The time has finally come - VSB application time. All in all, I feel pretty good about my prospects, thought I have begun thinking about possibly applying to another couple of districts that I've heard really good things about, but really, first thing's first, and Vancouver is really where I want to teach the most. Thei application process is a bit on the involved side - 4 page application, resume, cover letter, copies of all our reports and transcripts (um, like almost 20 pages of text...), 2 confidential references, and so forth. Yeugh. So that's my project for the weekend, alongside the usual heaps of reading which I, for some strange reason, actually seem to enjoy most of (perhaps I'm in the right field...), and designing a "qualitative self-assessment" for my assessment class. Boy-o, I sure do live the glamour.

It is almost hilarious how quickly many of my classmates have reverted from teacher to bad student - arriving late, talking in class, ignoring the teacher (okay, professor), skipping classes, not doing readings or homework, and so forth. While I am glad to be a student again (it's fun in that weird, sick way mmmmnewideas) and it's nice to be around adults for a change (okay, or close approximations of adults) and have someone else be responsible for keeping classes progressing, I still don't feel the need to be a jackass about it. Plus, some part of me always remembers how much I'm paying to be here, even though the number is so big I try not to think about it consciously.

Yesterday I lost my "one thing that had imporved with Harper as PM," that being his proximity to me - Ottawa's a long way's away - but yesterday he had the nerve to come to town. If I hadn't been at a forum at the school board, I would have been heckling/planning to kidnap and brainwash him for sure. He has just cut off all communicfation with the press corps in Ottawa claiming that they have a liberal bias, and I can only hope that they eat him alive the same way the Washington corps did to Clinton when he tokk similar but FAR less extreme actions. Sad thing is, with the Libs in shambles and the good ol' guys in orange not exactly mobilizing to fill the gap, the neocons from Alberta are in the best spot possible, and there's even buzz that they might be thinking along the lines of an election since they could probably secure a majority, given a lack of opposition.

Words of caution people: minority governments are very constrained in what they have to do. They must forge agreement among different interests, and moderate their views. The same cannot be said of a majority government. Here in Canada we give an extreme amount of power to majority governments - let's remeber, they make up both the exectutive and legislative branches of our government, and thus have carte blanche to do whateveer they wish. Haper's government has not proven that they're safe or trustworthy just because the sky didn't fall in when they formed a minority government. If they are given a majority, thing will be very different.

Not that I thnk my advice will sway those inclined to the type of actions I caution against, but at least then it's on paper (or some string of 1s and 0s somewhere) that I did warn people.

I want to smuggle George Stroumboulopoulos out fo the country and steal his job. I want my own CBC hour every night.