I’m nearing the end of a long stretch- 11/2 years of college, 1 1/2years of upgrading before that. So what have I been spending all that time, money and energy doing? Learning to live in the “real” world of course!
At the risk of sounding lame, I’ve compiled a list the top ten things I’ve learned that I’d like to share:
1) Things are ALWAYS easier with a teacher/mentor to show you how to do it.
2) Don’t look at the big picture, look at the small picture, i.e.: divide a large pie into smaller pieces. It makes doing a big project much easier.
3) The agenda/planner is your best friend. Keep organized and write absolutely everything in it. Then you don’t have to try to remember things, you just look in your book. A no-brainer.
4) Prioritize your “To Do” list. You do have a “To Do” list don’t you?
5) Be aware of the deadline on everything. Sometimes you have to hand in shoddy work to meet deadlines. So choose which projects are most important, spending the most time on those first.
6) Being on time and (bodily) present is more than 50% of the grade!
7) The other 50% is checking off point by point what they’re asking for on the assignment sheet. No-brainer here either.
8) Working in a group of peers is usually difficult. Everyone has their own idea of what works, you’ll usually have to compromise.
9) Every teacher has a different way/value of teaching because everybody has different values. Some stress the rules, others creativity, others visual, audio, ect.
10) So you have to live your own life according to your own terms and values too. In the end you learn the rules so you can break em.
Spending all that time in school is supposed to teach you how to live in the “real” world. As a fish in a school, I’m almost ready to move out of my tank into the shallows of the Big Wide Ocean. Hawaii here I come!
Friday, December 12, 2008
West Ed Mall - Place for Thugs
Shopping at the 4th largest mall in the world is a scary experience.
West Edmonton Mall has been taken over by thieves, street people and thugs. The other day, with a few hundred in my pocket to burn, I thought I’d get a little holiday shopping done. Inside the Zellers was fine, but as soon as I went into the food court, I noticed some people rummaging through the garbage for left-over’s. And a bunch of the good tables were claimed by gangs of homeless teens sharing a pop between them, eyeing people’s purses and wallets.
When I passed through the open kiosks, I tried to buy an interesting item from a salesperson. I should have taken warning because there was no posted prices for anything, he ended up telling me an absurd price for an item worth less than half that. When I no longer wanted to buy, he started negotiating. I’m thinking…am I in a third world country now that we use the barter system? And here I thought I was shopping in a nice, safe, civilized mall.
The minute I stepped out the door, a drugged-out guy clearly living on the streets, started harassing for money, trying to follow all the way to the car. By the looks he was giving, to get me alone enough to take something like a purse or a package.
Where are the security guards? The mall is private property, so I know for a fact they can remove these people who are harassing and threatening behavior to the paying customers if they wanted to. Or they cared which they obviously don’t. I didn’t see a single security guard all day. And neither did any of the thieves, homeless youth, or thugs hanging out there, I’m betting.
Am I really just being mean? I give money to people occasionally, I like to do nice things for others, and I try to be considerate and non-judgmental of people living in bad circumstances. But I’m a small, young woman and it makes me mad to feel that threatened while I’m trying to do a little shopping with my hard-earned money. The mall is obviously suffering from urban decay, and has attracted all the wrong elements. So if the people running the mall don’t care, I guess I don’t care to be shopping there anymore either. I’ll be doing the rest of my shopping somewhere else this Christmas.
West Edmonton Mall has been taken over by thieves, street people and thugs. The other day, with a few hundred in my pocket to burn, I thought I’d get a little holiday shopping done. Inside the Zellers was fine, but as soon as I went into the food court, I noticed some people rummaging through the garbage for left-over’s. And a bunch of the good tables were claimed by gangs of homeless teens sharing a pop between them, eyeing people’s purses and wallets.
When I passed through the open kiosks, I tried to buy an interesting item from a salesperson. I should have taken warning because there was no posted prices for anything, he ended up telling me an absurd price for an item worth less than half that. When I no longer wanted to buy, he started negotiating. I’m thinking…am I in a third world country now that we use the barter system? And here I thought I was shopping in a nice, safe, civilized mall.
The minute I stepped out the door, a drugged-out guy clearly living on the streets, started harassing for money, trying to follow all the way to the car. By the looks he was giving, to get me alone enough to take something like a purse or a package.
Where are the security guards? The mall is private property, so I know for a fact they can remove these people who are harassing and threatening behavior to the paying customers if they wanted to. Or they cared which they obviously don’t. I didn’t see a single security guard all day. And neither did any of the thieves, homeless youth, or thugs hanging out there, I’m betting.
Am I really just being mean? I give money to people occasionally, I like to do nice things for others, and I try to be considerate and non-judgmental of people living in bad circumstances. But I’m a small, young woman and it makes me mad to feel that threatened while I’m trying to do a little shopping with my hard-earned money. The mall is obviously suffering from urban decay, and has attracted all the wrong elements. So if the people running the mall don’t care, I guess I don’t care to be shopping there anymore either. I’ll be doing the rest of my shopping somewhere else this Christmas.
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