Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

17 Posts – An Introduction

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

I’ve been a terrible blogger this past year, really I have. No need to go through the motions by telling me that I’m not that bad while I just cry, eat ice cream, before eventually accepting my own failures. We are well past that.

Back in my glory days (circa 2007-2008) I was a lean, mean, blogging machine. Looking at my archives, it’s easy to see that it wouldn’t be uncommon to write 10-20 posts a month, whereas now I’m lucky to get 4 done in that span.

The easy thing to say is that I don’t have any time for it. I mean, I live in a foreign country, work full time, and try to have a social life where I talk to *real* people now, so obviously time is a bit short. But the truth is, like everything else, I just don’t make time for it anymore.

Blogging is a very egotistical hobby to have. Obviously I feel that my opinions on life matter enough to write them down, and that you all care enough to want to read them. I think in the last few years I have gotten more humble with my old age. While this is inherently a good thing, an unfortunate side effect seems to be less and less blogging here. I mean, if I am just another cog in the machine, why would my opinions on politics, music, or sports really be worth reading?

Well I’m posting here to tell you that is no more. I’m going to get my ego back.

I’m on summer vacation right now, and in the past few years I have taken a break from blogging, this year it’s going to be different. I have 17 days left until I go back to China and I plan on writing a post for every one of those days. I have a lot in mind, and a few started. They may not all be actually posted on each day, due to internet access issues, but I will have them published on each day.

I don’t have plans for every post, but I have a few in mind on living in China, LeBron James, New York City, homecomings, and a lot more. No matter what I end up typing, I hope that you all enjoy the ride.

One down, 16 to go!

Until next time,

G

Saying Goodye

Friday, June 18th, 2010

I’m not ready for this, not this time.

June 26th used to seem like a lifetime away, but now it’s right around the corner.

I always seem to be going somewhere new, somewhere different.

Trenton, Brookfield, Wolfville, Dumfries, North Bay, Oakville, have all been my home, but now there’s here.

The first place in my “adult life” that I’ve stuck out for more that one year in a row.  The first place in a long time I’ve come back to.  But I won’t be doing that anymore.

I know it’s right, I know it’s time, but that doesn’t mean that I’m ready.  So much left to say, so much left to do.

I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the Grade 12s so I didn’t.  Now they’re gone.  I’m not ready to say goodbye to my friends.  Hopefully they’ll wait for me to get the courage.  If not, I hope they understand.

But I guess it’s time for me to go.  Time to get close to somewhere else, before it’s time to go again.

Until next time,

G

Transitions Interview – Teaching in China

Friday, May 28th, 2010

A former professor of mine at Nipissing recently completed something called “Transitions…from Teacher Candidate to Classroom Teacher”.  In this he asked a few different teachers about transitions they made with hope of passing advice onto people who were in my shoes three short years ago.  Anyway, he asked me to be the “expert” in getting a job abroad.  I doubt that I am much of an expert, but apparently I am.   Since many of you readers out there are either teachers I thought this could be of service.  If not, well I’m not very good at giving updates, so I hope that it sates that need.

Enjoy!

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Logistics for the Summer

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

So it’s all said and done, my multitude of flights for the summer has been booked.  I’ll be flying to the following places on the following dates:

Shanghai to San Francisco:  June 26

San Francisco to Toronto:  June 30

Toronto to New York:  July 5

New York to Halifax:  July 8

Halifax to Toronto:  July 15

Toronto to Guangzhou via a zillion other places:  July 24.

So…get your bookings for designated Glen-time now.  It’s going to be a wild ride.

Until next time,

G

I Never Win Anything…

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Pardon me for buzzing a bit but I’m a wee bit excited.  See I never win anything and tonight I did.

Tonight was my school’s Chinese New Year banquet and there were a series of door prizes.  They early roudns ranged from hand towels to cooking wear even to travel vouchers.  But I won the grand prize…and I’ve named it Phil.

At the grand finale of the evening they drew one last name for a prize, and I won.  I never win anything, except for tonight.  I won a Philips 32 Inch LCD TV.

I was so excited that I ran up and gave my head of school a hug, then I lifted her up a good 3 feet into the air.  Then I picked up Phil and gave him a kiss (he’s in a box, so there’s protection).  I was so excited that my hand slipped, and I felt him start to tumble from my grasp.

Thankfully I was able to reach my hand back and nab him just before he hit the ground.  That would have been embarassing.

I have nothing else to add right now, I’m more excited that anything.  Here’s a Google image result of Phil.

Tropical Paradise Not Included

To make things even funnier,  I was a few hours late to the dinner, as I was coaching Middle School Floor Hockey, so I had to give my ticket to Elvina to put it into the raffle. To make it even funnier, last year she won plane tickets to Qingdao.  Luckily she took me with her.  I figure it’s fair now, I’ll let her watch my TV.  To make things even funnier still, I found out that my head of school (remember the one that I lifted into the air) has a hurt ankle..oops.  If she’s hurt, she can always come over and watch my TV.

Until next time,

G

The Decade List – Part 5

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

And so it ends how it begins.  With reflection and a hint of regret.  I’ve saved some of my favourites for the finale here, hope you’ve enjoyed this feature!

The Decade List

Just to recount, here are the first 20 songs that bring us to where we are now…

1.  The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done

2.  Bloc Party – This Modern Love

3.  Beck – Lost Cause

4.  Stars – Your Ex-Lover is Dead

5.  Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies

6.  Matthew Good – Weapon

7.  Metric – Monster Hospital

8.  M.I.A.  – Paper Planes

9.  The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army

10.  Ryan Adams – New York, New York

11.  Feist – 1234

12.  Broken Social Scene – Cause = Time

13.  Flobots – Handlebars

14.  Kanye West – Jesus Walks

15.  DJ Dangermouse – Encore

16.  Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out

17.  Justin Timberlake – Sexy Back

18.  Flo Rida featuring Kesha – Right Round

19.  Outkast – Hey Ya

20.  Rihanna featuring Jay-Z – Umbrella

And that brings us to…

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The Decade List – Part 4

Monday, December 14th, 2009

After a few times focusing on such serious things as war and slefishness, it’s now time to look at some of the best additions this decade has had to help crowd the dancefloor.

The Decade List

But to recap, here are the first 15 songs:

1.  The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done

2.  Bloc Party – This Modern Love

3.  Beck – Lost Cause

4.  Stars – Your Ex-Lover is Dead

5.  Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies

6.  Matthew Good – Weapon

7.  Metric – Monster Hospital

8.  M.I.A.  – Paper Planes

9.  The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army

10.  Ryan Adams – New York, New York

11.  Feist – 1234

12.  Broken Social Scene – Cause = Time

13.  Flobots – Handlebars

14.  Kanye West – Jesus Walks

15.  DJ Dangermouse – Encore

And now we have…

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The Decade List – Part 3

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

More than any political or philosophical force, this decade saw the rise of one thing:  individualism.  This past decade doesn’t really have a name but it could easily be called the “Me Decade” and all of us could be called members of “Generation M-E”With the increase role that technology has on our lives, the entire world is at our fingertips.  We can now decide what we want, when we want it.  While I think that the consequences of this shift are still a long way away, the early years of the 21st century will surely be known as the beginning of the “Individual Revolution”.  Today I’ll look at the five songs that really make me think about me the individual.

 

The Decade List

Just to recap, here are the first 10 songs that made the list:

1.  The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done

2.  Bloc Party – This Modern Love

3.  Beck – Lost Cause

4.  Stars – Your Ex-Lover is Dead

5.  The Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies)

6.  Matthew Good – Weapon

7.  Metric – Monster Hospital

8.  M.I.A. – Paper Planes

9.  White Stripes – Seven Nation Army

10.  Ryan Adams – New York, New York

The next five additions are…

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The Decade List – Part 2

Monday, November 30th, 2009

The past decade has been filled with conflict, from Iraq to Afghanistan, to rising crime in the Western World.  Today I look back at the songs from the past 119 months that have had the most impact on me personally that all have to do with conflict.

The Decade List

Before we start, just a reminder from last time our playlist so far was:

1.  The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done

2.  Bloc Party – This Modern Love

3.  Beck – Lost Cause

4.  Stars – Your Ex-Lover is Dead

5.  The Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies)

The next five additions are….

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The Decade List – Part 1

Monday, November 16th, 2009

As the first decade of this millennium draws to a close, it is time to start looking back a bit.  One of the ways that I intend to do that is by creating my own personal playlist of the decade.  This includes 25 songs that have made an impact on me in the past 9 years and 11 months.  I do not think that I have the ability or desire to rank pieces of art objectively.  So my criteria are simple.  All songs on the list must have been released in a year that begins with 20.  Also, for the purposes of accessibility, they are all going to be singles.  With that specific definition left up to me.

I plan on releasing the list in groups of five over the next month and a bit.  I do not have any schedule, they will just appear when I see fit I suppose.

Interestingly enough, I found that most of these songs were released in between 2004 and 2007.  These two years are significant to me both musically, as they are the year that my favourite band, Arcade Fire, released their two albums, and also personally, as they are the two years that I received University Degrees.  I am not certain if there is a connection or not, but it does add a certain credence to the notion that we need music when we are seeking meaning to our lives.  Something that certainly comes with facing the unknown world outside of the comforts of Academia.

Enough dither, there is plenty of time for that as the list goes on.

The Decade List

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