So it is offical. Tomorrow makes it a month until I start my last year of University. It is scary but it is also really awesome. To think in less than 12 months I will have my B.A. and will hopefully know what I am going to do for the following 12 months is pretty exciting.
The question "so what are you going to do after you're done?" has been coming up a lot. My usual answer "no idea" or "I have a few things I am looking into" is not really sufficing for me anymore. I really need to look into what I am going to apply for come the end of the school year. I think that next summer I am going to apply at the Canadian Mental Health Association again if I do not get a job that will lead into a full time job in the fall. I have also been toying will the idea of applying to post grad programs. Here is where it gets interesting. All along I have been thinking about applying for a Business degree or marketing or a Masters of Communication or journalism. But now I am giving some real though about possibly social work? Now hear me out. I know prior to this year I would have laughed at the notion but I really think it would make sense. I, A) really like this job and think I do a good job at work and B) there is a real demand for men in this field, so instant job. But there there is also C) the pay is not too great. Which is sadly a huge factor for me when I am working.
So what to do? I think over the next month I will begin looking at websites and seeing what is out there and what I can really see myself being successful in. Then come September I will get down to business with school and really get my ass in gear.
I am off to photocopy my T.A. application.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
untitled.
It's been almost a week, over a week if you don't count the last post because it was a bit of a cop out, since I posted last.
Last weekend was absolutely incredible. Spent saturday at the cottage and sunday relaxing. I got burnt pretty bad but it was sun that was much needed.
Recently I have been freaking out a bit because of the volunteer and paid positions I am looking to get in the coming year. I know that I need to do something so that my resume will pop out when it hits the desks of executives next spring. Right now I have two things lined up, one is working with the Career centre at the University well the other one is working with a organization called Crossroads helping them out with some P.R. stuff and getting their oeganizations off the ground. I think it is gonna be a good year, I just have to make sure I don't leave everything to the last second like I always do. cross your fingers.
take it easy.
p.s. I have Adam and Erica's engagement party coming up this weekend, I have to admit; I am a little nervous.
Last weekend was absolutely incredible. Spent saturday at the cottage and sunday relaxing. I got burnt pretty bad but it was sun that was much needed.
Recently I have been freaking out a bit because of the volunteer and paid positions I am looking to get in the coming year. I know that I need to do something so that my resume will pop out when it hits the desks of executives next spring. Right now I have two things lined up, one is working with the Career centre at the University well the other one is working with a organization called Crossroads helping them out with some P.R. stuff and getting their oeganizations off the ground. I think it is gonna be a good year, I just have to make sure I don't leave everything to the last second like I always do. cross your fingers.
take it easy.
p.s. I have Adam and Erica's engagement party coming up this weekend, I have to admit; I am a little nervous.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Life
I think I finally have the next 6 months of my life figured out, school wise at least. This does not seem like a lot, but to be honest it's a real relief. Especially knowing that I will be able to handle the load of school work I have set out for myself. This is really the first time I will have been able to do this because usually I take new kinds of courses that I have no idea what the work load will be like. But this coming semester I have a lot of continuation classes so it's all good.
I think the class I am most excited about isn't even a class at all. I am doing a practicum or practica, I have heard it called both, at the campus radio station. A lot people already know this, but I have been working at the station for coming on 3 years, so a lot of this stuff won't really be new to me. I would also like to point out that a lot of this stuff won't be like work for me. I love everything about the radio station, okay I won't go that far, there are a few things/people that I could live without, but overall the station has been a really big part of my university life.
I am also taking two video production courses, which should be good because I have always excelled at video production at university.
Another pretty awesome step forward in my university career is my accomplishment of a minor in Poli Sci, which will be completed with the Women in Politics course I am taking. The great thing about this course is the fact that is it distance education, which means I won't have to go to class. So with the practica and this distance ed course, I only have three classes I actually have to attend.
And lastly, I am taking a course on blogging, which is why I set up this blog in the first place.
With these courses all completed as of January 2008, I will be 5 credits shy of attaining my Bacholar of Arts Honours degree in Communication Studies. In those 5 courses I will be taking the second half of my advanced video course, a first year comm course, and then i have 3 options, which is nice.
Once I am finished that I will have completed probably the most hectic 4 years of my life so far. In these 4 years, things have gone wrong but oddly know a lot of things have fallen perfectly into place. Which leads me to the question, can I do no wrong?
My answer, no. I can do no wrong and thank god for that.
end transmission.
I think the class I am most excited about isn't even a class at all. I am doing a practicum or practica, I have heard it called both, at the campus radio station. A lot people already know this, but I have been working at the station for coming on 3 years, so a lot of this stuff won't really be new to me. I would also like to point out that a lot of this stuff won't be like work for me. I love everything about the radio station, okay I won't go that far, there are a few things/people that I could live without, but overall the station has been a really big part of my university life.
I am also taking two video production courses, which should be good because I have always excelled at video production at university.
Another pretty awesome step forward in my university career is my accomplishment of a minor in Poli Sci, which will be completed with the Women in Politics course I am taking. The great thing about this course is the fact that is it distance education, which means I won't have to go to class. So with the practica and this distance ed course, I only have three classes I actually have to attend.
And lastly, I am taking a course on blogging, which is why I set up this blog in the first place.
With these courses all completed as of January 2008, I will be 5 credits shy of attaining my Bacholar of Arts Honours degree in Communication Studies. In those 5 courses I will be taking the second half of my advanced video course, a first year comm course, and then i have 3 options, which is nice.
Once I am finished that I will have completed probably the most hectic 4 years of my life so far. In these 4 years, things have gone wrong but oddly know a lot of things have fallen perfectly into place. Which leads me to the question, can I do no wrong?
My answer, no. I can do no wrong and thank god for that.
end transmission.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Hapa
As you probably already know if you're reading this, I am half Japanese. Hapa, also the title of this entry, is a Hawaiian term that means half but is now generally accepted as a term towards asians to mean "half white". Though I grew up with hapa cousins, knew a few hapas in elementry school and met even more in university, I have found myself to be in a special but odd situation from a lot of these people.
A lot of the hapas I have met are either very white with a tiny bit of asian or very asian with a tiny bit of white, I seem to be a pretty solid mix where people know I am asian but there is something not exactly right about it. I'm not Hawaiian because my skin is fairly pale and I'm also not native because I just don't have the look. This leads me to the question that I dread the most in life, "So what are you?"
Growing up in an all white neighbourhood, the answer was pretty simple, "I'm irish." I accepted I was Irish, the kids I grew up with accepted I was Irish and no one really questioned it. My asian roots were neglected and I have to admit, it was on purpose. Even though I didn't know it as a kid, I think I really did it because I didn't want to be different. Other kids had roots from the British Isles, so I could identify myself with them, so I ran with it.
I guess some of the neglect could stem from the fact that race wasn't really an issue growing up. I would rather play baseball or hockey (I even took karate) and this took up a lot of my time. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, my mom lived in a completely white neighbourhood and race was a pretty serious issue; and because of the sensitive nature of the topic I think it was avoided when I was growing up. I don't really blame her either, as nice as it is to know your roots growing up I think it was really important to grow up as a Canadian and not as a minority; and for that I am greatful. With my dad, I know this is going to sound weird but I was just his son. I wasn't his half asian son, just his son. So the topic of being asian was not really talked about at home.
Then as I got older, new people entered my life and the question started to come up. The kids that I grew up with slowly faded out and the realization that I was JUST Irish slowly slipped away. "So what are you?" they'd ask; and I would reply "Well, I'm Irish..." and it would be followed by "No, seriously..." then I would have to make my big speech about my ethnic background. This is usually followed by a celebration and the exclaimation that they KNEW I wasn't 100% asian, they knew it! Good for them, gold star. And the only thing worse than that question would be the guessing game that sometimes replaced it. "Are you Chinese?" And you want to reply soooo badly "NO! You idiot, not everyone with slanted eyes is Chinese, there's a whole freakin' continent over there!" But that never came out because I was too busy trying to get this question over with and possibly move onto to a more important question, such as "What's your name?"
As I started my first year at university, the comforts of knowing a lot of people and having already been over the mixed race issue in high school vanished. All over again, people would ask "What are you?" And now the reply "Oh, cool" was used after I answered.
But when third year started, I think something in me (possibly a sign of growing up) wanted to culture myself. It mostly started on facebook where I found a group that was all about Hapas, and where I first saw the term being used. It was pretty refreshing to know that I wasn't alone in my frustrations and it really kind of made me prouder and more curious about Japanese culture. It also brought this whole hapa culture to life.
Which brings me to what sparked this blog entry. An author by the name of Kip Fulbeck (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip_Fulbeck), who I stumbled upon well online searching for a picture to put on this blog, wrote an entire book on Hapa indentity called Half Asian, 100% Hapa (http://www.amazon.com/Part-Asian-100%-Hapa-Fulbeck/dp/0811849597/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-9434399-7440722?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184344850&sr=8-1). It was based around the question "What are you?" which I know so well. It is a directory of Hapas from all over the United States that contains a profile photo of the individual and at the bottom he allowed them to write a half page answer to the question, whatever they felt like answering. He has also written a book called "Paper Bullets" (http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Bullets-Fictional-Autobiography-American/dp/0295980796/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-9434399-7440722?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184344855&sr=8-2) which is a fictional autobiography based on his experiences. I think I am going to go and buy one of those books tonight.
Take it easy.
A lot of the hapas I have met are either very white with a tiny bit of asian or very asian with a tiny bit of white, I seem to be a pretty solid mix where people know I am asian but there is something not exactly right about it. I'm not Hawaiian because my skin is fairly pale and I'm also not native because I just don't have the look. This leads me to the question that I dread the most in life, "So what are you?"
Growing up in an all white neighbourhood, the answer was pretty simple, "I'm irish." I accepted I was Irish, the kids I grew up with accepted I was Irish and no one really questioned it. My asian roots were neglected and I have to admit, it was on purpose. Even though I didn't know it as a kid, I think I really did it because I didn't want to be different. Other kids had roots from the British Isles, so I could identify myself with them, so I ran with it.
I guess some of the neglect could stem from the fact that race wasn't really an issue growing up. I would rather play baseball or hockey (I even took karate) and this took up a lot of my time. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, my mom lived in a completely white neighbourhood and race was a pretty serious issue; and because of the sensitive nature of the topic I think it was avoided when I was growing up. I don't really blame her either, as nice as it is to know your roots growing up I think it was really important to grow up as a Canadian and not as a minority; and for that I am greatful. With my dad, I know this is going to sound weird but I was just his son. I wasn't his half asian son, just his son. So the topic of being asian was not really talked about at home.
Then as I got older, new people entered my life and the question started to come up. The kids that I grew up with slowly faded out and the realization that I was JUST Irish slowly slipped away. "So what are you?" they'd ask; and I would reply "Well, I'm Irish..." and it would be followed by "No, seriously..." then I would have to make my big speech about my ethnic background. This is usually followed by a celebration and the exclaimation that they KNEW I wasn't 100% asian, they knew it! Good for them, gold star. And the only thing worse than that question would be the guessing game that sometimes replaced it. "Are you Chinese?" And you want to reply soooo badly "NO! You idiot, not everyone with slanted eyes is Chinese, there's a whole freakin' continent over there!" But that never came out because I was too busy trying to get this question over with and possibly move onto to a more important question, such as "What's your name?"
As I started my first year at university, the comforts of knowing a lot of people and having already been over the mixed race issue in high school vanished. All over again, people would ask "What are you?" And now the reply "Oh, cool" was used after I answered.
But when third year started, I think something in me (possibly a sign of growing up) wanted to culture myself. It mostly started on facebook where I found a group that was all about Hapas, and where I first saw the term being used. It was pretty refreshing to know that I wasn't alone in my frustrations and it really kind of made me prouder and more curious about Japanese culture. It also brought this whole hapa culture to life.
Which brings me to what sparked this blog entry. An author by the name of Kip Fulbeck (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip_Fulbeck), who I stumbled upon well online searching for a picture to put on this blog, wrote an entire book on Hapa indentity called Half Asian, 100% Hapa (http://www.amazon.com/Part-Asian-100%-Hapa-Fulbeck/dp/0811849597/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-9434399-7440722?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184344850&sr=8-1). It was based around the question "What are you?" which I know so well. It is a directory of Hapas from all over the United States that contains a profile photo of the individual and at the bottom he allowed them to write a half page answer to the question, whatever they felt like answering. He has also written a book called "Paper Bullets" (http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Bullets-Fictional-Autobiography-American/dp/0295980796/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-9434399-7440722?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184344855&sr=8-2) which is a fictional autobiography based on his experiences. I think I am going to go and buy one of those books tonight.
Take it easy.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Take One, ACTION!
Welcome to my newly created blog.
This blog was created for two reasons. One, because I am always semi bored at work and now I have something to fill like 15 minutes of that boredom with. And two, I am taking a class about blogging so I figure a) i need one and b) i need practice.
So here it is, enjoy.
This blog was created for two reasons. One, because I am always semi bored at work and now I have something to fill like 15 minutes of that boredom with. And two, I am taking a class about blogging so I figure a) i need one and b) i need practice.
So here it is, enjoy.
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