intentionally left blank

I found this on the BBC website and found it interesting, to read the rest of the article go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A676280


'This Page Intentionally Left Blank' could be one of the oddest sentences in the English language. Found in instruction manuals around the world, it indicates that the page on which it appears has been purposely left empty of words or pictures. But once this phrase has been printed on the page, the page is no longer blank; in fact, it is intentionally not blank. Therefore, this statement is only correct when it has not yet been made. Once it has been written down, it is instantly wrong. By virtue of self-reference, the phrase is denying its own existence and contradicts itself. The only known phrase that is more confusing is 'This is a lie'.

Waiting

It is that time of year again, when school is done and I am very disoriented. I have no idea what I want to do right now and no one to do it with. Other than going to pick up a paper tomorrow at noon and going to dinner on Friday with the JET programme as a meet and greet sort of thing, I have absolutely nothing to do until I work on Saturday. As much as I usually dislike going to work, I can honestly say that I dislike doing nothing more. At home it seemed that there was always a bit more "nothing" to do, but here in Winnipeg I can go to the legislature grounds and read, read on my balcony, read by the river, go to the forks and read. I could also go and meet people, but I don't even have the energy to get on a bus right now. All I feel up to doing consists of being alone, lying in bed and waiting for Friday. But this only makes me feel like I am wasting my life, like I live a useless existence. I don't even have a job where I feel like I am being useful. Last summer working with special needs clients seemed to give me a purpose, a reason for existence, as I saw them grow cognitively, now I just serve coffee..... well, that's my rant for today, maybe I'll start on more Japanese learning, or something.

~ Justin

Momentarily

I have decided that I dislike the multiple use of the word "momentarily"

"The doctor will see you momentarily"

What does this mean? traditionally one would say that this means that the doctor will see one for a short amount of time. However recent usage can make this term mean also "in a moment".

Usually I am not opposed to word meaning changes, however in this case I am. I am because the two definitions for the words are very very different, and can inspire two different reactions by the hearer. Is the patient supposed to walk out of the waiting room and go to the doctors office, expecting a very rushed visit, or rather is the patient supposed to sit in the waiting room expecting to be called upon at a time in the near future?

Opinions?

time

This will probably make little sense, but neither does my life at present, so it will work well.

I taught my large English class this week, it went well, but I am still behind on reporting my progress.

I have almost finished my history paper that is quite late, the next one, due monday, has yet to be started, and probably won't be, ever...

I still have that paper and an Indian history paper which hasn't been started yet either before the end of term...

Starbucks called me in to work today, I said yes, and forgot how much my back hurts after a shift.

I can no longer sleep, it is six twenty-nine and I have been up since four, but didn't go to sleep until midnight.

it is also daylight savings time: spring edition, I think it should be a national holiday

I still have three lessons to go this week before my schedule returns to normal.

OH, crazy happening, I was walking back from starbucks today and a person on the street flagged me down wanting to use my coffee to help him clean his headlights. "I know it is expensive," he said, "but could I just have a few drops" It was only hot water mixed with honey and cinnamon, so it didn't cost me anything, I said yes. He then asked me if I was a language student, I am not sure what he meant by this. was my english awkward, Louise Cornell once thought I was a native german speaker who had just learned english, perhaps it was shining through... I told him I was both studying and teaching english, he welcomed me to the club, he having been an english teacher himself.

Again apologies for my disorganised one-liners, hence the reason I cannot do papers or anything else really in this state of mind...

waiting for the sleeping pills to kick in...

Life continued

Alright, so I have decided that perhaps I will give this blogging thing a bit more of a go, an entry a week maybe, who knows.

As for my JET interview on Thursday, I think it went well, I was told to write a two minute introduction in preparation for the interview, which I left until Wednesday night, and it was stressful trying to get it done (kind of reminded me a little of oral com, but I did it and didn't have to use it, but it still helped in my interview as I was able to throw in bits and pieces of it here and there.

I was so nervous as I sat in the waiting room, I almost felt like throwing up. Waiting there, I decided I would go over my intro a few more times to calm me down but before I could even get through it twice I was called into the interview room. I had heard rumours that many times the interviewers can be cruel. saying you wrote things on your application that you didn't write and asking you about them trying to see if you would slip up and think that you had actually written them. (to see how well you actually know what you wrote). I also was told that they would ask awkward questions to see how you deal with stress. things like "what would you do if one of your fellow teachers groped you, what if it was the principal?". Luckily I was not asked any of these questions.

instead I was asked questions like, "what do you think will be most difficult getting used to in Japan", "how would you deal with the language barrier", How do you handle conflict", fairly standard interview questions.

I won't find out until april if I am going forsure, but until then I have many many papers and exams to keep me busy. As well as my practicum two which is going quite well but will soon step up a notch as I will have to teach two classes per week one of these being a group of twenty students. :S

hopefully it will all go well!

~ Justin Goodman

life

Alright, so I haven't posted in a long time, and I apologise. I just got back from work (Starbucks), and it was a really frustrating shift. I used to really enjoy working there, really really, but I haven't enjoyed working there since Christmas. (if you want to skip a very long rant you can move on to the next paragraph) I think part of this dissatisfaction is that we used to use big pitchers which were enough to make like 4 Venti lattes, thus making for a fairly speedy delivery, but now "we" (most of the Baristas not included) thought it would be a good idea to start using little pitchers which are enough to make one venti, any more than this and milk will start flowing all over the counter and make a huge mess. "We" also figured that we would use less milk this way, because we are steaming milk on a per-drink basis. I once was told by my manager to steam up a big pitcher of non-fat and a big pitcher of 2% whenever I saw that we had a huge line so that this way, we would not get bogged down at the bar and be able to get drinks out faster. "sure it may waste more milk if they are getting just drip coffee, but at least this way we are prepared" she said. Now however, our goal is to give customers the freshest milk possible, and thus I shouldn't start steaming milk until I know exactly what kind of milk it is. I can see how this dairy philosophy would work in a store that is less trafficked, but Osborne is the most trafficked store in Winnipeg. I talked with my manager, and now we are allowed to use the big pitchers again, however there are some people who work there who insist on never using them, and they throw them into the sink whenever they get the chance. And so whenever I work with these people, I am either forced to use small pitchers, because there aren't any available big ones, or I feel like I am a lesser barista if I use the big pitchers. It also makes me use much more milk because I always have to dump the excess milk after each drink. This pitcher philosophy also means we have to bend down to get milk 4X more often and clean the steam wands 4X more often, both of which are time consuming, thus slowing us down even more. I almost feel like I am on fear factor, after they have just announced that someone will have to walk across a 400 meter beam carrying an alligator, while eating worms and then they say and as if this wasn't enough, we are going to make it rain on you, though instead of rain, my challenge is "you have to make 100 lattes in half an hour and as if this wasn't enough you are going to have to use the little pitchers. on the bright side it hasn't started raining in-store yet, though I wouldn't be suprised if it did. I'm trying really hard to actually enjoy a shift, but so far they have been tension filled and incredibly stressful. :( I really really can't wait until I am done there. (rant over)

On another note, I started teaching an english class last Thursday. It was AMAZING, all of my students are very fun and very interactive. I am very excited about the possibilities. I also have my interview for the JET Programme this thursday. I really hope it goes well, as it is something I really want to do, who knows though, if it falls through I could always try and apply for another country, Korea is also interesting.

It is also now reading week which is much needed, I have three papers and a paper proposal due following reading week so I need to get my groove thing going. Starbucks is definitely throwing off the groove.

~ Justin Goodman

To be a teacher.

Alright, so as many of you all know I am studying to be a teacher, and hope to have my B Ed eventually. In Louises Ed classes one thing we were taught to do was to deal with classroom distractions and try to work around them, or perhaps even incorporate them into our lesson. This is one distraction that I would never have seen coming and would have no clue how to deal with:

"A pupil at a Nottingham school had his drama class interrupted when he was sent a strippogram for his birthday.
It is believed the parents of the pupil at Arnold Hill School booked a singing telegram as a 16th birthday surprise, but got the strippogram by mistake.

The stripper, who was dressed as a policewoman, performed her act in front of the Year 11 class.

Education chiefs are investigating the "highly inappropriate incident" which took place on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire County Council said no-one had been suspended and the police had not been called.

She said: "We and the school are investigating the situation.""