Tooting my own Horn

I don't often talk about my Masters degree in any detail. For some reason I don't talk about it as much as I want to. I generally discuss it in very broad terms or tend to gloss over the work I am doing. I think it is because I worry about boring people, inciting arguments over politics, or sounding like I am on a high horse. Secretly, I could talk about health equity and Population Health all day. Yesterday, I had my chance.

Months and months ago, I did a practicum with Vancouver Coastal Health. I created a toolkit for health care teams to use so they can learn about the social factors that affect health and what they could do to create more health equity. I thought it was a pretty important project and thus, decided to apply to do a poster presentation at the International Conference on Urban Health. For those of you who aren't familiar withe doing poster presentations, it is essentially a grown up version of show and tell except with a large poster that describes what you did. I was accepted and yesterday I was able to present my toolkit at the conference. For 2 hours, I stood by my poster and talked to other people that had the same passion for health equity I had. I was so excited to talk with like minded people and share ideas. The even better part was that everyone was really interested in the work that I did. They wanted copies of the toolkit. I even had a sign up sheet of email contacts.

For the first time in a long while I felt really good about my choice to do this Masters degree. As my blog atests to, the journey has not always been easy. I was often filled with self doubt about my own capabilities and intelligence. Academia is not always kind to your self-esteem. Yesterday was the proverbial pat on the back that I needed as I head into the final stretch of this path in my life.

Transit Trivia

I am a regular user of public transit in Vancouver and generally it is a solemn experience with grumpy almost stoic Vancouverites sacrificing for the environment to take public transit. This morning it was an entirely different ride to do.wntown. I got a packed bus and thought that it would be another morning of being crammed like sardines next to some corporate suit checking his blackberry. As I boarded the bus I noticed chocolate bars hanging near the driver. I thought that this was weird, was he selling them? Giving them away to passengers that smiled at him? I was curious about these chocolately treats. About 15 minutes into the ride, the driver came over the loudspeaker and anounced that we would be playing transit trivia for a chocolate bar and winners were decided by applause. For the first time in many many rides downtown the transit ride had some excitement, people were smiling and laughing. People were chatting with each other and applauding. As many people got off the bus at their stops, they were smiling. This silly little game for an insignificant prize made so many people smile. It definitely made me smile for the rest of the day whenever I thought about "John" our bus driver and his trivia game.

Alternative Lifestyle

Every two years we do a family vacation together. This is an opportunity for almost all of the family to spend an extended period of time together. Our original family of 6 has grown into a two mini-van trip family, with 5 kids under the age of 5 in tow. This year we went to Portland and rented a lovely house in the Irvington Historic District. This was a nice opportunity to catch up with my family and spend some time with my nieces and nephew. I have missed large family sit down dinners and the chaos that goes with it.


This family trip made me realize just how much time has gone by. I remember when we were little my parents packing us up into a minivan and taking us to Disneyland. Now it is my sisters packing their kids and us into the minivan for a family trip. My parents are getting older and it is weird to see how the dynamics have shifted and who has become the parents now.

It was nice to spend time with my family but I am also very appreciative of my space and freedom. I adore the little ones but I am definitely content to be fun Aunty Char, then give them back at the end of the day.

Feeling small

I was so enthusiastic 2 years ago, I felt that the world was completely open to me and the sky was the limit. Now I feel that the sky is falling and the world is not as big as I thought it was. Reality is closing in on me.

Finances and trying to find a job coupled with finishing my final project is causing a few sleepless nights. However, I will survive and it will all work out in the end.

Jude

Almost 2 years ago, I was on my way to New York to visit my friend Marie. On the flight from Washington D.C. to Albany I took out "A Race Against Time" by Stephen Lewis. For those of you not familiar with it, it is based on the Massey Lecture presented by the former special envoy to Africa on HIV/AIDS. It is a compelling book urging the world to rethink HIV/AIDS. The person seated next to me noticed the title of the book and started to ask me about it. An hour later, we had exchanged life stories and aspirations for the future. She was extremely well grounded and emotionally aware. I ended up sharing my email address with her and attending a lecture she was organizing while I was in New York. Since then, she has developed into a motivational speaker and has occasionally sent me emails with thoughts and inspirations. I just received an email from her and it is has inspired me to be more introspective about some of the experiences in my life. I hope to share them with you in this blog.

The End is Near

Tonight I had what I hope to be my last class ever at SFU. I say hope because I am pretty certain my affiliation with SFU will end at the end of this degree but I do have intentions of going back to school again but hopefully not at SFU. I took a course for interest and learning and it turned out to be less than stellar. At least it is done and I have finished my last sitting in a classroom course. Just have to finish my directed readings and my final project. Yippie...I am getting one step closer to becoming "Master char".

This is the first blog in more than a year. I had decided to stop blogging because it seemed that my life didn't warrant writing about (Most of my blogs were only centered around life of a grad student) but, after some consideration, and some cajoling by my sisters, who are avid bloggers, I decided to resurrect the wacky world of char. Hopefully, there are some readers still left out there.

I am still living the life of a grad student but the end is in sight and I am happy to report that I am nearing the end of my degree. I am not going to say how close I am to the end cause I still have a piece of major work to do, but close enough that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In the year that I have stopped writing, nothing too exciting has happened in my life, ie. no major changes, however, I don't have any complaints either. This was not always my mind set though, I had some months there where I was feeling quite unsure and lost again. I felt really lonely and insecure. I am not sure what has changed but it is nice to be back on a positive note. I am really enjoying where I am at in my life and I am excited about the future. I am completely open to where life will take me next. We will see what transpires after I finish.

Last weekend I went up to Williams Lake for a friend's wedding and I had a wonderful time. It was really nice to be carefree and relaxed. I must admit I did some silly things and was dressed as a fairy but it was fun. I always thought that I was a city girl but after spending a weekend there, memories of my childhood in the wack and spending time on a farm came back and I started asking myself if I could live in a small city again. Not sure what the answer is but it is not so definitively "no" anymore. Who knows where I will be.

Perhaps the influences of the wack have not all disappeared.

I hope that the faithful readers of the wacky world of char will come back and that I can continue to share the bits and pieces of my life with you. I promise that the blogs will be more than just school.

Death to the Blog

I think it might be time to retire the blog. I am not sure if anyone out there is still reading this anymore. What started as a means to update my friends and family about what was going on in my life when I lived in Japan has now turned into a boring, once in a blue moon generic update of my not so exciting life. It seems that everyone is on facebook now and that is the new trend, making the blogging arena seem outdated and obsolete. There is a part of me that would love to keep my blog for the nostalgic purposes but I am also aware of the changing times. So, although I will not officially delete the blog, it may be that this will be the last blog for a long time, unless I hear the cry from the masses that I should keep updating this. So sad...so many memories

Freedom Sweet Freedom

My blog has been woefully neglected for weeks now. School took over and sort of mowed over my life. There were assignments and papers due almost every week. It was a pretty insane couple of weeks there. I am happy to report that I survived almost with my insanity intact. I still have one paper to hand in and I am dragging my heals on that but by April 20th I will officially have completed my second semester of gradschool. I am now in to deep to back out, although there were moments in there where I did not think I could do it and thought about dropping out of the program. The most important lesson that I learnt from this semester was that I am not indestructable, working 17 hours a week and being school 11 hours a week, plus staying on top of my reading, managing to see my friends, sleep 8 hours and exercise is nearly impossible. Finding balance is important in my life and I am a very very grumpy person if I don't take care of myself.

The long awaited summer break is finally here. I am excited that I can finally do the things that I want to do, like pottery, salsa and not feeling guilty for spending time with my friends. I will be working full time and doing some work for a professor but I am free, free like a bird...yippie. Freedom never felt so good.

Happy Thoughts

I have noticed lately that my blog has been full of complaints and whinings about how "terrible" my life is.. woe is me and poor student me (puts wrist to forehead in an overdramatic fashion and sighs). I do admit that in the last month I have been glued to my computer at home, school or at work. I think I might have developed a tan from the constant glow of my computer screen, or is that I now have a sickly colour because I have been stuck inside for months. My friends have dubbed me the grounhog, because I will emerge 6 weeks later from hiding when spring arrives.

So, in an attempt to bring some cheer to this blog and not bring the faithful readers of the wacky world of char down, I thought I would write about all the silly things in life that make me smile. Completely arbitrary and in no particular order and probably only meaningful to me, afterall it is MY blog.

1. waiting at the bus stop in the morning when you notice a cute boy standing next to you totally oblivious to the world, singing along to this MP3 player and not caring that a silly girl is smiling at him. Then that boy sits down beside you on the bus

2. reading the Georgia Straight every Thursday, but reading the back first and in this particular order: Horoscopes, Missed Connections, and Savage Love, then maybe the rest of it

3. shoes..need I say more

4. having green hair, although I think people judge me with it, a chance for me to prove them wrong

5. the feeling after going to the gym, (I dislike every minute of actually being at the gym and can't wait to finish my workout)

6. waking up and hearing a great song on the radio, then dancing to that song naked after you get out of the shower

7. realizing that you are kind of smart and can make some fantastic points in class

8. feeling strong after my power yoga class

9. hanging out with my friends and realizing that they don't care what Masters I am doing or how smart or not smart I am

10. seeing someone you have a crush on in the bus and realizing he lives super close to you

11. laughing over silly things

12. getting an email from your best friend in elementary school who you have known since you were 3

13. completing an assignment or debate and handing it in

14. a great big cup of tea in the morning

15. clean clothes

16. knowing that you did something good for someone else

17. finding a cute jacket that you tried on months ago and liked but couldn't afford on sale for half off

18. thinking about all the things I am going to do in the summer, pottery, guitar, hiking, kayaking...

19. having a great conversation with someone and realizing that 2 hours have gone by

20. Being comfortable in my own skin, being me

Tools of Procrastination

So life has been insane or is it that I am going insane as a cause to life...I don't know anymore...All I can think about is the papers, midterms, debates, assignments and readings that are taking over my life. I love gradschool and like I said before, I am meant to be here. I love what I am learning but I am not absorbing it cause I am so focused on not drowning in the sea of work and more work.

I know gradschool is about making sacrifices for the end goal but I think I am sacrificing my sanity. There is just so much to do. To the point where I am feeling so overwhelmed that I just want to procrastinate, thus the reason for this blog posting.

I know, one thing at a time, I will get through it, ya da ya da ya da......

overstressed and feeling overwhelmed = grumpy no fun Char

My friends Rock!!

Last night under the pretense of needing my help for something, my two dear friends, Risa and Karin surprised me with a belated birthday celebration. Risa picked me up and took me to one of my favourite dessert places where Karin was watiting with flowers, balloons, pink flamingoes and presents. It was awesome and I felt truly loved. I always say that my birthday is no big deal and it doesn't really matter, but secretly I like it when someone makes a big deal out of it, I feel extra loved when they remember. Although, I do know that I am loved by those in my life regardless if they wish me a happy birthday or not. Last night was very unexpected and truly appreciated.
Risa and Karin you girls rock!!!

Bitten Hard by a Bug...


The travel bug has bitten me hard and I can't wait for my next trip, there are entire continents that need to be explored and a brand new passport with no stamps. If you look at the map below there is a lot of grey left on it. The red is the places I have travelled to.



create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Get Your Cyborg Name

Do you wash your hands?

For my research methodologies class I had to do an observational exercise and monitor how people washed their hands. It was bit of a covert operation where I would pretend to use the toilet and then go and wash my hands, while secretly memorizing every detail of the movements of the person next to me at the sink. My group and I chose to monitor the largest bathroon at our university and you would be surprised at how many people who kind of just rinse their hands. It is kind of gross in fact. It has made me hypersensitive about washing my hands and touching germy washrooms.

Which is kind of ironic considering that the day after I did my observations, I got the flu. I have been sick for the last 4 days, with the first 3 days being absolutely whiny and miserable. I was a trooper and went to school and work anyways, only to go home after work and hide under my covers shivering and coughing. I am happy to report the fever is gone and all that remains is a stuffed up and runny nose and a hacking cough. At this point I am glad that I no longer have a fever.

Okay, so back to the hand washing. Did you know that there are guidelines to proper hand washing techniques?

1. you must take off jewellery
2. wet hands
3. lather soap, don't use bar soap or antibacterial soap,
4. scrub between the fingers, the palms, back of hands, and the wrists
5. use lots of friction while scrubbing for two singings of Happy Birthday (note don't sing it outloud, they will really think you are weird)
6. Rinse thoroughly, one hand at a time
7. take paper towel and use that to shut off the tap.


The weird stuff you learn in gradschool huh?

Broke my Monkey

I had my first day of classes for the new semester today. It was nice to see my classmates again and to be back into it. It felt comfortable, like I have known my classmates for more than a semester. I am really liking the program and am excited about the next semester. I am taking some more interesting classes and really think that I am going to learn some really cool stuff. I am truly excited about it. It seems strange that I am excited about university, I remember my last few semesters of undergrad and really dreading going back after Christmas. It will be a tough semester, lots of work but in the end well worth it. I am still working 20 hours a week but taking 3 courses. I will have to work on time management and still maintaining my sanity. I plan to add yoga and bring back pottery into my life. Things I enjoy and good stress relievers for me. Wish me good luck for the semester.

The monkey reference is to a necklace that I have been wearing. It is a wish necklace, a string with a monkey charm hanging on it. The idea is that you make a wish and when the string breaks then your wish comes true. It is based on the idea of a prayer string. Well, my string broke and we will see if my wish comes true. Of course I am not going to tell you what my wish is cause a) you are going to laugh at me and b) if I say it out loud it won't come true.

I am not normally this silly nor so superstitious but sometimes you have to believe in something beyond the ordinary. It gives you hope.

Happy New Year

I cannot believe that another year has gone by and we are now starting 2007. It is incredible how quickly time goes by.



2006 was an incredible year for me. It started out as any other year but somewhere along the way I discovered how incredible life can be. This was the year that I really thought about and took time for me.

• I discovered pottery and my ability to produce crooked pieces and be happy about it.
• I learnt that I could spend 7 days in the wilds of Northern B.C. canoeing and not worry about not having a shower.
• I learnt that living with my brother is tough but as long as you don't nag him and are willing to deal with dirty dishes it is okay.
• I learnt that "he is just not that into you", which means life is not about finding a mate and worrying about spending the rest of your life alone (no matter how much your mom worries about you having a boyfriend).
• I am not defined by my job, and when I tell someone about what I do they have no clue what I am talking about and I am okay with that.
• I figured out that I like gradschool and that I am indeed smart enough to be here. I will also never make millions of dollars in what I will eventually do and I am okay with that.
• I love my family and they mean the world to me-my nieces and nephews are the loves of my life and I can't imagine not being their aunty.
• I have the travel bug and I can't shake it, I love to travel and quite possibly I am passionate about it.
• I am weird and also a bit of a dork. However, I am okay with it. I like who I am.
• I finally got my tattoo and it hurt, but I love it. It goes with the green in my hair.
• I make silly mistakes and have done some incredibly silly stuff when I am drunk but those that care about me love me regardless if I sleep under a tree or kiss someone under the mistletoe or not.
• Reading for fun is a luxury and miss it when you have articles to read and textbooks to read in its place.
• There are really interesting people out there who know so much more than you do.

I hope that my 2007 will be as good as 2006. I am excited about getting older and putting my "quarterlife crisis" behind me. There is so much potential out there and I am excited about it.

Thanks to all of you faithful readers of the wacky world of char. I wish all of you out there a very happy 2007 filled with joy and happiness. I wish everyone continued success and personal growth. May 2007 bring to you even more discoveries and a love of life.

The big Apple...

I did it...I got through my first semester of grad school and I really really enjoyed it. The beginning of the semester was a bit of an adjustment period but as the semester progressed I really felt like this was something I was meant to do. It was not about the courses but being surrounded by like minded people who inspire me and make me realize my goals are possible. There are lots of interesting people who have such diverse experiences in the program. It makes me excited about the potential when I am done.

So, exams did not go as well as I would have hoped for, but it was hard for me to stay focused. I did pass my courses which is good and I think I did manage to get an A+. I was hoping for a better grade on my final then I actually got in Biostats. Oh well..... I think I complained about getting a B+.....My how the times have changed since undergrad.

After a few nights of relaxing and one night of drunken debauchery. Yes, there was definite debauchery, mistletoe.....I hopped on a plane to go see my friend Marie in New York. Marie and I met 3 years ago when I was in Japan.

I just wanted to treat myself after this semester. Cuba and Costa Rica did not pan out so NYC was another option. New York is a pretty crazy city. There are people everywhere and even more lights and cars. Christmas time in New York is insane. A bit of shopping was done and a whole lot of walking...my poor footsies....

I did manage to make "friends"....yes I encountered random people who happened to be men...I can't help it if I have a tendency to smile and they recipricate. Let's say that NYC was good for the part of my self esteem related to boys. New Yorkers don't deserve the stereotype that they are given. They are actually pretty nice.

I have 5 more days here. There are plans to go to Boston and hit the hills for some snowboarding....yippie...

Snow Days

I meant to write this blog last week but was having too much fun in the snow to actually come inside to write about it on my blog. Last week it snowed in Vancouver. For those of you not familiar with Vancouver weather, snow is a rarity. We get rain in the winter but hardly ever get snow. Which means it was chaos....but that also means a snow day. Fortunately, because I work in a university, if the weather gets bad it shuts down. So last Monday SFU was closed and I got to stay home. The snow day was to cap off the already great time I had playing in the snow during the weekend. I made snowmen, had snowball fights, and of course went to Queen Elizabeth park at 10:30 on Sat. night to go sledding down the hill. We had makeshift sleds, boogie boards with a garbage bag over it to decrease the friction and slid down the hill. It was like I was a kid again and sliding head first down the hill. I was in heaven.

Unfortunately, it warmed up and once again it is raining. The snow is slowly being washed away and that means no more sledding. I guess it is a good thing cause I have a final exam to write and probably don't need another distraction to take away my focus from learning about multiple linear regression for my Biostatistics Exam.

Everyone needs a Hug

Today I participated in a Free Hug event. We gave away hundreds of free hugs today in downtown Vancouver, in front of the Art Gallery. With hand painted "Free Hug" signs around our necks we set out to hug as many strangers as possible, to spread some joy and bring smiles to everyone. It was incredible....hugs do make you feel good. I know I felt good hugging everyone. For the most part people were pretty receptive to being hugged. There were some skeptics and an occasional dodgy fellow but all in all I think it was a success. People walked away with smiles on their face and told us how much they needed a hug.

The free hug campaign was started by a fellow named Juan Mann, whose mission in life is to bring hugs to everyone in the world.

You can read about the campaign at http://www.freehugscampaign.org/

Let me know if you are interested in participating in the next free hug event. Here are some photos that show just how much fun we had.

http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o124/jennifer_archer/Free%20Hugs%20Vancouver%20Nov%202006/