This past weekend on May the 10th was the Eurovision Song Contest and it took place in Denmark. Although I have made posts about it here before a short summary of it is a song contest to determine who hosts it next year. Besides the song there the campy dance numbers and politics attached to it (even though politics should not be involved in something like this). The winner of this year's contest is Austria and as the winner they are hosting it next year in 2015.
So the representative to this year's contest's winner is drag queen Conchita Wurst. Maybe at first when you think drag queen you might not think of this:
That's right, a drag queen with a beard (and I pretty much just spoiled the video but I do recommend a watch at least). While it may appear odd and hard to take in at first I find it unique compared to the common or stereotypical drag queen look (which anyone can pretty much google). From news sites I've heard that there were 3, one of those Russia (if you've been living under a rock they have a law regarding showing LGBT related stuff to minors) calling for things like boycotts and editing broadcasts because of her. While this wasn't my favourite of all the acts that were in Eurovision this year I do think she deserved the win as it shows no matter who or what you are you can achieve your goals. As for those who don't want to expose their kids to this then don't let your kids watch. There's no need to ban everyone from watching because her appearance offends a few people. Just turn off your TV or whatever device and let other people who want to watch Eurovision in full watch it.
Conchita Wurst wasn't the only performer in drag in Eurovision. Slovenia sent an entry in 2002 and Ukraine sent in one in 2007 to name a couple. The participant for Ukraine that year even met up with Conchita Wurst.
Another thing that may have come up in international news regarding Russia and Ukraine. Both had their songs in the final and when Russia was announced that its song was moving into the final it got booed. Russia also got booed whenever they got 8/10/12 points (equivalent of the top 3 the top 10 acts by each countries combined jury and televotes) and they were mostly from countries such as Azerbaijan and Belarus. There was booing as well when Russia was giving out their points. These were the songs for both Ukraine and Russia respectively:
Given what has been happening with Russia in the past year (Annexation of Crimea, can't show LGBT related stuff to minors) My thoughts were that Russia wouldn't make it to the final and when they did I though Russia would place near the bottom. In the end Russia placed 7th behind Ukraine who place 6th. As for booing Russia I understand that Russia's actions were uncalled for but they shouldn't have been taken out on the artists.
While I didn't like their songs I liked both of their acts. Ukraine had a guy running in a giant hamster wheel and twins from Russia had their ponytails tangled in the beginning of their act (again this may be spoiling the vids a bit)
Overall congrats to Austria on their win in the contest.
As for my favourite acts from that night: Switzerland, Spain, Belarus (bit cheesy but it's a guilty please)
Though it didn't make it to the final I wish Albania's song made it.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Friday, December 6, 2013
And the results are in . . .
I met the 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo. Technically my official word count on the site is 50,229 words but Microsoft Word begs to differ with 50,236. And I'm still not done writing it. The reason I stopped at the minimum when I reached it (which I obtained on the 26th) was because I was preparing my application for the JET Programme and I had to get my forms and documents to the Japanese Embassy on the 29th of November. I also caved in and got the iPod nano.
So what do I do with my story now? I'm probably going to finish it at some point and when I do I'll probably go over it to make sure there are no inconsistencies throughout the whole novel. As for whether I want to publish it? Probably not at this point but I'll post it to my old FictionPress account and share it with people there. Just in case the nudity content of it is too much it'll also be on my deviantART as well. Might add an appendix as well just to explain the world/alternate earth. For those interested here's a brief summary:
A hunter named Giorgio has been missing for weeks and almost everyone in the town of Shamps presumes him to be dead. Upon Giorgio's return people begin to disappear and end up dead. Some townspeople blame the deaths upon the Ruta, the natives of the land, and their belief in the Earth Goddess that allows the Ruta to shape-shift. Other townspeople easily pin the deaths on Giorgio. A shepherd name Francis refuses to believe that either of them is the cause of all the deaths but the discovery of something sinister involving Giorgio may hold the key to the cause of the mysterious happenings.
I think my summary on my NaNoWriMo profile is a bit better than this but in short it involves werewolves a bit but it's not exactly a werewolf story.
I have mentioned in my earlier postings that Japan is not one of my ideal places to go to for EFL teaching but when you're experience is low there are not many places to go. I mean I could go to Turkey through some UK recruitment agency that a friend/classmate of mine is doing right now but from what I learned from her experience at that time is the people who run that department are short of staff. I was scrambling for my application for JET. I though about applying for it at an hour that I should be sleeping. What I didn't realize at the time was that I needed reference letters. This was about ten days before the deadline. I thought ten days was not enough time to get a reference letter done but I ended up with three by the time I went to submit an application. One of the reasons I was scrambling because I was picky about my references. I kind of have to be since the instructions asked my references certain questions about my working habits and leadership skills. What I was picky about was who to pick out of those who qualified or thought that did. There was one I debated on using as a reference, a university professor. I had this professor for 3 out of the 8 courses I took for my CTESL course. Sure I should have asked this professor earlier but the reason I debated asking was I hardly paid attention about halfway through the winter semester (which 2 of those courses took place). I mean I want someone who will say nice things about me. I may not know what was written in those letters but the lesson here learned is don't be too picky with referents. I'll know if I'm selected for an interview January 2014. Hopefully I didn't do anything in my application that would get me disqualified.
And in my previous post I had a technological dilemma on which mp3 player I should get. I hinted that I was leaning towards getting the iPod nano and I did. Black Friday is an event in the United States that has somewhat crept its way here to keep shoppers in Canada and not going over the border and so the stores here had some Black Friday specials. The nano was priced as $20 lower than the regular price for the weekend but I'd be hitting myself hard if the price was even lower for Boxing Week in December.
So my initial disappointments with the nano were that it didn't come with free songs and it doesn't like .wma files. I haven't tried syncing them to the nano but iTunes kept on asking me if I wanted to convert them to .aac files. My past mp3 players all came with free tracks but not the nano. Maybe it's also a good idea that I didn't tell iTunes to convert the .wma files because the majority them refused to be converted due to some setting I had on my old laptop when I ripped the songs from the CD. It's a pain having to rip the files all over again but it gives me a good reason to review my taste in music.
As for the positives so far, I think I got a hang of using the touch screen. Sound is okay and finally I can control the volume and scroll through my list of songs. It is quite light compared to my Sansa and I can use the car speakers to blast my tunes. Well technically I can't since my parents and I don't always share the same tastes in music, especially my mom whose hearing has somehow gotten sensitive to certain sounds (I may end up like that one day so I can't complain). Maybe one good reason I should get a driver's license.
So here's hoping things go well: I get my story done, hopefully get a job, and hope that my new mp3 player lasts for a long time.
So what do I do with my story now? I'm probably going to finish it at some point and when I do I'll probably go over it to make sure there are no inconsistencies throughout the whole novel. As for whether I want to publish it? Probably not at this point but I'll post it to my old FictionPress account and share it with people there. Just in case the nudity content of it is too much it'll also be on my deviantART as well. Might add an appendix as well just to explain the world/alternate earth. For those interested here's a brief summary:
A hunter named Giorgio has been missing for weeks and almost everyone in the town of Shamps presumes him to be dead. Upon Giorgio's return people begin to disappear and end up dead. Some townspeople blame the deaths upon the Ruta, the natives of the land, and their belief in the Earth Goddess that allows the Ruta to shape-shift. Other townspeople easily pin the deaths on Giorgio. A shepherd name Francis refuses to believe that either of them is the cause of all the deaths but the discovery of something sinister involving Giorgio may hold the key to the cause of the mysterious happenings.
I think my summary on my NaNoWriMo profile is a bit better than this but in short it involves werewolves a bit but it's not exactly a werewolf story.
I have mentioned in my earlier postings that Japan is not one of my ideal places to go to for EFL teaching but when you're experience is low there are not many places to go. I mean I could go to Turkey through some UK recruitment agency that a friend/classmate of mine is doing right now but from what I learned from her experience at that time is the people who run that department are short of staff. I was scrambling for my application for JET. I though about applying for it at an hour that I should be sleeping. What I didn't realize at the time was that I needed reference letters. This was about ten days before the deadline. I thought ten days was not enough time to get a reference letter done but I ended up with three by the time I went to submit an application. One of the reasons I was scrambling because I was picky about my references. I kind of have to be since the instructions asked my references certain questions about my working habits and leadership skills. What I was picky about was who to pick out of those who qualified or thought that did. There was one I debated on using as a reference, a university professor. I had this professor for 3 out of the 8 courses I took for my CTESL course. Sure I should have asked this professor earlier but the reason I debated asking was I hardly paid attention about halfway through the winter semester (which 2 of those courses took place). I mean I want someone who will say nice things about me. I may not know what was written in those letters but the lesson here learned is don't be too picky with referents. I'll know if I'm selected for an interview January 2014. Hopefully I didn't do anything in my application that would get me disqualified.
And in my previous post I had a technological dilemma on which mp3 player I should get. I hinted that I was leaning towards getting the iPod nano and I did. Black Friday is an event in the United States that has somewhat crept its way here to keep shoppers in Canada and not going over the border and so the stores here had some Black Friday specials. The nano was priced as $20 lower than the regular price for the weekend but I'd be hitting myself hard if the price was even lower for Boxing Week in December.
So my initial disappointments with the nano were that it didn't come with free songs and it doesn't like .wma files. I haven't tried syncing them to the nano but iTunes kept on asking me if I wanted to convert them to .aac files. My past mp3 players all came with free tracks but not the nano. Maybe it's also a good idea that I didn't tell iTunes to convert the .wma files because the majority them refused to be converted due to some setting I had on my old laptop when I ripped the songs from the CD. It's a pain having to rip the files all over again but it gives me a good reason to review my taste in music.
As for the positives so far, I think I got a hang of using the touch screen. Sound is okay and finally I can control the volume and scroll through my list of songs. It is quite light compared to my Sansa and I can use the car speakers to blast my tunes. Well technically I can't since my parents and I don't always share the same tastes in music, especially my mom whose hearing has somehow gotten sensitive to certain sounds (I may end up like that one day so I can't complain). Maybe one good reason I should get a driver's license.
So here's hoping things go well: I get my story done, hopefully get a job, and hope that my new mp3 player lasts for a long time.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Technological Dilemma
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
Thursday, November 7, 2013
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
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.
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.
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