Sick and tired of being...
Sep. 1st, 2013 06:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pheloniusfriar... sick and tired.
I wonder what it would feel like if things didn't go to hell over the summer? Sigh. I went into the summer utterly burned out after a very challenging school term that saw me overwhelmed with critical family issues that lasted well into June. As a result, I bombed a critical mathematical physics class (dropped it) and even failed a C++ exam (I was challenging for credit and just didn't allocate enough time to study for what was likely going to be on the exam, and then it turned out what I did study was the absolute wrong things, pretty sad). It was not a total waste, of course, as I re-did a mathematical methods class that I had done poorly in previously (and should not have passed) and got an A-, I got an A+ (I'm still amazed) in abstract algebra I, and I got a B+ in my "core" (needed for my B.A.) feminist activism course. I then had to drop the summer physics class running in May/June because I was still utterly fried. I managed to save my full-summer feminism course, but only because I received so much support from my prof (my physics prof was supportive too, but I was too far gone to succeed with that particular material). I will be getting an A in that feminism class (woot) and it was one of the required courses for the B.A. program (woot). Things were looking up somewhat at one point and I even handed one assignment in early in the 3rd year feminism course I was taking in the second half of the summer. The final exam of the full-summer feminism course was two Mondays ago and that went very well, but took a lot of time to prepare for. The exam for my 3rd year course was a take home exam due two Fridays ago and I was getting ready to start on it the day after my full-summer course's exam (two Tuesdays ago).
Then... life happened... I ended up having to run all over the city that day and eventually ended up having to take a friend into emergency. You see, she had been quite ill and wasn't getting any better. I kept checking up on her and her symptoms seemed to be getting worse and worse, and weirder and weirder, and more worrying. Thinking it was probably just side effects from being sick and thinking it was a waste of a trip to emergency and a waste of her evening waiting to be seen (which, I should say was her opinion as well), I did my errands first and then took her in around 6PM. When I picked her up and saw her moving toward the car (just a few metres away), I knew it was a Good Thing™ that I was hauling her ass in to the hospital. Something wasn't right. Indeed, something wasn't right. Specifically, arrhythmic tachycardia not right (atrial fibrillation we found out later). Her heart couldn't keep a beat, was bopping between 130bpm and 170bpm at rest and even (as I saw from the ECG plot later) was varying wildly between individual beats. She was weak as a kitten and not thinking too clearly because her body and brain weren't getting enough blood (it's rarely fatal unless the condition doesn't take care of itself in a day or two, but it's certainly a strain on the system and can ultimately lead to a stroke or heart attack). They tried drugs and it helped a bit, but certainly didn't fix it. Ultimately, they had to sedate her and use "the paddles" to restart her heart (worked like a charm, which the doctor said it almost always does for that condition). 150 Joules of energy delivered in an impulse (we calculated it was enough energy to lift 2.5kg to a height of 6 metres) to her chest. And yes, she had lovely rectangular burn marks despite the fact they put special cloths between her skin and the paddles. Since she needed care after her ordeal (they discharged her later that night once they had verified for a few hours her heart wasn't going to slip back into arrhythmia, which is actually fairly reasonable based on everything I've read), I brought her home and ended up taking care of her for the rest of the week. You can guess how well my exam writing went ;).
My prof did give me an extension, but I needed a day or so after she went home again to decompress and by last Sunday I had come down with whatever virus she had that has contributed to her being sick (a cold or flu or something, it's fucking nasty and I've been hot and cold for the whole week and barely able to move or think and have been sore all over, etc.). Eventually, I did manage to write one of the two essays needed for the take home final exam and I turned that in only one and a half days past the end of the extension (Thursday last week about mid-morning). My prof did accept it. However, to do it, I ended up staying up for 30 hours straight... while sick. Yup. I was not able to finish the second essay and my prof finally dropped the axe on Friday and said my extension was up (which I find utterly fair and reasonable, fyi) and so my mark will be what it is. Sadly, the final exam was 50% of my final mark, so regardless of how well I did on the exam, I will have a shitty mark, but at least I hope I will get a credit for the course (not at all guaranteed, sadly... I don't know what mark I need on the final to pass because she has not posted my mark for one of my assignments yet, she was travelling to Lebanon during the exam period and has had limited time and Internet access apparently). In retrospect, I should have deferred the exam... if it had just been helping my friend I probably could have made it, but getting sick afterward killed my chances... however, I didn't realize how sick I was going to get and thought I could still get the exam completed and turned in. Yes, hindsight is 20/20... but the threat of having to write a makeup exam during the fall term hanging over my head was a strong disincentive to applying for a deferral as I will be doing two classes that are going to have weekly homework and are going to be profoundly challenging (I've dropped both of them previously because I didn't have the time to devote to the workload due to that whole having a family thing). So, I'm hoping that a credit is forthcoming even if I get a truly shitty mark. Worst case is I can take an extra half-year course at the end of my degrees and punt it out of my GPA. I'm still quite sick as I write this (alternating roasting in air conditioning and freezing in hot upstairs room ... and visa versa, of course). I am particularly upset that I was sick this weekend because I had received an invitation to go to my friend's cottage, which I desperately needed as a break (it was the only one I was going to get this summer)... sigh... fall term classes start Thursday. Not an auspicious start to a new school year.
So enough whining, right? So after staying up for a bazillion hours to finish that essay (I got up at 7:30AM to do my radio show at 10AM on the Wednesday morning then came home and worked on the essay overnight and turned it in mid-morning Thursday), what would have been the sensible thing to do? If you answered "not go out drinking at lunch" you would be correct. If you have since figured out that perhaps I wrote that because I went out drinking at lunch on Thursday, you would also be correct. It was the fourth, and final, session of the CKCU wine tasting summer fundraiser with Rod Phillips that I've written about thrice so far (given that there were three sessions to date, imagine). This month's Ontario grape of distinction (grapes that do well in Ontario's cold climate) was Cabernet Franc (a red wine). We had two wines from 2011 (which was a cool year) and two from 2010 (which was a warm year... apparently 2012 was also a warm year, so keep your eyes out for 2012 Ontario wines, they will be better than 2011's attempts). One of the interesting things about this tasting was the wines got progressively more bold where previous tastings were a little more mixed. Oh, and a side note, apparently to be able to call something an ice wine, the grapes need to experience –8°C for two days... not straight, it even counts if it dips to that temperature for a few minutes in a day... but the grapes are frozen when pressed and it takes a lot of them to make any amount of ice wine because the water from the grapes if left behind frozen and only the concentrated nectar is forced out of the ice.
So, the first wine was Sandbanks' Cabernet Franc. It's a VQA wine (all of them are), but it has the enigmatic origin of "Ontario" rather than a specific region. Rod indicated that this happens when grapes from multiple Ontario regions are used for the wine (but all must still be from Ontario). In this case, it's a Prince Edward County winery, and most of the grapes were probably from there, but grapes from neighbouring areas were also used, thus the broad origin classification. This wine was from 2011 and cool year wines are harsher than warm year wines because the grapes don't have time to ripen fully (even a few days to a week makes a huge difference in this climate), and this wine, to my taste, had something of a bitter aftertaste. The wine was dry with light tannins and there was a flavour in there that I recognized, but couldn't put my finger on until someone across the way suggested "sour cherry" and that was exactly the taste I was trying to identify. Rod agreed that it had hints of sour cherry flavours (which can be the exact same compounds in grapes as in cherries so it could literally be that flavour). I wrote in my notes that "hints" in this case was closer to "being pumelled with a heavy bat...". Rod said he really liked this wine because it had a clean, well balanced, flavour and that it would go well with lamb, poultry, or grilled salmon for instance. He reiterated that Reisling and Pinot Gris goes well with Asian foods. I should also note that I learned to save a bit of each wine for after I'd tasted them all, and when I went back (caveat, after 8oz of wine) I liked the flavour of this one much more and could see myself drinking it with a meal (not on its own though), which is they way Rod says wines are supposed to be consumed anyway.
Next up was Vineland's Cabernet Franc (Niagara Peninsula). I wrote that it "rolls on, then packs a punch, with a tiny bit of sweet". What I meant is it flowed onto the tongue and had a muted sort of feel (texture?) and then sort of exploded with flavour. It had a long finish with a little bit of bitterness. At that point, someone asked a question about terroir and Rod answered that he was ambivalent about the whole subject arguing it was like asking if carrots had terroir... his answer to that even was "perhaps, but so would peanut butter then". He didn't seem to put too much into it. The next one was Inniskillin's Cabernet Franc (Niagara Peninsula). I'm noticing a trend with Cabernet Franc wine naming, heh ;). This one was made from riper grapes and therefore had more sugar to start and more alcohol to end up with. It had more flavour than the previous two and less tannin. It's taste was peppery, a bit smokey, and nicely acidic. I had liked this one better than the other two initially, but my preferences rearranged themselves by the end and this came in third after the first (which shifted in my liking) and the fourth (which ended up being my favourite). It is still a good wine though. Finally, we had Château des Charmes' Cabernet Franc (St. David's Bench ... I don't know that I've had a wine from that sub-region before, hmmm). Where the other wines we tried could probably be aged for 1-2 years, Rod said this one could sit for up to 5 years and be better for it, but was drinkable now either way. It was puckery, had something of an "iron feel" in my mouth, and a very long, nice (not bitter) finish. It left a feel and taste in my mouth after a few minutes as though I'd eaten apples, even more after a long time. I liked the finish a lot! He suggested that where the other wines had some delicacy to them, this one could hold its own against bold food like steak (it's a mighty good food) and such. And that's it, that's all for this amazing fundraiser and fun little side trip through my summer. Thanks to Michael Valerio of CKCU for organizing it, and a huge thanks to Rod Phillips for volunteering to share his vast and non-pompous knowledge with us :).
I have a few things to look forward to over the next few weeks (yeah, I don't have time, but fuck it, right?). I'll be going to the Barnstorm Music Festival on September 14th in Finch, Ontario from 6PM to 2AM. It's only $20 for 6 bands and is a genuine small rural music festival (it's literally in a barn). It's run by tic, member of the CKCU Board of Directors and radio host (the 3 hour long Wednesday Morning Special Blend, the show on right before mine so I get to see him once a week at least). It's also in its 14th year! As the flyer says, "camping available and encouraged, gate opens at noon, rain or shine; bring lawnchair, food, bug spray, flashlight, and warm clothes". One of the last true intimate music festivals going. At Rod Phillips' suggestion I will be attending L'oenotour on September 12th at the Hôtel Hilton Lac Leamy, an invitation only wine tasting event (if you subscribe to his wine newsletters at his site that I've given the link to twice above, you can find out about these events and ask to be put on the list). The tasting will feature 35 (!) wines from France (Chablis, Languedoc, Roussillon, Cahors, Provence, Bordeaux, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape), and appetizers will be served. Where I drank the wines at the CKCU wine tastings (there were four), I will definitely need to taste and spit at this coming event (which I've never done before) as 70oz of wine is a little beyond even my alcohol tolerance ;). Oh, did I mention the event is free? Seriously, subscribe to Rod's newsletters if you want to find out about these sorts of things in the future (and there's tons of other information, including bi-weekly reviews of new wines coming into the LCBO all year round)!!!
I will also be attending the 2013 Power of the Arts National Forum from September 27th through 29th. Because I'm full time student, I get in for a mere pittance (I will be fed breakfast and lunch as well, what?), and it promises to be quite the weekend. Even the undiscounted rate for individuals seems remarkably inexpensive given the nature of the event! The opening reception Friday will feature the Rt. Hon. Michaëlle Jean (former Governor General of Canada and the head of the foundation that runs the event), Dr. Roseann O’Reilly Runte (Carleton President); there will be "testimonials" by Kellylee Evans (Jazz and Soul vocalist), Edouard Lock (Choreographer, La la la Human Steps, and filmmaker) [!!! I so seriously love the work done by La la la Human Steps !!!], and Lynda Thalie (Algerian Canadian author, composer, and singer); the MC will be CBC's Adrian Harewood; and live jazz will be provided by Tripod (featuring Roddy Ellias (!), John Geggie (!), and Jesse Stewart (!)). This will be followed by a public town hall meeting from 7PM to 9PM if you want to participate somewhat but can't afford to or have the time to come for the weekend (see the link above and go to Program for information on location and content and such). I'll be going to the full programs for both the Saturday and Sunday as well, which includes all sorts of plenary sessions, but then splits into two workshops on both days... on Saturday it's more structured presentations and on Sunday it's discussion and actual workshopping. I'll be attending the Voice and Identity workshop (which will be led by Marie Wildson, a Commissioner from the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission), and the Mental and Physical Health workshop (which seems like it will be mostly in French). There is going to be some pretty heavy stuff going down that weekend from the looks of things. Wish me luck ;).
I wonder what it would feel like if things didn't go to hell over the summer? Sigh. I went into the summer utterly burned out after a very challenging school term that saw me overwhelmed with critical family issues that lasted well into June. As a result, I bombed a critical mathematical physics class (dropped it) and even failed a C++ exam (I was challenging for credit and just didn't allocate enough time to study for what was likely going to be on the exam, and then it turned out what I did study was the absolute wrong things, pretty sad). It was not a total waste, of course, as I re-did a mathematical methods class that I had done poorly in previously (and should not have passed) and got an A-, I got an A+ (I'm still amazed) in abstract algebra I, and I got a B+ in my "core" (needed for my B.A.) feminist activism course. I then had to drop the summer physics class running in May/June because I was still utterly fried. I managed to save my full-summer feminism course, but only because I received so much support from my prof (my physics prof was supportive too, but I was too far gone to succeed with that particular material). I will be getting an A in that feminism class (woot) and it was one of the required courses for the B.A. program (woot). Things were looking up somewhat at one point and I even handed one assignment in early in the 3rd year feminism course I was taking in the second half of the summer. The final exam of the full-summer feminism course was two Mondays ago and that went very well, but took a lot of time to prepare for. The exam for my 3rd year course was a take home exam due two Fridays ago and I was getting ready to start on it the day after my full-summer course's exam (two Tuesdays ago).
Then... life happened... I ended up having to run all over the city that day and eventually ended up having to take a friend into emergency. You see, she had been quite ill and wasn't getting any better. I kept checking up on her and her symptoms seemed to be getting worse and worse, and weirder and weirder, and more worrying. Thinking it was probably just side effects from being sick and thinking it was a waste of a trip to emergency and a waste of her evening waiting to be seen (which, I should say was her opinion as well), I did my errands first and then took her in around 6PM. When I picked her up and saw her moving toward the car (just a few metres away), I knew it was a Good Thing™ that I was hauling her ass in to the hospital. Something wasn't right. Indeed, something wasn't right. Specifically, arrhythmic tachycardia not right (atrial fibrillation we found out later). Her heart couldn't keep a beat, was bopping between 130bpm and 170bpm at rest and even (as I saw from the ECG plot later) was varying wildly between individual beats. She was weak as a kitten and not thinking too clearly because her body and brain weren't getting enough blood (it's rarely fatal unless the condition doesn't take care of itself in a day or two, but it's certainly a strain on the system and can ultimately lead to a stroke or heart attack). They tried drugs and it helped a bit, but certainly didn't fix it. Ultimately, they had to sedate her and use "the paddles" to restart her heart (worked like a charm, which the doctor said it almost always does for that condition). 150 Joules of energy delivered in an impulse (we calculated it was enough energy to lift 2.5kg to a height of 6 metres) to her chest. And yes, she had lovely rectangular burn marks despite the fact they put special cloths between her skin and the paddles. Since she needed care after her ordeal (they discharged her later that night once they had verified for a few hours her heart wasn't going to slip back into arrhythmia, which is actually fairly reasonable based on everything I've read), I brought her home and ended up taking care of her for the rest of the week. You can guess how well my exam writing went ;).
My prof did give me an extension, but I needed a day or so after she went home again to decompress and by last Sunday I had come down with whatever virus she had that has contributed to her being sick (a cold or flu or something, it's fucking nasty and I've been hot and cold for the whole week and barely able to move or think and have been sore all over, etc.). Eventually, I did manage to write one of the two essays needed for the take home final exam and I turned that in only one and a half days past the end of the extension (Thursday last week about mid-morning). My prof did accept it. However, to do it, I ended up staying up for 30 hours straight... while sick. Yup. I was not able to finish the second essay and my prof finally dropped the axe on Friday and said my extension was up (which I find utterly fair and reasonable, fyi) and so my mark will be what it is. Sadly, the final exam was 50% of my final mark, so regardless of how well I did on the exam, I will have a shitty mark, but at least I hope I will get a credit for the course (not at all guaranteed, sadly... I don't know what mark I need on the final to pass because she has not posted my mark for one of my assignments yet, she was travelling to Lebanon during the exam period and has had limited time and Internet access apparently). In retrospect, I should have deferred the exam... if it had just been helping my friend I probably could have made it, but getting sick afterward killed my chances... however, I didn't realize how sick I was going to get and thought I could still get the exam completed and turned in. Yes, hindsight is 20/20... but the threat of having to write a makeup exam during the fall term hanging over my head was a strong disincentive to applying for a deferral as I will be doing two classes that are going to have weekly homework and are going to be profoundly challenging (I've dropped both of them previously because I didn't have the time to devote to the workload due to that whole having a family thing). So, I'm hoping that a credit is forthcoming even if I get a truly shitty mark. Worst case is I can take an extra half-year course at the end of my degrees and punt it out of my GPA. I'm still quite sick as I write this (alternating roasting in air conditioning and freezing in hot upstairs room ... and visa versa, of course). I am particularly upset that I was sick this weekend because I had received an invitation to go to my friend's cottage, which I desperately needed as a break (it was the only one I was going to get this summer)... sigh... fall term classes start Thursday. Not an auspicious start to a new school year.
So enough whining, right? So after staying up for a bazillion hours to finish that essay (I got up at 7:30AM to do my radio show at 10AM on the Wednesday morning then came home and worked on the essay overnight and turned it in mid-morning Thursday), what would have been the sensible thing to do? If you answered "not go out drinking at lunch" you would be correct. If you have since figured out that perhaps I wrote that because I went out drinking at lunch on Thursday, you would also be correct. It was the fourth, and final, session of the CKCU wine tasting summer fundraiser with Rod Phillips that I've written about thrice so far (given that there were three sessions to date, imagine). This month's Ontario grape of distinction (grapes that do well in Ontario's cold climate) was Cabernet Franc (a red wine). We had two wines from 2011 (which was a cool year) and two from 2010 (which was a warm year... apparently 2012 was also a warm year, so keep your eyes out for 2012 Ontario wines, they will be better than 2011's attempts). One of the interesting things about this tasting was the wines got progressively more bold where previous tastings were a little more mixed. Oh, and a side note, apparently to be able to call something an ice wine, the grapes need to experience –8°C for two days... not straight, it even counts if it dips to that temperature for a few minutes in a day... but the grapes are frozen when pressed and it takes a lot of them to make any amount of ice wine because the water from the grapes if left behind frozen and only the concentrated nectar is forced out of the ice.
So, the first wine was Sandbanks' Cabernet Franc. It's a VQA wine (all of them are), but it has the enigmatic origin of "Ontario" rather than a specific region. Rod indicated that this happens when grapes from multiple Ontario regions are used for the wine (but all must still be from Ontario). In this case, it's a Prince Edward County winery, and most of the grapes were probably from there, but grapes from neighbouring areas were also used, thus the broad origin classification. This wine was from 2011 and cool year wines are harsher than warm year wines because the grapes don't have time to ripen fully (even a few days to a week makes a huge difference in this climate), and this wine, to my taste, had something of a bitter aftertaste. The wine was dry with light tannins and there was a flavour in there that I recognized, but couldn't put my finger on until someone across the way suggested "sour cherry" and that was exactly the taste I was trying to identify. Rod agreed that it had hints of sour cherry flavours (which can be the exact same compounds in grapes as in cherries so it could literally be that flavour). I wrote in my notes that "hints" in this case was closer to "being pumelled with a heavy bat...". Rod said he really liked this wine because it had a clean, well balanced, flavour and that it would go well with lamb, poultry, or grilled salmon for instance. He reiterated that Reisling and Pinot Gris goes well with Asian foods. I should also note that I learned to save a bit of each wine for after I'd tasted them all, and when I went back (caveat, after 8oz of wine) I liked the flavour of this one much more and could see myself drinking it with a meal (not on its own though), which is they way Rod says wines are supposed to be consumed anyway.
Next up was Vineland's Cabernet Franc (Niagara Peninsula). I wrote that it "rolls on, then packs a punch, with a tiny bit of sweet". What I meant is it flowed onto the tongue and had a muted sort of feel (texture?) and then sort of exploded with flavour. It had a long finish with a little bit of bitterness. At that point, someone asked a question about terroir and Rod answered that he was ambivalent about the whole subject arguing it was like asking if carrots had terroir... his answer to that even was "perhaps, but so would peanut butter then". He didn't seem to put too much into it. The next one was Inniskillin's Cabernet Franc (Niagara Peninsula). I'm noticing a trend with Cabernet Franc wine naming, heh ;). This one was made from riper grapes and therefore had more sugar to start and more alcohol to end up with. It had more flavour than the previous two and less tannin. It's taste was peppery, a bit smokey, and nicely acidic. I had liked this one better than the other two initially, but my preferences rearranged themselves by the end and this came in third after the first (which shifted in my liking) and the fourth (which ended up being my favourite). It is still a good wine though. Finally, we had Château des Charmes' Cabernet Franc (St. David's Bench ... I don't know that I've had a wine from that sub-region before, hmmm). Where the other wines we tried could probably be aged for 1-2 years, Rod said this one could sit for up to 5 years and be better for it, but was drinkable now either way. It was puckery, had something of an "iron feel" in my mouth, and a very long, nice (not bitter) finish. It left a feel and taste in my mouth after a few minutes as though I'd eaten apples, even more after a long time. I liked the finish a lot! He suggested that where the other wines had some delicacy to them, this one could hold its own against bold food like steak (it's a mighty good food) and such. And that's it, that's all for this amazing fundraiser and fun little side trip through my summer. Thanks to Michael Valerio of CKCU for organizing it, and a huge thanks to Rod Phillips for volunteering to share his vast and non-pompous knowledge with us :).
I have a few things to look forward to over the next few weeks (yeah, I don't have time, but fuck it, right?). I'll be going to the Barnstorm Music Festival on September 14th in Finch, Ontario from 6PM to 2AM. It's only $20 for 6 bands and is a genuine small rural music festival (it's literally in a barn). It's run by tic, member of the CKCU Board of Directors and radio host (the 3 hour long Wednesday Morning Special Blend, the show on right before mine so I get to see him once a week at least). It's also in its 14th year! As the flyer says, "camping available and encouraged, gate opens at noon, rain or shine; bring lawnchair, food, bug spray, flashlight, and warm clothes". One of the last true intimate music festivals going. At Rod Phillips' suggestion I will be attending L'oenotour on September 12th at the Hôtel Hilton Lac Leamy, an invitation only wine tasting event (if you subscribe to his wine newsletters at his site that I've given the link to twice above, you can find out about these events and ask to be put on the list). The tasting will feature 35 (!) wines from France (Chablis, Languedoc, Roussillon, Cahors, Provence, Bordeaux, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape), and appetizers will be served. Where I drank the wines at the CKCU wine tastings (there were four), I will definitely need to taste and spit at this coming event (which I've never done before) as 70oz of wine is a little beyond even my alcohol tolerance ;). Oh, did I mention the event is free? Seriously, subscribe to Rod's newsletters if you want to find out about these sorts of things in the future (and there's tons of other information, including bi-weekly reviews of new wines coming into the LCBO all year round)!!!
I will also be attending the 2013 Power of the Arts National Forum from September 27th through 29th. Because I'm full time student, I get in for a mere pittance (I will be fed breakfast and lunch as well, what?), and it promises to be quite the weekend. Even the undiscounted rate for individuals seems remarkably inexpensive given the nature of the event! The opening reception Friday will feature the Rt. Hon. Michaëlle Jean (former Governor General of Canada and the head of the foundation that runs the event), Dr. Roseann O’Reilly Runte (Carleton President); there will be "testimonials" by Kellylee Evans (Jazz and Soul vocalist), Edouard Lock (Choreographer, La la la Human Steps, and filmmaker) [!!! I so seriously love the work done by La la la Human Steps !!!], and Lynda Thalie (Algerian Canadian author, composer, and singer); the MC will be CBC's Adrian Harewood; and live jazz will be provided by Tripod (featuring Roddy Ellias (!), John Geggie (!), and Jesse Stewart (!)). This will be followed by a public town hall meeting from 7PM to 9PM if you want to participate somewhat but can't afford to or have the time to come for the weekend (see the link above and go to Program for information on location and content and such). I'll be going to the full programs for both the Saturday and Sunday as well, which includes all sorts of plenary sessions, but then splits into two workshops on both days... on Saturday it's more structured presentations and on Sunday it's discussion and actual workshopping. I'll be attending the Voice and Identity workshop (which will be led by Marie Wildson, a Commissioner from the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission), and the Mental and Physical Health workshop (which seems like it will be mostly in French). There is going to be some pretty heavy stuff going down that weekend from the looks of things. Wish me luck ;).
quite the post
Date: 2013-09-07 03:30 am (UTC)you are a good friend
have fun at all the events, I would like to come along...
let me know ;)