miffy495

It varies by province. Every province in Canada runs its own educational system. In Alberta, typically it's K-6, 7-9, and then 10-12. K-4, 5-9 (like the school I'm starting at), and 10-12 is an option though, and some parents opt for that. Because of this, the school I'm starting at has two entry points; one for students who are starting in the fifth grade, and another for those who start in grade 7 after going to a K-6 school. I've never been in a middle school myself, so this will be a new thing for me. I started school in Ontario, which only has two divisions, K-7, and then 8-12. I came to Alberta in grade 8, so while I would have been entering high school in Ontario, I was actually just kind of dumped in the middle of Jr. High school here. The transition never having been something I've experienced myself, I'm interested to see how the structure works for students here.

I actually had a great time with it. Does it have online? I'd play a round or two with you...

Well folks, I got a job. Until the next holiday, I'm out for mid-Monday fun times. It's been a slice, but I'll have to relegate myself to night-time and/or weekend Thumb events from here out. Except holidays. And next summer, because fuck it I'm a teacher and it's vacation time.

Quoting these from several pages back so I don't need to re-explain: So today I was hired for a probationary contract. I did not know that the interview was for this going in, and assumed that I was being called up because of another short notice maternity leave. I went through the interview, talked about everything fairly well apparently, and about 6 hours later was told that I got it. I will be starting on Monday as a fifth grade teacher at a middle school. Given that everyone has been telling me that I'm best suited to upper elementary, I'm not surprised, but the school's demographic being ages 10 - 14 is going to be an interesting time. The big thing is that it only took me a year to break out of the temp cycle. I have effectively skipped what for many teachers is a years-long process before getting their own class made for them. The backstory to this job is that the school originally planned on having 4 grade 5 classes, but had a rush of applicants in late summer/early fall and has now decided to split those four classes into five. This means I'm not taking over anyone's job, this is my own class. This is the best thing I could possibly hope for at this point in my career. I am terrified, but from descriptions the grade five team (four teachers who were already there) is awesome and it will be a similar experience to what I was so successful in during the first term of last year. This is a big, big deal. I think I'm going to be sick.

Going through a teacher training program, a LOT of the women I was in school with were pretty much there for something to do until they started a family. It was actually startling to me how many of my friends were very excited about teaching "until things settle down and I can just be a mom." I didn't even realize going in that this would be such a common sentiment. Then there were all the friends I have OUTSIDE of teaching for whom, like you said about people in their 20s, the idea of a baby is a source of abject terror. As a result, about half of the "I think I'm pregnant" conversations that I've had have been ones of condolence, and the other half have been someone super excited about it. I've learned very well to show no emotion other than curiosity until the point at which I am positive about how the possible-mother feels. Usually that doesn't take long. Friend: "I think I'm pregnant." Me: "Wow, really?" Friend: "YEAH! ISN'T IT GREAT?" or "Yeah. What the fuck am I going to do?" Me: *reacts appropriately*

Yes, I did. Not a pint of scotch, but a pint glass that contained a normal amount of scotch.

In North America, we don't have the rad special edition. Still, I'm in a similar boat and getting it for $50, which was the price when I preordered it, instead of the $65 that it is now. Thanks, Amazon!

EDIT: Also, it's a cup, not a mug. My bad. Don't know why I wrote mug.

Today, I was legitimately stoked to go to a home furnishing store and buy proper glassware. I am a boring grown up who does boring grown up things, but I'm drinking my scotch from a very nice glass now rather than the Gremlins souvenir mug I have traditionally been using. I thought of this thread.

I didn't say he was wrong, just that this cause does not require as much frothing devotion as some others.

Yeah, I have a friend who will take up any cause that comes in front of him with such fervor that many people have learned to tune him out. When you are willing to put equal time into arguing for actual social justice issues as you are to "THE CHRISTOPHER NOLAN BATMAN MOVIES ARE ANTI-WORKER", you may be over-doing it. I am more the ally who will allow those actually affected to say their piece and do most of my speaking up when the person who needs speaking to will need to hear it from a fellow white guy. The "Dude, not cool" type. Also, I use my position as a teacher to reinforce things in kids that will help them to not be horrible people in the future. I'm all subtle and stuff, rather than ranting on social media like the aforementioned friend. He means well, and his heart is in the right place, but he is a very overbearing person and will likely do more to put off people than convince them.

On the plus side, we're able to watch as the worst people effectively ghettoize themselves even FURTHER beyond 4chan.

...Just makes me miss my mohawk. I had pretty much that hair a month ago, and had to shave it off for work. Boo.

I'm pretty sure it's just visiting gamer sites that puts me in the "probably has an asian fetish" targeted demographic, which is a sad statement on things.

HAHAHA! The ad at the top of the Zoe Quinn article: "20000+ Asian Women Are Ready To Date You! CLICK HERE"

You will never be an adult.

I'M HELPING CLEAN UP!!!!!

That game was ridiculous. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Yeah, 1pm Mountain (me!), noon Pacific, 3pm EST. Hopefully folks in North America can figure out their shit from there.

That Hamachi thing is a huge pain in the ass, but I think I've got it figured out. It also keeps on telling me that I'll need to buy a subscription in 14 days, so this does not seem like a permanent solution. EDIT: Nope, definitely do not have it figured out.

Any other 3DS folks been playing this lately? I picked it up earlier this week and have been blasting through all the single player stuff since. Beat all 8 cups on 50cc and 100cc, and all 4 new cups on 150cc. Would have done the classic cups on 150cc too, but my battery is about to crap out on me. So far I like it a lot. The Star cup is pretty heavy on underwater bits, which I wish they'd spread out more throughout the games, but in general the new courses are great. I really like that there are point-to-point races in this version. It's a small new addition, but one with a lot of potential. Only 3 of the 16 new courses are point-to-point, but they're some of my favourite tracks. When I saw that the new Rainbow Road was of this type, I had the hugest grin on my face. Almost as big as the grin when I saw that the last track in the classic cups in the SNES Rainbow Road, but with small additions like the entire section of track shaking and throwing you around when one of the giant flashing thwomps hits. After the mis-steps of Mario Kart Wii I was nervous about this one, but can say now that it ranks up there with the best of them. The only things that are really holding it back are small details, like the sparks when powersliding are based on how long you've slid rather than your shaking of the analog disc. As a Mario Kart aficionado, I've gotta give this one its propers. Any thumbs down for a bit of online racing? PS: I wish I'd started unlocking characters before doing 150cc. It's nice now that I'm unlocking a new character every time I finish a cup, but going through my first 16 cups only unlocking a drip feed of kart customization stuff sucked.

The fact that the double-take inducing posts in this thread are from Mington tells me one thing: ZeusTheCat does not shave.

HOLY SHIT. YES PLEASE. YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN. EDIT: Also, when I am drunk, I may repeat this to friends and forget to credit you. I apologize in advance and will do my best to make it clear that it was not me that was this mind-blowingly clever.

I too was at a house-warming last night, and knew no one except the person who was moving in, a long-term very good friend of mine. The others there were all people from her work who I did not know at all. I got along well with everyone, but was constantly asked why I'd only had one drink, and the explanation that I had to drive home and go to bed at a reasonable hour because I'd finally got my sleep schedule right and didn't want to fuck it up again was baffling to people. These people were all in my age range (I'm 26. I'd say the party was all in the mid-twenties range.) but as they all worked at the same coffee shop, did not worry so much about getting a full night's sleep and so were baffled by how much importance I placed on this. I went home when everyone else was drunk enough that I could slip out quietly. I feel like I'm in a weird middle-spot with regards to adulthood. I have two circles of friends, both the same age, who are vastly different. I did not get much outside funding for my academics, so paid for school through working full-time or close to it in customer service for the duration of my two degrees. The people I met at these places (movie theatres and coffee shops) I have remained friends with and still all very much act like "young adults". The people I went to high school with and stuck with for a board game night are also great friends, but due to being the kind of people who can succeed in academia without having to worry too much about it, are now talking about buying property and career things. This means that on Monday at games night I'm talking about things that are shockingly grown-up (mhm. Yes. Insurance, wot? Property values. mhm.), while on Friday I get a phone call to go act like an idiot kid and will enjoy doing so. I've started to feel like I'm too adult for one group of friends and not adult enough for the other. As a teacher, having the summer months off means that I get into all sorts of dumb situations with the young-minded crowd as well. Those are the months when I have an embarrassment of time, and so am free to be young. And that's what it comes down to for me: I'm an adult when I need to worry about how I use my time. I don't have to do that two months of the year, so I'm not an adult during the summer. Having seen what other teachers (up to and including those who are nearly at retirement) get up to during the summers, I don't know that I ever will be. September through June, I am an adult because of how much I need to budget my time, but in that budget I keep maybe a night or two a month when I can be young in order to not lose ties with those who facilitate my acting stupid during the summer. During the summer, I don't give a shit about my schedule and can do whatever, so I become young again. And yeah, GraysonEvans and Badfinger, it doesn't even take 10 years. I was already looking back at my 20 year old self at 25 and thinking "Man, I honestly did think I was a grown up then, didn't I? I was fucking DUMB." and will now nostalgically look back on that time period with friends by saying things like "Man, remember when the most difficult thing in your life was that your manager at your mindless retail job was kind of a dick? That was awesome." Not to say it's not hard when you're going through it, or that you're wrong to feel accomplished for getting as far as you have. You should be legitimately proud of these things. The problem is that life continues to get more complicated until (I am desperately hoping) you are able to settle into a rhythm in a career and start using that stability to bring the rest of your life in order. Having hit a point where I am now able to peek into the world of adults who have their shit together and know that five years ago they were what I am now, I'm starting to feel like I can make it, but I know that I've still got a while to go before I'm there. I feel like I'll be able to claim stability when I'm about 30, and know that I'm incredibly privileged to be able to do even that. Further, given trends in life, I'm also sure that when I'm 30 I'll be looking back at present-day me and thinking "Shit, I was naive."

Drah-ing.