New Year's Eve - Time to Look Back

Another year has flown by in the blink of an eye. The older I get, the faster they seem to go. Overall, 2018 was a great year -- I was relatively healthy, got to explore Eastern Canada, took on student teachers, met new people, got out of my comfort zone and taught an option class that I have no experience in (robotics/programming), and so much more! It's also the last year of my 20's, which makes it somewhat more special to me.

Reflecting back on January... I believe I was trying to survive teaching grade 9, which was a challenge in that it was a PAT course with pressure to get students to do well. Fortunately, the vast majority of them did well in June, which was a huge sigh of relief. It also helped that I had a very strong group of kids in my group!

February... my first time being the Science Fair Coordinator at my school was probably my biggest highlight. The last time I took responsibility for a large event was probably in my second year for Career Day. Either way, we tried new things with relative success. As the Science Fair Coordinator again for this school year, it'll be good to reflect back and refer to feedback we got from colleagues!

March... I cannot recall anything significant in March besides coaching badminton and having help! It makes a huge difference to have another coach with you. Some people may scoff at badminton, thinking it's a backyard sport, but tell me that after being responsible for 50+ kids at a time (during tournaments) and hosting at least three practices a week, besides making up lessons for grade 9, marking and other lesson planning... It was a stressful month (along with April) but I certainly felt that it made me into a stronger person. Also, once again, I'm grateful for all the help I received with assistant coaching and supervisors for tournaments!

April is a lot easier to remember since I can refer back to my blog! Turning 29 was significant because it marks the end of my 20s. I'll reflect on my 20s more for my last post for the 365 Day post challenge. Another stressful month, but Your Lie in April and Violet Evergarden (one of the best anime series of 2018 in my opinion) kept me sane. April 12th marked a blackout at work, which was a first for me. I recall spending the morning trying to keep my students entertained as we wait for power to be restored. On the 17th of April, I finally (or I should say, my students) got a 3rd place finish in Badminton! The first in my books as a coach for the past 4 years! I also went back to building Gundams, with me finishing up building my MG Phenex.

May meant the school year is about to finish. My dad came back on the first, and it meant bringing back Onigiri! I made it a pledge to go to Japan every other year, since every year is too expensive for me. =( Speaking of Japan, my brother found the Eevee toy he bought for me during Japan 2017 that I apparently left inside my luggage. May also meant field trips, and one of them was rescheduled and eventually cancelled due to increment weather and conditions.

June is an interesting month; school is almost over but huge exams mark the end of the year so it's one final push to the finishing line. I managed to finish the curriculum with enough time for review. My grade 9s did well, none of my grade 7s failed the final exam and my grade 8s... about five failed.

July was mostly learning to program. I was excited at the prospect of teaching a new course! Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary happened. August was vacation time -- Eastern Canada is never at the top of my list of places to visit, but it's sad that I've seen more cities in Japan than I did of my own home country. I would go back to Toronto and Montreal, but I don't know if I can say the same for New Brunswick or Ottawa.

September, October, November and December was work mostly (and the gym). I'm glad to say that my current students have been awesome and life is going well! Also, I started watching some new series like Goblin Slayer (okay), Sword Art Online III (okay), That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime (pretty good) and Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (Seishun Buta Yarrou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai -- simply amazing... perhaps a contender for best anime of 2018).

Though enough reflecting for one post. 2018 was a great year overall, and I'm hoping that 2019 will be awesome once again! To everyone's good health for this upcoming year!

Spicy and Greasy

I woke up and ate a quick breakfast before starting to clean my desk area for my annual clean up. That took longer than I expected, but I went for a pretty deep thorough clean -- including cleaning my keyboard. Despite not eating by my keyboard, there were still a large amount of dust and mysterious objects in between my keys.

After cleaning, it was off to dinner to meet up with people I haven't seen in a while. We were at Chef Tian, a Hunan and Szechuan Cuisine restaurant. Food was spicy and greasy, but wonderfully tasty. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but no matter how much you train your tongue to handle spice, you can never train the bottom part...

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow...

Feels like vacation...`

I cannot recall the last time I cooked/had someone cook me something during vacation. It often involves going out to eat, or buying pre-made meals at the supermarket. As for the last couple days, I've been going out to eat lunch or dinner or both like today! It's a great way to meet up with people I haven't seen in a while.

Leg day at the gym went by quickly. Squats were feeling alright, though apparently I was slanting once again. =(

Oh, I forgot to mention that I manage to finish Shadow of the Tomb Raider late last night. A great game, though I breezed through it surprisingly fast. Perhaps I should have challenged myself and set the difficult level higher. I feel slightly empty knowing that I finished the trilogy. It started in October with the purchase of a new graphics card, and it has been a fun ride going through Lara's journey as she started off somewhat timid into a hardened survivor.

Either way, one week almost done, with one more to go! It's certainly time to get started on work.

Early Dinner For Once

Since we're on break, we were able to go to the gym early, meaning that we could have dinner at a resonable time today. We tried heading to Ramen Ichinen, but they ran out of broth. Our next stop was to Tokyo Street Market, but that was extremely busy. We finally settled for Mi Noodle, just a few shops down. I had a noodle bowl a while back, so I opted for a rice bowl this time. I was quite satisfied with my rice bowl -- for $10, there was quite a bit of food.

We stopped by 3Q for bubble tea after, and that pretty much marks my night. It's nice to be home relatively early for once!

Other than that, it was quite an ordinary day.

I have decided to leave work till Monday...

Tastes Better Today!

Plans to wake up early went up in smoke. I woke up at around 10:30, got in some breakfast before heading out to the gym for leg day. 225 lbs felt somewhat great, though my back started to hurt after a while.

After the gym, we met up with a friend that we haven't seen in a while. We decided to get food at Noodle World. Unlike Saturday, the broth was a lot better this time around.

After getting home, I ended up playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider (took some time to retrace my steps so I didn't have to fight the Yaaxil in the optional tomb...) and filled up some paperwork for a rebate.

Sigh... tomorrow's another day to get work done, but at this rate I should just hold off to Sunday.

Boxing Day 2018

Like the past 10 years or so now, I've slept in for Boxing Day. I did most of my shopping online for Boxing Day, so I didn't find a need to line up for sales. I ordered a few things from Memory Express, and being the cheap person that I am, I opted to pick up the items instead of spending $30 to have them ship it to me.

I would soon find out that I would regret doing that.

Before I get into that, I went to the gym relatively late and did some back and squats. I went out to eat a late lunch at Insadong before heading to Memory Express to pick up said items. It was about 4 PM and I assumed that lines would quiet down from the morning rush.

Boy was I wrong... we had to wait nearly 45 minutes to get to the front of the line. there were all sorts of people waiting for all sorts of items. One guy in front of me left when he was nearly at the front of the line. I'm guessing he had somewhere to go, but personally I thought it was a waste since it was literally 10 minutes from the cashiers.

By the time I reached the cashiers, it took about five minutes for them to collect what I ordered online. Personally, they're not spectacular deals, but the items I got were cheaper than I have ever seen them at ME, making it a somewhat justified purchase -- though I'm not sure all that waiting was worth my time.

Either way, items purchased and debt incurred, it was time to head on home. I proceeded to play Shadows of the Tomb Raider and some Monster Hunter World.

So much for work today, but tomorrow's another day!

Christmas 2018

Waking up with a stuffed sinus is never a good sign. As the day progressed, it seemed to stabilize a bit, but I have a feeling that it'll turn into a cold at any moment. Fortunately, it's the beginning of break so I have time to recover before work starts!

Merry Christmas to all! It has been a wonderful day to catch up with people! Christmas is time to spend with loved ones, though it shouldn't be the only day to do so in my opinion.

Besides going out, I managed to get more Shadows of the Tomb Raider in -- with some parts giving me a heart attack (those Yaaxil's are the scariest out of the Stormguards or the Deathless Ones in my opinion). I also got in a couple episodes of Zombieland Saga.

Funny how I would be more scared of humans than zombies today... though I guess it's all about the context rather than the actors themselves.

In other words, time to go back to work tomorrow. I should get a start on marking those labs...

Christmas Eve 2018

Another late start to the day which was followed by a couple episodes of Zombieland Saga. It's a series that I picked up recently, and it turned what normally would have been associated with horror (ie: zombies) into a comedy. It's surprisingly good despite some cliches that are thrown around in the show.

Other than that, the gym was relatively busy in the afternoon. I met a few familiar faces that I haven't seen in a long time at the gym today! Shoulders and arms were somewhat rushed because I had to be home before 4 to start Boxing Day shopping online!

Sales aren't extraordinary, but I managed to purchase some things for myself. I then spent most of the evening on Shadows of the Tomb Raider and more Zombieland! I also finally finished Let's Go Eevee! The ending with Professor Oak was definitely hilarious.

Poor Professor =/

Other than that, just a few minutes to Christmas!

About Time!

Second day of break started off with waking up late -- around 9:30 AM. I spent a large part of the day playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider before getting a hair cut -- followed by more Tomb Raider.

In the evening we tried going for Behemoth again. My brother and I swapped roles, in which I became a DPSer while my brother was tank. We didn't die, but we timed out. Our second attempt had a 4th random member join. Unfortunately, we were wiped out (I died twice =/). With morale low, we tried it a third time, and as they say, third time a charm! We managed to beat it, albeit my brother and I dying at the end with the final ecliptic meteor. 

Either way, it's over... for now... until the extreme version comes out for PC.

First Day of Break

I started the first day of break by sleeping in -- last night or very early in the morning was spent unlocking the Behemoth quest in MHW.

I ate breakfast at a leisurely pace before heading to the gym for legs. 185 lbs was somewhat okay, though I felt my heels lifting again. I ended my sets by trying 225 lbs, but my core was extremely bad with some crazy lean. Nevertheless, something to work on... again.

After the gym, I head back to work to pick up some stuff that I forgot to pick up yesterday. After getting back home, I continued playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider (better beginning than the original and Rise in my opinion) and fought the Behemoth in MHW! It's a beast... out of the four tries so far, we've haven't defeated it yet. The closest we've gotten to was stage 4.

Perhaps tomorrow!

Last Day

Last days are always chaotic since everyone is anticipating the upcoming break. Fortunately, I thought the grade 8s were pretty tame -- started with movies/board games followed by cleaning up classrooms and finishing up with a trip to the plaza for lunch.

The gym was relatively quiet for chest day. For being away for a couple weeks, I focused on 80 kg for five reps of five sets. The gym livened up a bit near the end of my workout.

Finally, it has been a while since I last visited Wow Chicken in Chinatown. Their fried chicken is one of the best in town in my opinion.

And now, to think of what I'm going to do for break...

Still not solved...

Second last day before winter break starts! School was mostly ordinary besides a pizza party for my students and the premiere of our school's first movie created by the drama club. At the end of the day, we had our annual staff Christmas/holiday dinner.

I spent some time after dinner to get work done before leaving for the day. It's been a while since I've washed my car, so I was looking for a car wash along 52nd, which is a road I normally don't take in the evening, but only due to the massive amount of traffic on Deerfoot. I finally found a place on 68th ave, that my brother frequents back in the day. It seemed pretty run down compared to the one I usually go to, and the wand had difficulties swiveling. Either way, I got a decent wash, though there's some areas on my car that are still dirty.

Once I got home, I had more food before proceeding to try and fix my brother's 3DS. I tried modifying it last year, but to no success. Unfortunately, I was foolish enough to wipe the SD card with the jailbreak files, thus bricking the 3DS. I was trying to restore boot files to the 3DS, but with no luck after two hours. =/

Other than that, time for bed. One more day to go!

Halfway through the last school week of 2018

Ordinary day at work besides meeting with the principal to go over my professional growth plan. I stopped by Little Caesar's to order pizza for the class party tomorrow. I was going to make life easy by ordering drinks there too, but it seemed like they increased their prices for pop. Therefore, I stopped by Safeway, which was next door to pick up pop. Sure, it's probably cheaper elsewhere but I didn't think it was worth the gas money.

Wednesday is back day, like any Wednesday. I kept it to mostly back, instead of integrating squats as well (I did some rehab squats with the band). Pull ups were tough, and it did feel like my back was screaming from a lack of nutrients.

I cautiously ate some solid food for dinner today, so let's see how it goes! I think I'm recovered...

It's still there...kinda!

I thought I was fully recovered, but eating solid foods did not go as well as I hoped it would. Either way, I kept it relatively simple at the gym with one plate (135 lbs) squats. Out of curiosity, I tried squatting 185 lbs for 3s and it didn't feel too bad at all. As a final challenge, I tried 225 lbs for singles, and it went up relatively quickly.

I don't think I'll be able to do 5 by 5s yet for 225, but something to work on. You think that not touching 315 in almost two years would spur me to push harder, but I guess it truly hasn't...

Other than the gym (work was ordinary), I managed to get some candy canes from Superstore, though not the ones I got last year. I must be too late this year, since Christmas is only a week away! I also filled up on gas, and was amazed at how cheap it was this week for me (under $40, though I only drove about 250 km).

Three more days!

Start of the Last Week

Last week before winter break! It feels weird to not have my student teacher teach, but I had it planned so that this week is mostly movie week for my students. My grade 8s are watching A Beautiful Mind while my grade 7s are watching Spirited Away.

My digestive system felt pretty good today so I risked eating some solid food. I'm feeling... generally okay at the moment? Hopefully it means that I'm almost recovered!

Four more days to go!

First Break from Karate during the School Year

I cannot recall the last time I was away from karate during the school year. I don't count summers since I've been away for a while due to travelling. Fortunately, one of my seniors was able to cover  my class that I teach, meaning that I could sleep in for the day.

With all the rest I've been getting, I'm feeling a lot better than I did on Thursday. I started reading Tokyo Ghoul: re, finished Rise of the Tomb Raider and got the eighth bade in Let's go Eevee. A productive day in just nerding out.

Hopefully I'll be fully recovered by tomorrow or Tuesday!

Relaxing Day

Due to whatever I'm suffering, I spent the day at home. I started reading Tokyo Ghoul a few days ago (since I have no idea what's going on in the most current season), and came close to finishing the series today. If there's one thing to look forward to during an illness is the ability to not feel as guilty when you take a day off.

I'm hoping that I can recover quickly so it's not on my mind when I go back to work on Monday! One week to go before break start.

I guess, it could be a blessing to be sick now, rather than during break... assuming that I recover before break starts.

I guess it's not the flu at least...

Last night was horrible when I tried to fall asleep. Immediately after I laid down, my abdominal region had a burning sensation. I thought it was heartburn, but it felt somewhat different from what I recalled heartburn feeling like. Due to these aches, I had a restless night. It was a tough drive to work, and a tougher day at work. I left pretty much at the end of the school day due to how crappy I was feeling all day. My stomach/intestine would hurt every now and then, though I cannot identify why it's doing what it is doing. I'm thinking food poisoning?

Either way, I missed another chest day at the gym. I'll have to make up for it somehow.

On a positive note, at least it doesn't seem to be the flu!

I guess it's about time...

Despite being around sick people for the past month, I have been pretty lucky in that I haven't caught a cold/flu/etc. When I got home from work (an ordinary day once again), I was feeling great, until all of a sudden I felt really fatigued and my body started to ache.

I was contemplating whether I should go to the gym or not, and the gym I did go to... though after one set of 135 lbs, I was doubled over from fatigued. Not wanting to go home after making the trip (despite it being only about 5 minutes away from my house), I stretched for a good hour before coming home.

And now I feel extremely cold, and sore... and fatigued...

I'm hoping that it was due to an extraneous session at the gym yesterday, but I'll have to see tomorrow.

I haven't been to Indigo for a while!

Grade 8s had a lab today while the grade 7s worked on some notes. Otherwise, it was a pretty ordinary day. The gym was busier than I've seen in a while, which is a good sign. I was still able to grab a rack to myself and an area to do pull ups. I lost count on how many sets were done today, but I managed to fatigue both my quads and my upper back.

I stopped by Indigo after (which was literally 2 minutes away from the gym) to look for a book. I wasn't able to find what I was seeking, but found something similar. For being so late, it was still quite busy; Christmas is in full swing. It's hard to believe that it's only 13 days away.

Christmas Lights

A long day at work due to setting up a lab for tomorrow, but otherwise the same old as always. Despite leaving past 5, there was a large traffic jam on Deerfoot. I took a detour down Erin Woods, which isn't the wealthiest neighborhood in Calgary, though there was one street where many houses were decorated for the season. It was definitely nice to see, which gave a nice reminder of how close Christmas is to us!

I'm surprised that I'm not feeling that fatigued... could be due to having a second year student teacher teaching most of my classes...

Otherwise, a week and a half to go to break!

Burning Shoulders

Work was the ordinary affair. I'm teaching one to two classes now, which makes the day go by slower for me. I find it hard to do my own work while my student teacher is teaching since I sit with the students to observe how he's doing. Perhaps I need to isolate myself in a corner...

After work, I went to grab supplies for activities this week. Fortunately, Walmart had all the materials I need (my annual trip to the Deerfoot Centre to grab material), thus not having to go to the nearby superstore for Borax.

Four days off from the gym did wonders for me today. I was able to hit PR reps and sets: 10 sets of mostly 4 reps of 115 lbs (had 3 sets where I could only hit 3 reps). I never did so many, nor so heavy, so at least it's good to see progress. That costed me for arms though, since I had issues curling and doing triceps.

Either way, off to sleep!

Exhausting Sunday

I woke up a number of times yesterday, making me still tired. Karate went like normal, and I came home to work on a quiz and my student teacher's written narrative. I also managed to get in a good amount of Rise of the Tomb Raider. I hope I can finish it before winter break starts.

But that's all for today... sleep....

Tired Saturday

I wasn't able to fall asleep till around 2 AM, and waking up at 7:30 AM didn't help. I did had a massage and chiro appointment, which explained why I had to wake up early.

The gym was closed, therefore I came home and spent all of it indoors. I managed to finish some marking, progressed in Rise of the Tomb Raider and Let's Go Eevee. I took a few naps here and there, but I feel relatively exhausted. An early night tonight would hopefully solve it for tomorrow.

Four days away from the gym and too many sweets. It was a nice break, but back to reality on Monday! I should be able to last till winter break...

Hopefully...

Spicy Crab

School went like any other day, except for the afternoon. My grade 8s were partnering up with grade 4s for a health and wellness event that the grade 4 team planned a while back. Essentially, the older students were working with the younger students to create a structure out of spaghetti and marshmallows (something I do with the grade 7s for Structures and Forces). I was apprehensive at first, since I didn't know how some of my male students would act, but it went really well in my eyes. It was touching to see, normally rambunctious students, working with their younger peers in a respectful manner.

For my last class: Robotics 7, it was nice to see what I thought would be the weakest group (in terms of academic standings and behavior) actually managed to finish building their robot on time, while some of my other stronger groups did not. I guess it shows that you can definitely not judge a book by its cover.

For the evening, I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday. Dinner was served at a Szechaun restaurant down in the south. The restaurant was known for their crab and fish, so those two were part of our dinner itinerary. The crab was quite tasty and not overly spicy, which surprised me since I was expecting the numbing pain that comes with Szechaun food. Afterwards, there were board games to be played, in which I learned a new game that I never played before: Deception. Pretty fun, though it took me a while to get the hang of it.

I've never been offer that before

Work was ordinary, though I tried to get most things done during prep so I could leave work early (ended up leaving on time) to pick up a cake for my dad's birthday. For the past... 6 years now, I've been picking up a cake at Amandine, which my dad seems to prefer. It could be due to their cakes not being overly sweet or that the owner is Japanese.

After picking up the cake and some other pastries, I drove to the car wash. It's been over three weeks since I last washed my car, and it's high time for a wash, despite how messy the weekend is going to get with the melting snow. As I was washing my car, an employee at the next door mechanic shop (they own the car wash) stopped by my bay and was floating between my bay and the next bay. I have to admit it felt a bit weird, but at after time ran out, he held up a toonie and asked if I wanted more time. I never been offered additional time for free, so that was a first.

Since I've only been rinsing the dirt off my car, rather than using soap or anything, my initial toonie was more than enough so I declined his offer.

After getting home, and taking a shower, my dad told me about the International Space Station (ISS) sighting that was going to take place in a couple of minutes. We bundled up and walked onto our driveway to see the ISS pop up from the west and streak it's way east. It's been a while since my dad and I did some astro-gazing (I forgot the term). The ISS was obviously small, but easily spotted since nothing else was going that fast across the sky.

Other than that, I took a day off from the gym. It felt good to just sit here and not to anything, besides playing some Pokemon. I finished the Pokemon Tower at Lavender Town, and I knew what to expect (Cubone lamenting the loss of his mother, Marowak), but the 3D remake was heart-wrenching... especially as

SPOILER ALERT

Cubone reaches to touch Marowak's hand, though they never got the chance to touch since she found peace. Why couldn't they make contact... even if it's just for a few seconds?!? It was a nice touch to play a bit of the Pokemon Gold/Silver Lavender Town theme (which is quite a bit happier in tone) during this scene as a sense of moving on.

To help explain the scene, I'll link a video I found on YouTube with said scene.

Credits to Zephiel810, in which was the first link when I typed in "cubone mother death scene" into YouTube.

Where's my tissue box...

Caught me by surprise

Grade 8s had a paper chromatography activity, which essentially is to take a marker, place a dot on a piece of coffee filter and let water soak it up so that the dot (potentially) splits into it's base colors.

I normally find this activity a bit boring since it's super straightforward, but this year, the students really seemed to enjoy it. Maybe it's due to not having a worksheet to complete as well...

Other than that, it was legs and back. Slowly working my way back up to an additional 45 lbs for weighted pull ups. Doing 15 sets of five reps with 25 lbs was darn impossible, in which I only had... 8 decent sets of 5 while the rest were half-effort 4 reps. Squats were starting to be crooked after set 10 with just 135 lbs and sets of 5-6 reps.

But off to sleep! I need to head to the gym earlier so that I can come home and eat quicker before bed...

Rehab does work!

Work day was ordinary. Gym was different -- my squats have been quite crooked as of late, so I've been working on correcting my form with resistance training using bands.

225 lbs for 2 reps were going pretty straight so it seems like it's working!

As in terms of short stories... well I was preoccupied playing Let's Go Eevee, so it'll have to wait for another day.

Nothing to report

An ordinary day, with nothing extraordinary taking place. Work went like always, and the gym was the same as always.

I think it is time to go back to writing short stories...

It's December?!

I was aware that December started yesterday, but it really hit me hard today that we're in the last month of 2018. This year has certainly flew by quickly, and it only seems to go by faster and faster with each and every year.

As for karate today, we had our annual kata tournament. Smaller numbers than usual, but the quality was pretty good today. It's funny seeing how some students slack off during class, but during the tournament they're all gung-ho. Congratulations to all the winners!

After karate, I managed to finish marking some online assignments before updating notes. I updated my Science 7 notes last year, but somehow I lost all my files... Fortunately, it's not too hard to modify existing notes in comparison from starting from scratch.

Onto another week of work. Just three more weeks to go! Technically two since the last week before break is mostly activities and movies.

Upgrades Installed

Morning started with a lengthy session at the gym. I was getting my psoas treated, so stretching took about an hour. 135 lbs squats were somewhat enjoyable, though I cannot say the same for the rest of my exercises that were focused on hams and glutes today.

After the gym, I got home in the afternoon to upgrade my computer with the storage devices I bought recently. I don't notice a difference between going from a Kingston SSD to a Samsung SSD, but it's nice to have lots of space!

I also spent a couple of hours finishing an e-learning course that I have neglected over the past couple of months. I signed up for it at the beginning of October, but left everything till today since the closing date to get a certificate for completion is this coming Monday.

The night finished off with some more Rise of the Tomb Raider and Let's Go Eevee. Three badges down with five more to go!

Butter Lab Revelations!

The grade 7s had a conduction lab in which they had to see whether a conductor or an insulator is better at conducting heat. I had a variety of different metal objects out, and I just realize that one type of spoon was better than another type due to its shape. I would be able to use this as a learning opportunity on Monday! =)

Other than that, school was ordinary. Chest day at the gym wasn't the greatest, though at least 90 kg is starting to feel relatively light. I'm hoping that I can go back to 100 kg and push out 5 sets of 5 reps.

I got the chance to finally try out Cafe 2030. I always wanted to drink two different bubble tea drinks at once! Since I'm not much of a foodie, it tasted like any other normal bubble tea place for me.

After coming back, I tried fighting Arch Tempered Kirin on MHW. Arch Tempered monsters are harder than the already hard Tempered monsters. My brother and I were unable to beat it after a few tries, so we gave up for the night.

There's always tomorrow!