Cold

Good evening madames et messieurs, this is my first blog post that I write from my new headquarters in Ste-Marie, Quebec.

Before I continue, I know many of you have been asking for a mailing address so that you can stop procrastination on those letters. Without further ado:

-Redacted-
Your deadline is March 20th, because that`s when I leave for my next rotation, which is, quite majestically, in Vancouver.

There`s also a phone number I can list, but we have a really cheap quality cord phone, which is conveniently located in the girl`s room. I don`t use the phone very much anyway. And besides, it`s really hard to get a hold of a Katimaparticipant, what with all the things we do.

So, first off, I gotta say, Ste-Marie is actually more exciting than Strathroy.
We don`t need to walk 25 minutes to get downtown, our house is pretty much there.
Of course, you know what I refer to when I say -downtown- in a 12,000 people city.

I live in a much smaller place than in Strathroy.
I say place, because it isn`t even a house, it`s in fact two apartments.

The bottom apartment is very small, it`s got a small kitchen, a little living room, a washroom, and two bedrooms, and I can get to any of those places within 2 seconds of each other.
The upstairs apartment is slightly bigger, with two bedrooms, a bigger bathroom, and a common space. Still very small.

To commute between these two apartments, one must go outside, climb the stairs, and go back inside.

Speaking of outside, do you know what the temperature these few days has been like?

I ought to inform you.

-30 without the wind chill factor.

Obviously, I came knowing that it would be very cold, but the cold, it`s...
You open your mouth, and you can almost bite into it, it is frigid.

My new project leader, Pascal, is very very cool. He is much better than our previous one. We have so many activities planned.

Tomorrow we`re going to the Musée des beaux arts, followed by a trip to the Québec Katimahouse.

Sunday there`s some swimming going down.

Next weekend we`re volunteering, along with seven other Katimagroups, at the Red Bull Crashed Ice! We`re gonna be right next to the action (we`re cleaning the mess up afterward) so tune into TSN or something and look for me (:

Oh, in case you didn`t know, the Red Bull thing is, of course, that giant ice-slide where these extreme badasses go down in packs of four at 70 mph on skates, trying to get to the finish line. Epic.

I work at La Municipalité de Ste-Marguerite.

I am very sad that I work there.

You see, I really wanted to work at Câble Axion, a local tv station. Everyone in my group thought it would be a perfect place for me to work. I thought so too. It was my number 1 choice. I didn`t get the work placement. I was really bummed out for a few days, it was depressing, and I still think it`s unfair, because the participant who got it only had the tv station as their 3rd choice.

So why didn`t I get my work placement?

Apparently, the work placements decide who works where, unlike Strathroy. It blows.

Ste-Marguerite isn`t bad, it`s half paperwork, half building a snowshow trail outside in the woods.

It`s just that the TV station would have been so perfect, I would have done some video editing, some reporting, some covering of press conferences etc...

Oh well.

I better damn well get my first work choice in Vancouver.

Other than that big deception, I`m still having a good time in Katimavik.

Oh, and at my work, between the hours of 8-9, 12-1, 4-5, I`m technically not at work, but rather at my supervisor`s house, because the building I work at is closed during those hours.

And I have nothing to do.

Free long distance calls though, and I get really bored.

-You- might get a call, if my boredom goes to an extreme, I might resort to a phone, out of loneliness.

Lots of things to talk about, but this blog is just too long, wouldn`t you say?

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Experiental Social Experiments

Yeah yeah, I know the title is redundant, it just sounded cooler that's all.

I have a new goal in Katimavik, this goal is perfect, because this is the perfect place to accomplish it.

Social experiments.

What?

That could mean many different things.

What I'm talking about is creating, observing, applying the scientific method to "experiments" in this household and to the people within it.

No, not laboratories, no strange chemicals, you could call them mind games.

What exactly am I doing?

I am devising ways of understanding humans!

Now now, you may think I'm rather egotistical, oh what's the word, I don't know, but I mean, why do I think I can take on such a massive and bold task?

Well, it's not terribly serious, it's mostly for kicks and for amusement, to make myself feel smart, I don't know, I just enjoy it okay?!

Get to the point, Gabe.

Okay, so far, I've experimented with the following things:

• How a person feels guilt, how they deal with it, how they hide/show it
• How many times a person blinks in a minute depending on certain activities
• Jealousy. Why and how someone feels jealous of something, someone

The first task was only a partial success. I had two subjects - K and A. K escaped without feeling guilt because at the last minute she remembered something.
A, however, certainly had the stimulus to -feel- guilt. It's been hard to see his reaction though, he's quite the quiet one.

The third task is currently in progress. I hope to see results soon.
I might explain the experiments a bit better later on. Then again, I've promised so many things on this blog.

Evil, isn't it?

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Drug of choice

I am a stupid, stupid boy.

I don't drink coffee, and I try to avoid caffeine things.

But you know what I did today?

Four cups, I just had four cups.

You know why? I was scared.

This self-induced "tripping-out" that's happening to me is to take my mind off all the drama that's happening in this house right now.

I know it's stupid, it actually aggravates the problem usually, I still took the coffee.

I can't stop shaking now, I anticipate hyperventilating soon.

I always have caffeine on the worst nights.

I can't stop myself.

Caffeine's a hell of a drug.

Breakslow

Ah, Katimamornings.

I hate them.

I'm pretty normal though.

I think that a very normal thought to have in the morning when you're woken up by banging on your bedroom door is: "Oh god, let me throw something at them, let me find something blunt and heavy to THROW AT THEM".

I also hate it when D wakes up like five minutes before my personal alarm clock rings, and he's all like "Come on Gabe, time to get up. Slowpoke!".

I DESPISE it.

If he even lightly taps me to make me wake up one day, I swear, he is getting a Katimamorningpunch to the FACE.

Yeah, today's one of those mornings.

I haven't blogged very much in the mornings, and yes, I've just woken up, after being one of the last people to go to bed.

Ooh no I didn't sleep very well either, it was a -very- windy night, and I'm right beside the window in my room and it -whistles-. It was a bit scary, at about 4:30 am too.

Today is another day packed with stuff, we've been doing stuff every day for the past week since we don't work anymore.

A couple workshops today.

Our PL's birthday is today, and she's leaving for half of the day.

Ah, breakfast now, I hate breakfast, I never eat breakfast but since breakfast is a "group activity", I have to wake up and attend breakfast.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I almost got a CTI for being a few minutes late for breakfast once. Mad.

I think I'll blog about my little Katimachristmas sometime, maybe, I'm never good at promising certain types of blogs.

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