown/neighbourhood. I might've tackled my change in beliefs in there but that never happened. I was doing it on the seat of my pants and it pretty much stopped when I was doing a spinoff/sidestory with it along with the loss of interest. Now the only thing I keep on there is a poem I came up with when a student who would have been in my graduating year of high school died (if anyone is interested in the poem click here).

So I guess I'm just preparing for the upcoming month and hope I can beat this challenge.

You can't get every last detail (on adapting books to film and television)

We've all have read books and seen an adaptation of our favourite reads into film or a TV show whether it's animated or not. In some cases we watch a movie or TV show not knowing it's based off a book or some other source material like a play or a graphic novel.

So your favourite book or play gets adapted into a film or TV series. You have high expectations for who should play what characters and what their appearances should be. You also imagine how your favourite scene plays out. All of a sudden once you get to see production stills of who was cast (or maybe you googled the actor/actress once they were announced) your dreams get shattered a bit and when you see the screen adaptation (if you do make it past the point of 'improper casting made this movie/tv show not worth watching') your favourite moment has been cut. 

Sure you can rage about how the casting is all wrong, bad acting, and how the adaptation doesn't follow the book. First let's look at the meaning of adaptation: adaptation is a noun derived from the verb to adapt which means (taking it from the transitive verb meaning): 'to make suitable to requirements or conditions; adjust or modify fittingly'. So when adapting a book there are things to consider with the audience this will be shown to: people who have read the book, people who haven't read the book, age-appropriateness, and for international distribution (I may be missing one or two here but I'm focusing on the first two).

People who have read the book will know how the story plays out and possibly expect the adaptation to follow the book. People who haven't read the book of course will have no idea other than what is marketed of the movie and may or many not read the book after seeing the movie or TV series. Having the adaptation follow the plot and the storyline of the book to the very last detail is basically giving away the whole book. If all adaptations were made this way then why bother to read the book (or a whole series of them)? Changing up the story a bit makes it convenient for both the reader and the non-reader. From a reader perspective, the adaptation brings on surprises. The surprises can either be good, bad, or predictable and from there comparisons can be made between the book and the adaptation. (For example I just saw The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and I read the book beforehand. Without trying to spoil it too much I found some things were rushed (minimal backstories), and characters who had smaller roles in the book were either given bigger roles or not included at all. I think some elements were borrowed from the second book City of Ashes and mentionings of the fictional country home to Shadowhunters is not mentioned at all.) From a non-reader perspective the adaptation can be something original (or slightly original if it bares any similarities to other stories and movies) and could interest people in reading the original books. It's how I was drawn to Sergei Lukyanenko's Watch Series.

So if you want your favourite book to follow canon down to the very last detail, make your own adaptation. You can't expect Hollywood or whatever movie company to follow every last detail or get your dream cast (even the authors can't get their dream cast in). Sometimes the writers themselves do contribute to the plot of the adaptation of have some involvement in production. Adaptations are meant to be viewed by anyone who is interested in viewing the TV show or the movie and it's not something to be made exclusive to the fans of the series. The adaptation in one way is the adapter's way of envisioning how the book will play out as a movie or TV series.

I can't argue with the choices of the adapter but what I think would make adaptations a bit better is to include a bit more of the lore and philosophies presented as well as having some fan input. What I feel makes some adaptations a bit dull and inferior to their book sources is getting rid elements such as lore (e.g. the main characters are magic users and in the adaptation the magic element is toned down or removed) or the cut back on the philosophical aspects (e.g. one of the main characters is openly atheist and questions the other main character's beliefs in the book while the adaptation makes no mention of the characters being atheist or religious). As for the fan input this shouldn't be restricted to fans of the book but should include people who haven't read the book but have interests in the same genre (for example fantasy, sci-fi, western) as the book being adapted. They may not speak for everyone but can at least provide some input.

And thus ends my rant/commentary. If anyone come across this post I am slowly still working on English is a Hard Language series. At the rate it's going I'm trying to run through learning Hindi script since I was unable to find someone who can write in it to make examples (but if you can, maybe you can contribute?). Know Chinese, Japanese, or Korean? I could use your help in future EIAHL posts.

Shaking off the dust and maybe start something new here?

Haven't touched this in a long time. Well technically I have but didn't really see to post anything during my time mostly because I wanted to (or at least tried) to focus my attention on papers for my teaching ESL certificate program.

So what have I tried to put on here? I wanted to discuss season 5 of Being Human pertaining to Facebook comments by "fans" who stopped watching the show because of a cast change that happened in season 4. (oh my spoilers for those who haven't watched it yet) One of the main characters died at the end of the 3rd season, 2 main characters died at the start of the 4th season, and at the end of the 4th season/beginning of the 5th another character got the boot. I was going to comment on how the writers didn't deliberately kill off all the characters that were removed from the story as actors and actresses have other projects that they are working on but got word that season 5 was the last one so there was no use in me publishing that post without some changes.

Second thing I was thinking of putting on here was advice on choosing people to work in your group for a group project. That came from me actually being in a group when one person disappeared for about a week without notifying the rest of the group. I was kind of pissed that he didn't tell any of us or the instructor of the course that he was going to be away for a long time but when he came back he apologized for being away. I didn't ask why but he could have been out somewhere where he had not access to a computer or a Wi-Fi signal. In the end he got kicked out of the group and had to do the project on his own but I think he expected that.

So what ideas do I have now? I guess I can summarize my semester but it will probably be me raging out against one course I didn't quite enjoy and complaining about how much work I had to do. I wouldn't call that exciting. What is somewhat exciting is I will be taking an intensive beginner course in Arabic over the summer (I'm sure it will be on as there are a number of people on the roster to make it so).

Arabic? Isn't that a hard language to learn?
I'm a native English speaker (mind my carelessness as I type). I say English is a hard language to learn. Even if it is a global language. Maybe some of you think that Arabic is hard to learn because it uses a different writing system and sounds nothing like English. Well Arabic does use a different writing system and it sounds nothing like English, even with English loans. Arabic has also given English a bunch of words such as 'alcohol', 'assassin', 'coffee' and more.

So I guess my next blog endeavour is to show how English is a hard language to some but easy to others. I'll be using whatever knowledge I know and whatever the internet has to say about it. Sure there are other places out there that do this, but this will be my approach. I will compare the writing systems, sounds, some grammar, and basic sentence structure. Anything I learn along the way I will add.

And now I must make that final push to finish off the semester.