yes, yes it is! a life update!
hey ya'll
I'm not even gonna bother starting off this entry how I usually start off my entries lol. I'm well aware that it's been forever and a day but I'm pretty sure I said I'd just write whenever the mood strikes me, lol. I was just reading my friends page for the first time in forever and it kinda made me miss writing in my livejournal so I decided I would.
the past semester was really...interesting. I took two courses, digi 110 and digi 220. I finally got to take 110 and finish it! yay woo!! lol. and I loved 220. it was advanced web design and it was sooooo much fun. I wish I'd gotten an A instead of a B+ but I still loved it!!
VIU went on strike in the middle of the semester and that really threw things off. I won't even get into all the weird details of the strike, it was pretty complicated and ridiculous. the faculty went on strike against the administration who were wanting to cut courses among other things and it got really ugly. At first I was in favour of the strike, understanding that the faculty had to do what they had to do but when it last two, three, and finally four weeks, it was really getting old. We all thought we weren't gonna be able to finish our semester. Our school strike made the national news and almost broke records for being the longest university strike in Canada and being the only university to cancel a semester because of a strike. We were able to finish our semester, but by the end none of us really wanted too and finishing it was kind of more annoying than it was worth. And having a month of no school was soooo annoying! it caused a lot of anger and frustration from the students. Day in day out with nothing to do. it was ridiculous.
I wasn't able to go to CSUN this year either cuz my dad couldn't go and I was broke so couldn't go by myself. And the worst part was, if I wasn't broke I totally could've gone and not missed any classes. it made me really bummed.
But a few good things have happened, for sure. This year so far has been mostly crappy but there have been some good things!
Somewhere in the first or second week of strike, mid to end march, I met a guy. We met on plenty of fish. He sent me a message, I answered back and a few days later we met for coffee. His name was Briden. We really hit it off and had lots of fun together. Over the next few days we hung out a lot and on March 30th decided to make things official. He was a really great guy. He wasn't awkward at all about the blindness thing, in fact I'd go as far as to say he embraced it. He seemed to enjoy seeing how I navigated my world and taking part in it. We had lots of good times and lots of good conversations both serious and silly. I introduced him to the awesomeness that is the WWW trilogy and so when WWW:Wonder came out in April, we spent most nights cuddled on my couch reading it on his iPod touch. He's one of the few sighted people I've met who enjoys audio books more than print books and he's just as obsessed with audible as me if not more so. Reading audio books together kind of became our thing. Like me, he had a bit of a spontanious streak. He found out that Robert J. Sawyer was speaking at a writer's festival in prince george and he called me the night before to see if I wanted to go. "if we drove all night we could make it there by tomorrow night!" he'd said excitedly into the phone. That was one of the few times he called me, we mostly texted. I was excited too and we were so close to jumping in his car and hitting the road but then the rational side of both our brains kicked in and we realized that we're broke and he had work the next day lol. But we did take a spontanious trip to Victoria the next weekend.
In the beginning of April I got an exciting phone call. I think Id' just gotten out of the shower when I heard the awesome classic iPhone ringtone sound and I didn't recognize the number but was so curious that I grabbed it. It was someone who worked for Apple Canada! for Apple education. Apple was calling me! I'm not sure how I made it through the conversation without squealing ...not that I can squeal, but my equivalent lol. But I somehow remained ridiculously excited but professional at the same time. He told me Apple education was doing an event in Edmonton for the Alberta schoolboard and that he'd seen the video I did for my dad about accessibility of the iPad. He wanted me to come do a presentation at the event about the accessibility of the iPad and its benefits in the classroom. I didn't even have to think about the answer, of course I'd do it. He told me Apple would pay for my flight and hotel and everything and that it was on the 26th. I hung up the phone and jumped up and down and screamed as much as I can scream. then I texted Briden and told him I had news so awesome that I couldn't tell him in a text message and when he got off work he had to come over.
Throughout the next few weeks I worked lots on my presentation. I even went to the mainland with my mom for a day where I bought a new outfit and got my hair cut. Gotta look cute for an Apple event, ya know!!
Finally it was the 25th and I was heading to the ferry. It felt so cool to walk up to the counter and tell them that I was coming over on "business" and that my ticket had been pre-paid for. I've been to the ferry terminal so many times that I pretty much know where everything is now, so after they handed my ticket I wandered down to the Starbucks and bought myself a peppermint mocha since I'd purposefully gotten there early so I could do just that. I sat down and drank it and thought about the next day. It was all so exciting!!
Once I got off the ferry I found the car that was supposed to take me to the airport and finally I got to the airport and met up with John, one of my "colleagues" who I'd be flying over with. We had some time to kill before our flight so we stopped at one of the restaurants in the airport to grab some lunch. When we sat down at the table I pulled out my iPhone and he seemed to know exactly what I was doing. "are you trying to be the mayor?" he laughed and then told me he was checking in too. I felt even more of an instant connection.
The instant connection feeling didn't stop for the next day and a bit. I felt it with everyone I met. When I arrived at the hotel I opened my room door to find a big pillow on the floor with a dog water bowl on top. The hotel even thought of Goldina! We felt like Apple divas.
I orientated myself with the hotel room and then clicker trained Goldina to our door before making my way down the elevator to where I was supposed to meet the rest of the group for a meeting before we all went for dinner.
Dinner was amazing. We walked over to a pub close to the hotel. The food was amazing and so was the conversation. You know that squeee "I am made out of awesome" feeling I get when I'm at CSUN? I felt the exact same way with the Apple folk. I felt like I belonged and like they really wanted me there. We talked about how things would go the next day and about accessibility of Apple products and someone told me that the hotel had iPads built into the wall that had info about the hotel on them. I thought that was so cool! Unfortunately I never did get to see them, but how cool!!
I went back to my room after dinner and I felt so confident and full of awesome!! so included! unfortunately I couldn't sleep very well though, I guess I was wound up and excited but nervous about my presentation the next day. I guess I finally did get to sleep though. I woke up the next day and showered and put on my cute outfit and went down to the big conference room for breakfast and finally things started to happen.
I was the second person to present and we did the whole presentation twice for two different groups of people. The first group to present were from a school in Toronto that uses iPads to work with students with special needs. Their presentation was really inspiring and had some cute video clips!!
Then it was my turn. I brought my iPad and bluetooth keyboard up to the front of the room and went through a bit of how voiceover works on the iPad and also about how having this kind of out of the box accessibility has really changed my life on many levels. At one point I got a bit worried cuz my bluetooth wasn't working but thankfully the bluetooth gods smiled down on me and I was able to get my keyboard connected. After I was finished John told me that was his favourite part. I guess the way I handled it. I was kind of freaking out inside but stayed pretty calm outside.
After I was finished David N..not even gonna attempt his last name lol! from Assistiveware came up to talk about Proloquo2go and their other products. His presentation was also very informative and again, loved the video clips!!
Then it was lunch and we did the whole thing all over again. I think my presentation went better the second time, I was a bit more relaxed and had no bluetooth issues!!
Then it was all over and we went back to our rooms to get packed and drive to the airport. I was sad to see it all end. I felt so connected and happy and like everyone there just got me. it was amazing!! John and I flew back together and he told me that when I apply to work at Apple he'll be a reference for me. sooo much squeeee!!
I still think back on that day and wish I could do it again. After doing that and hanging out with all those awesome people, I feel like Apple is a company I need to work for. I felt sure before but I feel even more sure now. I'll work at an Apple store or anywhere I can. I just need to get in there!
A couple weeks after the presentation I moved into my new basement suite. It's a pretty nice bachelor suite. I'm not sure it's the kind of place I'd like to live in forever, it's in an older home so definitely has some quirks. I think my biggest hang up with it is the shower. It's tiny and is surrounded on three sides by the curtain. there's only one real wall. There's also no water pressure and the floor is concrete so it doesn't feel nice to stand on. And girl problem, it really sucks to shave your legs in it. There's no room to stretch out and sitting on the concrete is really uncomfortable. I'm not such a fan! but other than that the suite is pretty cool. I definitely like living on my own and don't know if I could go back to roommates! it's so nice to be able to just come home at the end of the day and relax in my own space and know that whatever mess is mine. it's awesome!! and it's really close to where I lived last summer, so the starbucks and the mcdonalds and the e and n trail are just a short walk away! and Donna is literally my neighbour.
I guess the next big thing was my eye surgery. I wrote in december about my eye problems and on June 6th I went for my surgery. I spent two days in the hospital and then my parents came to stay with me for a week afterward. It was nice having them here. I spent the first few days in bed but by the next week, I was up and back to my two day a week job at the disability resource center. Not sure if I wrote about that or not but I do Apple training at the disability resource center two days a week. I have two students right now both learning iPhones. My students were surprised to see me back the next week but I was honestly ready. I'm surprised at how fast I healed.
I think that brings you up to pretty much present. I'm still working at the disability resource center. Briden and I are unfortunately no longer together. Our break up was pretty mutual but it still sucks all the same. I'm moving on though, just trying to take one day at a time. I have plans to go back to school in september but once again I'm feeling conflicted about my life. All I really wanna do is move out of Nanaimo back to Vancouver and work for Apple. I feel if I applied now given the references I have and the experience I have I'd have a pretty good shot at getting a job at the Apple store but I've worked so hard on my degree and I only have another year and a half left. Do I just bust out of here to go do what I really want or stick around and go to school? or maybe I could finish my degree online and still move. I don't know. I'm not really happy here and I feel like the only reason I'm here is to go to school. but I really wanna be back in the big city where there's lots going on and doing what I really wanna be doing. so I'm pretty conflicted right now. I haven't applied to Apple yet, I'm still thinking about everything. I'm going up to the cabin in a few days so I'm sure I'll talk about it with the parents and get their perspective on things. it'll be nice to go up to the cabin too, get out of here for awhile. I've been feeling for a long time like I really need a change of scenery and since the break up I feel even more like that and am really stoked to get out for awhile. I also have an eye appointment in victoria on thursday to get fitted for my prosthetic, so hopefully that'll go well! right now I just have a conformer in my eye which is a plastic clear thing that's just there to help the eye keep its shape. I can't wait to get my eye! lol...that sounds so strange!
and whew, I think that's all! that's all the life happenings of the canadian diva! I'm sure I've forgotten some details but I've definitely covered a lot!
R-E-S-P-E-C-Tfully submitted
canadian diva
positive things:
a short lived but good relationship
The awesome Apple presentation in Edmonton
my surgery was successful
I'm getting my new eye soon and getting out of Nanaimo for a few days
I'm not even gonna bother starting off this entry how I usually start off my entries lol. I'm well aware that it's been forever and a day but I'm pretty sure I said I'd just write whenever the mood strikes me, lol. I was just reading my friends page for the first time in forever and it kinda made me miss writing in my livejournal so I decided I would.
the past semester was really...interesting. I took two courses, digi 110 and digi 220. I finally got to take 110 and finish it! yay woo!! lol. and I loved 220. it was advanced web design and it was sooooo much fun. I wish I'd gotten an A instead of a B+ but I still loved it!!
VIU went on strike in the middle of the semester and that really threw things off. I won't even get into all the weird details of the strike, it was pretty complicated and ridiculous. the faculty went on strike against the administration who were wanting to cut courses among other things and it got really ugly. At first I was in favour of the strike, understanding that the faculty had to do what they had to do but when it last two, three, and finally four weeks, it was really getting old. We all thought we weren't gonna be able to finish our semester. Our school strike made the national news and almost broke records for being the longest university strike in Canada and being the only university to cancel a semester because of a strike. We were able to finish our semester, but by the end none of us really wanted too and finishing it was kind of more annoying than it was worth. And having a month of no school was soooo annoying! it caused a lot of anger and frustration from the students. Day in day out with nothing to do. it was ridiculous.
I wasn't able to go to CSUN this year either cuz my dad couldn't go and I was broke so couldn't go by myself. And the worst part was, if I wasn't broke I totally could've gone and not missed any classes. it made me really bummed.
But a few good things have happened, for sure. This year so far has been mostly crappy but there have been some good things!
Somewhere in the first or second week of strike, mid to end march, I met a guy. We met on plenty of fish. He sent me a message, I answered back and a few days later we met for coffee. His name was Briden. We really hit it off and had lots of fun together. Over the next few days we hung out a lot and on March 30th decided to make things official. He was a really great guy. He wasn't awkward at all about the blindness thing, in fact I'd go as far as to say he embraced it. He seemed to enjoy seeing how I navigated my world and taking part in it. We had lots of good times and lots of good conversations both serious and silly. I introduced him to the awesomeness that is the WWW trilogy and so when WWW:Wonder came out in April, we spent most nights cuddled on my couch reading it on his iPod touch. He's one of the few sighted people I've met who enjoys audio books more than print books and he's just as obsessed with audible as me if not more so. Reading audio books together kind of became our thing. Like me, he had a bit of a spontanious streak. He found out that Robert J. Sawyer was speaking at a writer's festival in prince george and he called me the night before to see if I wanted to go. "if we drove all night we could make it there by tomorrow night!" he'd said excitedly into the phone. That was one of the few times he called me, we mostly texted. I was excited too and we were so close to jumping in his car and hitting the road but then the rational side of both our brains kicked in and we realized that we're broke and he had work the next day lol. But we did take a spontanious trip to Victoria the next weekend.
In the beginning of April I got an exciting phone call. I think Id' just gotten out of the shower when I heard the awesome classic iPhone ringtone sound and I didn't recognize the number but was so curious that I grabbed it. It was someone who worked for Apple Canada! for Apple education. Apple was calling me! I'm not sure how I made it through the conversation without squealing ...not that I can squeal, but my equivalent lol. But I somehow remained ridiculously excited but professional at the same time. He told me Apple education was doing an event in Edmonton for the Alberta schoolboard and that he'd seen the video I did for my dad about accessibility of the iPad. He wanted me to come do a presentation at the event about the accessibility of the iPad and its benefits in the classroom. I didn't even have to think about the answer, of course I'd do it. He told me Apple would pay for my flight and hotel and everything and that it was on the 26th. I hung up the phone and jumped up and down and screamed as much as I can scream. then I texted Briden and told him I had news so awesome that I couldn't tell him in a text message and when he got off work he had to come over.
Throughout the next few weeks I worked lots on my presentation. I even went to the mainland with my mom for a day where I bought a new outfit and got my hair cut. Gotta look cute for an Apple event, ya know!!
Finally it was the 25th and I was heading to the ferry. It felt so cool to walk up to the counter and tell them that I was coming over on "business" and that my ticket had been pre-paid for. I've been to the ferry terminal so many times that I pretty much know where everything is now, so after they handed my ticket I wandered down to the Starbucks and bought myself a peppermint mocha since I'd purposefully gotten there early so I could do just that. I sat down and drank it and thought about the next day. It was all so exciting!!
Once I got off the ferry I found the car that was supposed to take me to the airport and finally I got to the airport and met up with John, one of my "colleagues" who I'd be flying over with. We had some time to kill before our flight so we stopped at one of the restaurants in the airport to grab some lunch. When we sat down at the table I pulled out my iPhone and he seemed to know exactly what I was doing. "are you trying to be the mayor?" he laughed and then told me he was checking in too. I felt even more of an instant connection.
The instant connection feeling didn't stop for the next day and a bit. I felt it with everyone I met. When I arrived at the hotel I opened my room door to find a big pillow on the floor with a dog water bowl on top. The hotel even thought of Goldina! We felt like Apple divas.
I orientated myself with the hotel room and then clicker trained Goldina to our door before making my way down the elevator to where I was supposed to meet the rest of the group for a meeting before we all went for dinner.
Dinner was amazing. We walked over to a pub close to the hotel. The food was amazing and so was the conversation. You know that squeee "I am made out of awesome" feeling I get when I'm at CSUN? I felt the exact same way with the Apple folk. I felt like I belonged and like they really wanted me there. We talked about how things would go the next day and about accessibility of Apple products and someone told me that the hotel had iPads built into the wall that had info about the hotel on them. I thought that was so cool! Unfortunately I never did get to see them, but how cool!!
I went back to my room after dinner and I felt so confident and full of awesome!! so included! unfortunately I couldn't sleep very well though, I guess I was wound up and excited but nervous about my presentation the next day. I guess I finally did get to sleep though. I woke up the next day and showered and put on my cute outfit and went down to the big conference room for breakfast and finally things started to happen.
I was the second person to present and we did the whole presentation twice for two different groups of people. The first group to present were from a school in Toronto that uses iPads to work with students with special needs. Their presentation was really inspiring and had some cute video clips!!
Then it was my turn. I brought my iPad and bluetooth keyboard up to the front of the room and went through a bit of how voiceover works on the iPad and also about how having this kind of out of the box accessibility has really changed my life on many levels. At one point I got a bit worried cuz my bluetooth wasn't working but thankfully the bluetooth gods smiled down on me and I was able to get my keyboard connected. After I was finished John told me that was his favourite part. I guess the way I handled it. I was kind of freaking out inside but stayed pretty calm outside.
After I was finished David N..not even gonna attempt his last name lol! from Assistiveware came up to talk about Proloquo2go and their other products. His presentation was also very informative and again, loved the video clips!!
Then it was lunch and we did the whole thing all over again. I think my presentation went better the second time, I was a bit more relaxed and had no bluetooth issues!!
Then it was all over and we went back to our rooms to get packed and drive to the airport. I was sad to see it all end. I felt so connected and happy and like everyone there just got me. it was amazing!! John and I flew back together and he told me that when I apply to work at Apple he'll be a reference for me. sooo much squeeee!!
I still think back on that day and wish I could do it again. After doing that and hanging out with all those awesome people, I feel like Apple is a company I need to work for. I felt sure before but I feel even more sure now. I'll work at an Apple store or anywhere I can. I just need to get in there!
A couple weeks after the presentation I moved into my new basement suite. It's a pretty nice bachelor suite. I'm not sure it's the kind of place I'd like to live in forever, it's in an older home so definitely has some quirks. I think my biggest hang up with it is the shower. It's tiny and is surrounded on three sides by the curtain. there's only one real wall. There's also no water pressure and the floor is concrete so it doesn't feel nice to stand on. And girl problem, it really sucks to shave your legs in it. There's no room to stretch out and sitting on the concrete is really uncomfortable. I'm not such a fan! but other than that the suite is pretty cool. I definitely like living on my own and don't know if I could go back to roommates! it's so nice to be able to just come home at the end of the day and relax in my own space and know that whatever mess is mine. it's awesome!! and it's really close to where I lived last summer, so the starbucks and the mcdonalds and the e and n trail are just a short walk away! and Donna is literally my neighbour.
I guess the next big thing was my eye surgery. I wrote in december about my eye problems and on June 6th I went for my surgery. I spent two days in the hospital and then my parents came to stay with me for a week afterward. It was nice having them here. I spent the first few days in bed but by the next week, I was up and back to my two day a week job at the disability resource center. Not sure if I wrote about that or not but I do Apple training at the disability resource center two days a week. I have two students right now both learning iPhones. My students were surprised to see me back the next week but I was honestly ready. I'm surprised at how fast I healed.
I think that brings you up to pretty much present. I'm still working at the disability resource center. Briden and I are unfortunately no longer together. Our break up was pretty mutual but it still sucks all the same. I'm moving on though, just trying to take one day at a time. I have plans to go back to school in september but once again I'm feeling conflicted about my life. All I really wanna do is move out of Nanaimo back to Vancouver and work for Apple. I feel if I applied now given the references I have and the experience I have I'd have a pretty good shot at getting a job at the Apple store but I've worked so hard on my degree and I only have another year and a half left. Do I just bust out of here to go do what I really want or stick around and go to school? or maybe I could finish my degree online and still move. I don't know. I'm not really happy here and I feel like the only reason I'm here is to go to school. but I really wanna be back in the big city where there's lots going on and doing what I really wanna be doing. so I'm pretty conflicted right now. I haven't applied to Apple yet, I'm still thinking about everything. I'm going up to the cabin in a few days so I'm sure I'll talk about it with the parents and get their perspective on things. it'll be nice to go up to the cabin too, get out of here for awhile. I've been feeling for a long time like I really need a change of scenery and since the break up I feel even more like that and am really stoked to get out for awhile. I also have an eye appointment in victoria on thursday to get fitted for my prosthetic, so hopefully that'll go well! right now I just have a conformer in my eye which is a plastic clear thing that's just there to help the eye keep its shape. I can't wait to get my eye! lol...that sounds so strange!
and whew, I think that's all! that's all the life happenings of the canadian diva! I'm sure I've forgotten some details but I've definitely covered a lot!
R-E-S-P-E-C-Tfully submitted
canadian diva
positive things:
a short lived but good relationship
The awesome Apple presentation in Edmonton
my surgery was successful
I'm getting my new eye soon and getting out of Nanaimo for a few days