My two pumpkins!

Vote for me :)

I'm running a half marathon in april in Hollywood! and entered a contest to win a jacket!! Just click on the link below
http://s-hq.it/u9kpRc
and click like :)

thank you very much!! :)

Kiera

1st blog in a long time!

Holy! It's been a while since I've blogged!!

I kind of forgot about this page!! I will just sum up my months

June: 
-College grad
-Started my summer job at my Dad's office working in personal lines! 
-Softball

July: 
- My Aunt from Portugal passed away due to cancer. R.I.P. Tia Albertina 
-Went to Phoenix! 
-MLB Homerun Derby + All Star Game! - AMAZING
-Worked and worked! 2 jobs - my regular sport chek job and at my dads office
- MY grade 7 & 8 English teacher passed away due to cancer :( 
-Softball

August
- Softball playoffs - got last place :( 
- Work Work Work - last day was August 26 at my Dad's office!! Still am at my Sport Chek job! :D 
- My Grandma passed away at age 81 due to cancer :(  ... R.I.P. Grandma - I miss you very much and appreciate all the support you gave me in my life - always being there for me

September
- Ran my very first 10km race in Drumheller! 
- Started 3rd year of university- Forensics studies 
- Ran another 10km race! Improved my time by 6 minutes! 
- Cousin passed away at age 50 due to cancer - went to Vancouver for her funeral which was basically amazing! At least 500 people were at the funeral! - there wasnt enough seats inside the church so they had to put chairs outside and lots of people had to stand! - people driving with their hazard lights on to the cemetery, most beautiful casket and tombstone! I was amazed by how many people she inspired in her life, her positiveness, smile, laugh and voice of determination! Then the reception was with great friends and family filled with sadness and laughter! 

October
- Friends wedding - Congrats Megan and Larry! 
- Thanksgiving! - Yummy Turkey :P
- Worked a few shifts at Screamfest which I didn't enjoy all that much! It was fun at first but then got stupider and stupider!  - Dressed as an Zombie Scientist! 
- Re-did our bathroom & kitchen counters which look amazing!! 

Thats all I got for the past few months!

Halloween is in a few days!

NOTE to self - don't buy candy until the day of Halloween!! :P

Hates having to make grown up decisions, I miss the good old days where the biggest decision in life was what to eat at recess! 

Hello June!

Oh my its been a long time since I've blogged! haha


Hard to believe its already June!! 


Got so many things to look forward to this month including my college grad! Going to Cirque du Soleil Cavalia! Seeing friends that I haven't seen in a long time. Also starting a new job later this month for the summer! 


Still am playing softball, we have been doing pretty good so far! Having lots of fun too! So far fractured my finger but that hasn't stopped me from playing! And got a huge scrape on the back of my leg from sliding into 2nd base two times! Gotta love softball! 


I just hope that the weather will get nicer so I can start working on my tan, especially before grad :) 

DONE!

I am now officially done my two years of school at Bow Valley College!


It has been a long two years, and am finally done. At first I didn't think I would make it, due to the number of papers I had to do, especially this semester! But am glad to be finally done!
Now its onto the real world, working in the field! Im really excited about this but at the same time nervous! Especially after being in school for like 17 years, now its time to work full time! That will take some time to get used to. But at least I will be making money and wont have any homework!! :D
Two months till graduation and will be receiving my Justice studies diploma!


I want to thank my parents for all the support they gave me in all my years of school, I couldn't do it with out them! Also to my classmates, you were all great and I will miss you all. I would like to wish you all the best of luck in the future, you've got great potential! 

April 11

QUOTE

If your foot slips, You can always regain your balance. But If your tongue slips, You can never recall the words.

APRIL!!

Hard to believe its already April!!! 


Baseball Opening Weekend! The Mariners won the first game of the season!! :D

April 11 is my birthday and will be 20! Hard to believe that, like where does all this time go?! 

No plans for my Birthday tho! Just dinner with my parents and of course ice cream cake!!

April 19 = Last day of College!! Then I will graduate in June with a Justice Studies Diploma!!!
Cannot wait till schools done, its been a really stressful semester, especially having 30 papers to write! That was definitely the worst part about this semester! Just got one more paper to write then I will be DONE! 4 finals to write this semester, the 2 classes I'm struggling in happen to be on the same day! UGH! will have to study like mad! 
My goal is to stay off Facebook the day before the final exam and spend it on studying for that exam.


Another thing is EASTER!! Get to go Egg Hunting again! My favorite would definitely be those mini eggs! Also lent will be over, I gave up pop. I did cheat a couple of times but it's just so hard! 


Next month softball season will start! Super excited about that. I just wished that it would start earlier but of course due to the weather we get here its a no :(. Thats one reason why I wished I lived in the states then it would start in like February. Also be on a high school team or middle school! Oh well :(

Overall Experience at Practicum

I just finished doing my practicum at ExCel which is an open custody group home for the youth just coming out of jail, it helps them reintegrate them into the community. 
Overall I did enjoy it for the most part, the only thing I really did was hangout with the youth, I didn't get to learn how to do the paperwork part which was really disappointing. I've asked a few times, but when they do the paperwork they just want to get it done rather than showing it to us. 
I knew most of the kids there since I did my practicum at the jail last semester and they were there too! 
I went to excel on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and I did some Saturdays. I liked the weekends better overall because there was more stuff that we actually did on the weekends like going out swimming, watching a basketball game, hockey game or lacrosse game. One Saturday we went to the car show!!! On the weekdays we basically just stayed in the house, the kids would do their school work and pretty much nothing. The nice thing is we get fed there, the kids make lunch for everyone in the house. The best meal i've had when I was there probably would be the lasagna or fish n chips,  and the worst would've been tomato soup and burnt grilled cheese sandwiches! :P 
I did try to teach the kids and staff some sign language but they really didn't want to learn it was just the staff that wanted to, so that was a little disappointing. 
One time we got to go to the Young Offenders Centre to interview some kids, so we could decide who should come to ExCel, when I was there it made me realize how much I missed it there. 
I am planning on applying there to do some relief work! 
Overall it is a great place to be, all the staff are nice and the kids are pretty well behaved since they know if they misbehave they will get sent back to jail. I liked working in the jail better because I learned way more there than I did at ExCel. When I was working at the jail I got to do pretty much everything I wanted to see, I got to see everything and spend a day in pretty much every unit that was there. At ExCel all I pretty much did was hangout with the kids, didn't get to learn how to do the paperwork and stuff so I didn't really learn anything there. 

March!

Wow! Hard to believe its already March! 
Only another month and half of school left then I will be done my 2nd year of college! Graduating in June with my Justice Studies Diploma! Super excited about this! 


The weather still sucks here, first day of March its -40 out there! Which is brutal, its March not January! Oh the joys of living in Canada :(. I absolutely hate the cold weather, i'd rather live somewheres warm where there's no snow! 


My goals for this month is to continue working hard in school, finish my practicum hours at the youth group home, and start lifting some weights for softball season! Just another 2 months and a bit till the season starts! I hate the fact that I live in Canada and the season doesn't start till May! Unlike the States when they already have started the season :( 


Oh yeahh, March 17th will be St. Patricks Day, not that it really matters! haha. Just remember to wear green! :)

Happy Valentines Day!

12 ways to get fired for facebook

1. November 4, 2008:  New England Patriots cheerleader Caitlin Davis was cut from the squad over controversial pictures that were posted on her Facebook page. Then eighteen-year-old Davis was at a Halloween party when she posed for photos with a passed out man who was covered in graffiti, including swastikas, anti-Semitic remarks and profanity. Davis was fired from the squad after the pictures appeared on various Internet websites and caught the attention of the Patriot's management team. She had been the youngest cheerleader ever to make an NFL squad.

2. February 26, 2009: A U.K. teenager was fired for calling her job "boring." According to The Daily Mail, Kimberley Swann posted comments like "First day at work. Omg (oh my god)!! So dull!!" and "All I do is shred holepunch and scan paper!!!" [sic]. Swann was canned after her boss discovered the comments.  

3. March 9, 2009: Dan Leone, a stadium operations employee for the Philadelphia Eagles, was fired forvoicing his opinion on the team's trading practices via Facebook. Leone reportedly updated his Facebook status with "Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver ... Dam Eagles R Retarted!!" [sic].

4. April 27, 2009: A Swiss woman was let-go after calling in sick, and then logging into Facebook on her "sick day." Apparently the women had a migraine and called out of work because she thought the light from a computer would bother her and she needed to lie in a dark room. When her employer caught her surfing Facebook, it was presumed that she was indeed well enough to sit in front of a computer, and she was let go.

5. April 28, 2009:  A Minnesota nursing home employee was fired after rumours spread that she had posted photos of herself with nude patients on her Facebook page. Though no nude pictures were found, the employee did have pictures of herself with clothed patients, which violated the home's privacy policy and lead to her termination.

6. August 27, 2009:  Ashley Payne, a Georgia high school teacher, was forced to resign after the local school board came across pictures of her sipping beer and wine. The pictures, which appeared on Payne's Facebook page, were from a vacation she had taken that summer, which included a trip to the Guinness Brewery in Ireland. Payne was quoted as saying "I did not think that any of this could jeopardize my job because I was just doing what adults do and have drinks on vacation and being responsible about it." She sued the school district last November.

7. February 11, 2010: South Carolina firefighter and paramedic Jason Brown was fired for creating a three minute long animated video and posting it on Facebook. The video, which showed a cartoon doctor and paramedic responding to an emergency in a hospital, was meant to be a spoof, according to Brown. However, his department didn't find the video to be funny, calling it "an embarrassment," and Brown was fired.

8. March 3, 2010: Gloria Gadsden, a professor at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, was fired after updating her Facebook status with things like "Does anyone know where I can find a very discrete hitman? Yes, it's been that kind of day." The school said it was being overcautious due to the then- recent Amy Bishop case, in which the University of Alabama professor went on a shooting spree and killed three of her fellow professors.

9. May 17, 2010: North Carolina waitress Ashley Johnson was fired from her job at a Brixx pizzeria after posting a negative comment about two of her customers. Johnson called the customers -- who left her a $5 tip after sitting at their table for three hours -- "cheap." Though she did not mention the names of the customers, Johnson did include the name of the pizzeria in her post. A few days later, management called her to tell her she was fired for violating the restaurant's social media policy.

10. May 24, 2010: The city of West Allis, Wis. fired a veteran police dispatcher of 21 years over a status update. Dana Kuchler was terminated after posting that she was "addicted to vicodin, adderall, quality marijuana, MD 20/20 grape and absinthe," on her Facebook page. Kuchler, who said the post was meant to be a joke, filed a lawsuit against the city.

11. June 10, 2010: Five California nurses were terminated after it was discovered that they were discussing patient cases on the site. The situation was investigated for weeks by both the nurses' employer (Tri City Medical Center in San Diego) and the California Department of Health, before the nurses were fired for allegedly violating privacy laws.

12. June 21, 2010:  A Pittsburgh Pirates' mascot was let go earlier this summer, after posting a comment about the team's choice to extend the contracts of two of its managers. Andrew Kurtz, 24, was fired within hours of posting the comment "Coonelly extended the contracts of Russell and Huntington through the 2011 season. That means a 19-straight losing streak. Way to go Pirates," to his Facebook page.

Retrieved from :  http://msn.careerbuilder.ca/Article/MSN-340-Workplace-Issues-12-Ways-to-Get-Fired-for-Facebook/?lr=int_camsn&SiteId=INT_MSN_Articles_CA_EN340&sc_extcmp=INT_MSN_Articles_CA_EN340&cblang=CAEnglish&ocid=Article

Be extremely careful on what you put on Facebook! This includes statuses, wall posts, photos etc... 

Travel

Where I would love to travel:

-Australia, New Zealand
-England, France & Italy
-The Bahamas & Castaway Cay (Cruise)
-Cuba
-Jamaica 
Africa - Mission Trip 
Mexico


I absolutely love to travel, I've only been to the states and to other Canadian provinces. 
I've wanted to go to Australia and New Zealand for the longest time and will plan to do both at the same time since it is a long flight! I would like to be in the Queensland area on the coast, as well as Sydney. I'm hoping to go there before the Great Barrier Reef closes down. New Zealand, I would like to go to Auckland,  as well as the Bay of Islands
England, France, and Italy because the environment there is so different, I've heard so many great things about these places such as the Eiffel Tower, Euro Disney, Westminster Abbey, Colosseum in Rome, Leaning Tower of Pisa and many other places. 
Bahamas & Castaway Cay looks so beautiful and relaxing! Castaway Cay is a private island only open to the cruise line, which I think would be neat to go and see! I've had so many dreams about going to the Bahamas and want it to come true one day! 
Same with Cuba and Jamaica. As well as Mexico. Plus the hot weather where I can go just to relax on the beach and get a tan! 
Africa is another place that would be neat to go and a great experience! 

Discrimination

It is very sad that we still see discrimination happen in todays world, even prejudice!


I ran into that today when I went for my practicum interview at woods homes.
First of all, My teacher found out the placement I wanted to go was no longer taking practicum students so she said she might've found another place for me to go, but had to go for an interview. She mentioned to them that I was hearing impaired, then the lady on the phone said due to the environment they are working in, she was not sure if I would be suitable for them due to my "hearing" disability.
So I called this place on Wednesday and when I was on the phone with them to set up an interview time which was Friday, I chatted with this one lady about setting up an interview and she said yes your instructor gave you the time, I said no she only gave me the address so she said Friday at 10am, I said that will work out fine. Then she said that I am NOT guaranteed that I will get this position but it is a maybe. She also said that I was told that you have a hearing disability, and I said yes, and she said so can you hear? I was SHOCKED when she asked me this! I just said yes I can hear, then she said see you on friday and I said see you on Friday as well and then hung up. 
Like If I couldn't hear then I wouldn't be talking on the phone!
I felt like I didn't even want to go to this interview, I'd much rather attend class than to miss it, but no I wanted to prove to them that there is nothing wrong with having a deaf person working in their environment and it will not stop me! There's nothing I can do, I was born that way. Just like everyone, we are born differently, the world would be a boring place if we were all the same.
My interview today- the person who was supposed to interview me was away so someone else interviewed me, he asked me a bunch of questions and I thought it went pretty well. He said he will talk to the lady and we will call you on monday. 
Few hours later I got a call from this place saying that I didn't get the placement since the environment isn't suitable for me! I was not very happy to hear this.  It was also fishy because he said I wouldn't hear until monday and I got this call so quickly! He had to call this lady and chat with her when she was away. My guess was they already made a decision before the interview! This is prejudice! You don't judge a person until you met them in person! this means FACE to FACE! not PHONE to PHONE! especially in a professional environment! 
I emailed my practicum teacher about not getting the placement and how I felt since I was in tears that this I have not run into discrimination like this before, my hearing has never held me back. 
She told me it was because of my age, since I would be working with older clients and I wouldn't be a good fit! which I think is BULLSHIT! At first they weren't sure because of my disability now they say its because of my age! Like come on! 
She replied saying There is no room for discrimination in our lives, and this will look badly on their agency for future placements, however this isn’t the end all, be all Kiera.
One question they asked in my interview was how do you handle feedback? I said I handle it pretty well, I just want an honest answer.  And then they tell me that it was my age which is just a load of crap! they just don't want to get into trouble for not taking a person because she's deaf as it is illegal to do so.


There is nothing I can do about my hearing impairment, its just like people with different skin color. It's just sad that these days people are still treat others like this. Especially in this group home! People need to be treated equally and with respect!


I am not going to allow my hearing disability hold me back, I can prove to these people that there is nothing wrong with being hearing impaired. I did my practicum at Calgary Young Offender Centre last semester and they had no problem with me having a hearing disability, so I don't get why this place should! 


When I told my parents about this they were not very happy about it, even my mom told her coworkers they were pissed. I even told few of my classmates then they passed it along to my other classmates since I wasn't at school today and they all thought it was bullshit. Even my friends said the same thing, that its not right. They just say whoa! she's deaf, and go on and on. 




**Sorry I did not want to use any names in here so I just used he, she, him, her, etc...**

Hawaii over the years!

sorry about the size! Dont know how to fix that haha

Aloha

Its been a while since i've blogged!
My laptop was in getting fixed, so i was laptopless on my vacation!


I just got back from a wonderful two week vacation in Kailua-Kona Hawaii! Which is on the Big Island.
Minus my luggage! My parents luggage made it but mine didnt :(.
Last night the plane from Kona-Vancouver was a lot heavier than they thought so they had to fill it up with more gas! LOL
Our flight was a hour late which caused us to have a tight connection this morning of only 50 mins in Vancouver, we had to go through customs, get our bags, drop them off, go through security then run like a cheetah to our gate! There was about 25 people who's luggage didn't make it when they got into Calgary! But mine should come tonight, hopefully!!


4th time to Hawaii, but 1st time to the Big Island! Oahu twice and Maui once!


It was an awesome vacation, nice to get away from the cold weather. I went with my mom and dad, we were there for both Christmas and New Years!


We got there on the 18th, checked into our condo, went for dinner (i had fish and chips!), went to get groceries then called it a night since we were up extremely early! Plus its 3 hours behind from Calgary.


Most of the time we were there was well spent on the beach sun tanning and playing in the waves. Some days the waves would reach up to 9 feet. On our last day they were up to 15 feet and very strong and powerful!!! There was lots of action for the lifeguards telling people to stay close to shore and not to go out too far. Also told those with kids to stay close to shore or go to another beach which was a mile down the road. One lady took her little baby into the water and a big wave came, strong enough to push her out to the ocean that the lifeguard had to go out and help them back to shore! It was not good to see this but glad that they both were okay.
I also went boogie boarding, but had to do it first thing in the morning when the waves weren't as strong, but man it still was strong! On the last day one huge wave came, and just pushed me under the water!


I almost lost my bottoms when a powerful wave came on the last day!


While we were there we did some shopping, there isnt much shopping on this island, which is fine with me since I HATE shopping! LOL. If you want to shop in Hawaii then Oahu is the island for you! This island is more of rest and relax :)


One day we did went around the island, when u get to the other side of the island its 100% different! they get lots of rainfall so its very green. We went to Hilo the same day to shop there which was pretty lame! Hilo is the 2nd largest city in hawaii after Honolulu. We did see some beautiful waterfalls on the way!


Another day we went to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park! Which was really neat! You can drive through this park and stop at places such as steam vents, lava tubes, lava rocks! I wanted to see lava which we didnt :(. The weather was very different in parts of the park, some parts were rainy and as u got to the coast it was hot and humid!


We also went whale watching which was totally worth it!! We also saw spinner dolphins which was a bonus!!


Even from our beach we could see the whales and spinner dolphins :) Also some turtles swam close to the shore :)


Another place we had to go is Tex Drive in where they have Portuguese Malasadas! It is some kind of pastry and its delicious!! =P. We stopped twice. lol. We were going to on the way to the airport but it was closed =( 


As you can see it was pretty much a lazy vacation! A perfect lazy vacation on the beach!


I was very sad to be leaving Hawaii
I sure miss being on the beach, sand between my toes, swimming in the ocean :( But all good things have to come to an end eventually :(


Back to reality and lotion will be my best friend for a while! Dry skin from all the sun lol.


Mahalo :)

Happy New Years!!

Wish you all the best in 2011!!

My new years resolution is to continue to work hard in school! 

Overall Experience at practicum

I did my practicum at the Calgary Young Offenders Centre. My experience there has been wonderful! I absolutely loved it and am glad i chose to do my practicum here! I was able to find out what its like working in a jail, the kind of youth I would be working if I want to become a youth probation officer. I have learned so much at this place such as the duties for the staff, programs available, how admission and discharge works, how each unit functions differently. 
I was mainly on the female unit, it is A LOT different than the male unit, the girls are more work than the guys! I would say 1 girl = 5 guys! The guys are a lot friendlier and easier to talk to!   
At first I was very nervous especially because when I first walked into the doors for my interview the first thing I heard was code 66 black rock. I had no idea what that meant but i assumed it was a fight between inmates, I saw a bunch of staff running down the hall! Once the code was cleared I got to go in and meet my supervisor! I spent most of my practicum with her! She was a great person to work with, willing to answer my questions (even though I asked like a million questions) patient and friendly
The more hours I did there the more comfortable I was in there. At first I was nervous to talk to the inmates but after all its not all that bad! They seem pretty nice, but that depends on the person! 
I also had the opportunity to spend a few shifts in programs, reading about programs available such as addictions! I even got to observe some one on one sessions with a counsellor and an inmate which was pretty neat!  
My worst experience was probably witnessing a hands on removal from the unit. This person refused to listen to the staff and wouldn't put her hands on the wall for a pat down and tried to leave, so they went right on top of her and had to cuff her and carry her out of the unit. She just wouldn't stop screaming! Or when I was working with a different supervisor and she put me on control on the female unit for lunch. It was only 3 weeks into my practicum and I really didn't know enough to do this. The girls were testing to see how far I would go, I would tell them no table talking but they would still talk, also were throwing food. I was being too nice, I was supposed to be kind of mean and strict! 
One thing about working in a jail is you are safe in there, there are always staff around and if something happens you have about 10 seconds till someone will be there such as a fight, there are lots of people on the respond team and they will rush to get to the area that the fight is happening on. 
I already miss this place! The staff there are so nice, they made it enjoyable for me! I thought it wasn't going to be a good place to do my practicum but its a great place to work, especially if you want to work with the youth. Last night before the girls went to bed, some said that they were going to miss me, and one girl said now i wont be able to play basketball and soccer with her, which made me sad :( 
Next semester I am hoping to do probation or customs for my practicum if those are one of our choices! 

Golf Bloopers!

Hilarious 

December!!!

Wow!! I cannot believe its December already!!! 


The semester is almost at the end! and finals are just around the corner! 4 finals to write this month
2 finals on the 10th, 1 on the 13th then the last one on the 16th.


The last two finals are the courses I am most worried about, but am determined to study hard. 


Two more times at Calgary Young Offenders Center as a practicum student. Its going to be pretty sad leaving there since I really enjoy it! Next semester I will be some place new! I have no idea where yet since we haven't gotten our list yet but I am hoping Border Services or Probation!


On December 11 I am grading for my green belt in Karate! I am very excited about this but nervous at the same time! But my dad will be grading for his green belt as well! I am currently a purple belt and it will be nice to get a new color! 


Christmas is also just around the corner! And one month from today will be 2011! Can you believe that?!? Where has this time gone?? 


I just love Christmas! The awesome TV shows such as the Grinch and Frosty the Snowman and movies too! Especially A Christmas Story! Christmas baking and exchanging gifts too! 

Respect

You need to treat everyone with respect whether you like them or not. In your workplace you will be working with people you don’t like, but you still need to treat them with respect.
Even in school, i’ve had people in my class that I didn’t like, the hardest part is treating them with respect and sometimes they will be rude back to you. In the corrections field you will be working with lots of different people and you will not like everyone.
For example as a probation officer the youth/adult you work with, you have to treat them with respect no matter what because you can get into trouble if you don’t.
I have encountered this at my part time job, a while ago there was a manager that I did not like at all! No one there liked her, the hardest part was treating her with respect since she would always bark at us and disrespect us. One time she was really rude to me at the end of my shift because I didnt make enough sales, even though the store was dead and I immediately went to the head manager of the store and had a talk with him. I told him what happened and how I felt, and I didnt want to work here anymore if I was going to get treated like this. He told me that he didnt want me to quit and he would go talk to the manager right away which he did as I got a phone call from her later apologizing to me. One day she was rude to a customer, made her cry, had way too many customer complaints and ended up getting fired. This shows that if you don’t treat others with respect on your job, it can cost your job.
At the young offenders centre, respect is a BIG thing since you are working with youth that come from different backgrounds and crimes they have committed. Just because they committed a crime doesn’t mean you need to disrespect them, you still need to treat them like you would to others

Responsibility

You are responsible for your own actions and the consequences of those actions. When you are responsible you give your best at everything you do, your job, your life your family, just to name a few. When things go wrong, you don’t make excuses, you make amends. When you accept responsibility you gain control over your live and influence the lives of the people around you. People who are responsible in general have higher paying jobs, social status and power.
In regards to the two fields I am considering for my future I would describe my responsibilities as follows. As a youth probation officer I am responsible for the supervision of the offenders. Report to court, the success or failure of the inmate. Rehabilitation, help offenders reintegrate into society. Educate, help the inmates develop skills to live on the outside and many, many others.
As a Border Services Officer I would have the responsibility of keeping the country safe. Making sure whoever is coming into the country is not a terrorist or bringing in illegal drugs. Of course there are many other responsibilities as well, but that would be the most important one. I thought I would end with a quote about being responsible that I think sums it up.
Many times I always had to take responsibility for something. For example, I used to babysit a lot, I would be responsible for taking care of the kids, feeding them, putting them into bed. This situation sometimes was hard to handle since some kids are picky on what they eat, or they dont want to go to bed yet. I usually will be nice about the bedtime and allow them to go to bed a little later. The difference that I made was that it shows the parents how responsible of a person I am and that they wanted me to babysit again when needed. The lessons that I have learned from this experience is the fact that it sometimes is hard to take responsibility but it is a very important essential skill in life.

“The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs.” ~Joan Didion

Judgmental

It is important not to be judgmental in life, although the word judgmental can also have positive implications, for the most part it is looked upon as a negative one. That’s the kind you don’t want. Things happen in our live, how we perceive those is a different story and that’s where being judgmental comes in. So what exactly does it mean if someone says you are judgmental? Being judgmental means that you judge the beliefs, opinions and actions of others in a negative or condescending way without it being based on any actual fact it is purely based on your personal opinion. Here is a scenario where how you perceive things, or what you believe makes you either judgmental in a positive way or judgmental in a negative way: You read in the newspaper that a man went into a local bar and shot three innocent people and killed them. The cops arrest him and he goes to jail. Is this man a bad person, or were his actions bad? Can you see the difference?
Your mind does what it is conditioned to do, so changing a negative behavior like being judgmental, and again I mean when you are being judgmental in a negative way, will take a conscious effort. But it can be done. Awareness is the first place to start. Stop, think and then “speak”. Make sure that your responses are based on fact and not just simply a reaction to a situation or in the heat of the moment. If you continue to do a “self check” over time your brain will be trained and you will go from being judgmental in a negative way, to living life without judgment.
There has been times when I have faced with being judgemental, for example one of my friends kept saying mean things about her godfather and I would tag along and make mean comments even though I didnt know this person. Later on I felt guilty about this and I finally met her godfather, and he was a very nice person. I felt bad about judging on him and I apologized to him and he appreciated it. The difference that it made was the fact that we actually got along really well. I learned that you are not to judge a person until you have met them.

Essential Skills

Essential skills is something that you need to have in order to get the job you want. This would include being patient, listening to others and understanding.
I am currently doing practicum at the Young offenders centre which I really enjoy! It teaches me that I have to be patient with the kids and to help them become a better person. I have used these skills by listening to others, following the rules, being patient.

Listening to others is extremely important, especially in this career. As a probation officer and even border services officer it requires good listening skills as you will be working with many different people. At the young offenders centre, this is extremely important because the offenders always have things to say about everything and you have to listen to them, sometimes you even need to eavesdrop just to make sure they are not keeping any secrets such as assaulting someone, planning on escaping etc…

Following the rules is also important because when you don’t follow the rules you can get into serious trouble. When I first started at the young offenders centre I was given a list of rules of what I can do and not do while doing my practicum and the basic rules they have, and I then had to sign that I will obey the rules.

Another thing that is important is patience, you have to be patient with these kids at the young offenders centre. Some kids will take longer to change, or recover than others. The hard part is you cant change the person, but you can help change. The only person that can change is themselves, which can take time. Its the same thing with little kids when you potty train them, teach them the basic skills, it takes time and patience. We tell them its their choice and the choice they make will have consequences which can be good or bad.

The 3 L's

My goals for the future

I haven’t made a blog yet on my goals for the future!

Well first of all, my career goal is to either become a border services officer or youth probation officer. I haven’t quite decided on which one I want to do yet, and I am glad I don’t have to make a decision at this very moment.  I know that as a probation officer I would have to do A LOT of paper work.  I’m not quite sure I want to do things such as, presentence reports, enforcing court orders, keeping up to date on the youth I’m working with etc… So for now being a probation officer is not out of the question, it’s just not on the top of my list.   However, being a border services officer is something I have thought about and can visualize myself doing as a life long career. My parents and I travel to the United States a lot and of course we always have to go through customs and I have always been fascinated watching the border service officer doing their job.  I think it would be interesting to meet all sorts of different people from around the world and find out things like; where they have been, where they are going, why did they go etc.  It would also be exciting to get the “gut” feeling that someone might be trying to bring something illegal back to Canada and have the authority to have them and their positions searched.  In a sense protecting Canada, that in itself makes me feel good. 

If I want to get into youth probation I will either need my Bachelors of Social Work if I want to work in Calgary, or I can get my Bachelors of Arts in Criminal Justice if I plan to work outside of Calgary. For Border Services I need my Bachelors of Arts in Criminal Justice. If I chose to peruse a career in border services one thing that is apparent is when you apply for the first time, you don’t get to pick at what crossing you want to be at. I could end up working in a different province, which I think would be pretty neat but it will be hard to leave the comforts of home and my family.  But that has to be done eventually I guess!

My other goals include traveling! I would love to travel to Australia and New Zealand! There is no apparent reason why I want to see these places, I just hear the beaches are beautiful and the surfing is great and I love to surf! I would also love to travel to Europe especially France, England, Italy, and Germany, since there is so much to do there.  I guess you could say I want to travel ALL over the world! 

NOVEMBER

Its already November!!! 


Wow, time sure flies by!!! 


October has been a pretty good month, been busy with school, practicum and work. 
Schools going good! Just need to take more time and study instead of spending my time on Cafe World. lol 
Practicum is going good, its been busy tho! I have been learning a lot and what it's like working in the jails! 


My least favorite class ends this THURSDAY!!!!!!!! So happy! 


November 11 is a very important day, its Remembrance Day. 
My grandpa was in the Second World War, and was a Veteran. 


My goals for this month are:
-Study hard for exams so I can get a good mark
-Finish all my projects before the month of December so when the month comes I can start studying for exams!


Things to look forward to:
-Least favorite class ending this Thursday
-Practicum! 
-Closer to the end of the semester
-Christmas is coming soon! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Happy Halloween!!!
Hope your Halloween is fantastic and safe!


Here are my two pumpkins! 

Have Fun Trick or Treating and be safe! 

Don't eat too much candy! haha

Watermelon Ouch!

Halfway through the semester!!!!!!

Wow where has the time gone?? I'm already halfway through my 3rd semester in college! Less than two  months till Christmas break! Then one more semester and then will receive my Justice Studies diploma!!! :D 


School is going good, I'm enjoying all my classes but one which has absolutely nothing to do with the program so I don't know why we even have to take it :o and I just stay out of the drama. I'm here for an education, not for the drama
Practicum is going well, I really enjoy it! 


Other than school, just been busy with work and karate. Karate is going well as usual and work is going alright.   


So many things to look forward to! 
- Halloween
- End of the semester
-Christmas which means baking! =p 


Not so much the final exams but it will be all good =) 

Cafe World

Fun but addicting!

Wisdom Teeth

Effff yew wisdom teeth!  nuff said 

OCTOBER!

Today is the first day of October, which means the first month of school has gone by! 


Weird start to the month! 
We were sitting in our Crisis Intervention class at 9am about to have a quiz, Our instructor leaves to go photocopy something. All of the sudden the fire alarm goes off and there was an announcement "Emergency in the building, please stand by for announcements" So we thought it might've been a lock down so we shut the door and turned off the lights! 
The announcement kept going on and saying the same thing over and over and we couldn't stop laughing. 
We then got one saying there was a fire in the building and please evacuate! We were on the 7th floor running down the stairs, by the time we got to the 5th floor a HUGE mob of people came and were soo slow going down the stairs, one stopped in front of me and I almost ran into her! 
We saw 1 fire truck but no sirens. Maybe there was a fire in the kitchen or something burned! We waited outside about 3 blocks away from school for about 30 minutes, it was COLD and windy!!! Then they told us that were able to go back in which took a while due to the big crowd!  
We found out that it was a false alarm and just was a practice drill! 

Overall September has been a good month other than receiving sad news about my grandma and the fact that my social life is over :( since i got school 3 days a week and practicum twice a week! Which I don't mind!  Then i gotta work on the weekends :( 


I received MVP for my softball team 

School is going well, I love all of my classes! 
Practicum is going well, I really enjoy it! 

My favorite part about October is Thanksgiving as and Halloween!! 

Thanksgiving since I love turkey and mom's homemade stuffing! :p  

Halloween... I miss the fact that I cant go out trick-or-treating anymore :( but handing out candy still can be fun (not really) but seeing different costumes is pretty neat!  Candy is the BEST part of Halloween! 

My main goal for this month is to continue doing well in school, avoid procrastination when it comes to studying for exams.