Happy Halloween 2014

   Happy Halloween 2014! My sister Bridgette and I went to the only mall we have in Guelph, Stone Road mall. We got dropped off by my Dad around past 6pm and weaved through the crowds to go trick-or-treating from store to store. We left at around 8pm since the hype died down from there.

Bridgette and I before we left

   Only a couple minutes being dropped off we saw my godson Denzel with his parent's and we took a picture of the two. 

Sister and my godson Denzel

Took pictures of Bridgette trick-or-treating store to store

   At my friend Henry's house right now with my friend's Chloe, Reli, Alvin, and Henry's sister Michelle. Took a picture of them but they're all hiding except Reli. They watched a horror film titled Annabelle while I was writing and editing my blog post on my laptop. Now we're watching Guardians Of The Galaxy. 

Typical

Until then, Fatima 

Not In The Mood

   I was not in good spirits today. I'm back in Guelph now because I'm spending Halloween with my sister tomorrow. But today I was all over the place. First off I would like to make it very clear that I do not like commuting to Guelph, I love Guelph, but no to commuting. And I will explain a reason later on. But first I'm going to start at the beginning with how my day went before commuting to Guelph. Which I wasn't in a good mood then either.

   I had a paper due today that needed printing out, Richard and I were all over the place trying to figure out how we're going to print out our papers. As soon as I found out we can deposit money onto our account so we can print out our papers, I ran to my locker, got my cash and ran to the office. While I was in the midst of getting my self together, somehow Cameron got a hold of my phone and started taking pictures with it. At the time I was far from amused. Now looking back at these I suppose it's pretty funny. Especially in that last picture where I give Cameron the death glare while I'm waiting for assistance at the office. 

Who's 12 now? Ok the both of us

   Class ended an hour earlier today, my professor had to pick up his car from the shop (he got called in class to pick it up) so after class and after heading to the Shawarma place with Cameron to grab something to eat, I took the subway downtown to the Greyhound station. I bought my ticket and was an hour and a half early so I just sat and waited at the terminal. Half an hour before the bus was suppose to come I waited. I waited in the line I was told to wait at, which was the line for the Guelph and Kitchener bus. At first I was annoyed because whenever Guelph and Kitchener have a joint bus it's usually packed. 

   I was near the front of the line though so I didn't mind. Anyways a Greyhound with a Guelph sign on it came in through and parked at a different side. We were all confused because we were given the instruction to wait at Platform #11 for the Guelph and Kitchener bus. Some people started heading over there. I waited for a bit to see what was going on then I headed over there. This guy I walked in front of said "There's a line. You have to go to the back." and I responded with "Excuse me, but I was in front of the line over there." and then he replied with a short "Oh okay." Shortly after the guy mumbled something to himself and spat on the ground, classy. I swear if he was going to make me go to the back of the line after waiting half an hour at the wrong line, I would've gotten the lady going to Kitchener who was in the line in front of me to vouch for me. But almost forgot to mention it's always Greyhound that's unorganized on where their buses go and didn't inform anyone of the change until we saw the bus ourselves.

   I bused home when I got to Guelph, didn't take too long. And then I waited for my Mom to go home from work past 11pm and she just makes me laugh so much. She's so incidentally funny. I'm in a better mood now. And now going to get into a spooky mood tomorrow because it's going to be Halloween! 

Until then, Fatima 

Politics and What's Next

   I was going to use having a headache for the whole day up until now as my excuse to not blog, but what's my excuse for the other days...Hello everyone! My name is Fatima and I'm in the lovely city of Toronto and I've neglected my blog, again. Well is there anything interesting going on in my life right now may you ask? First off I'd like to give a warm thank you to all of those who have viewed my blog. I've surpassed 1000+ hits. 

*Insert 1000+ view party here* 

   Secondly I am proud to say that last night I was a part of the many from Centennial College who was caught in the hustle and bustle of covering Toronto's election night. Last night we were no longer just journalism students of Centennial College's East York campus but we were all journalists for the Toronto Observer and was a part of the live blog that was going on as well. It was a mix of all of the journalism classes put together so best believe we got some great coverage. 

  As I've stated in earlier blog posts, I currently live with my godparent's and godsibling's for school. Since they live in Scarborough Southwest I had to cover Ward 36. I was the only one from my class who lived in Scarborough Southwest, the one's who also live in Scarborough are a part of Southeast. For some students, Juniors were paired with Seniors, the first years with the second or third years because there were multiple people covering a candidate at a time. But I was on my own.

   There were even students covering Mississauga, Brampton, and Pickering since those are the areas on which they currently reside in. Long story short, we had people everywhere cover election night. For Scarborough Southwest I covered Robert Spencer's reception at the local pub which was fortunately just a 5 minute walk from my godparent's place. 

Olde Stone Cottage Pub, 3750 Kingston Road

   I arrived at around 8:00pm to get a good spot. CTV was on at the pub so everyone could see and hear the results for mayoral candidates and ward councilors. Sometime around 8:10pm John Tory was announced the new mayor of Toronto with Doug Ford being runner up. Results came in for Ward 36 at around past 8:30pm. Robert Spencer arrived at around 8:45pm. Unfortunately he has lost to the re-elected Gary Crawford for Ward 36 but he still gave a good show and mentioned everyone in his reception speech and how grateful he was for their love and support throughout the campaign. I recorded his speech and will be sending it in for the podcast. 

Robert Spencer's Reception

   That concludes me talking about Toronto politics. Now onto what's next. I just had my midterm for English class yesterday and I already had my midterm for my Political Economics class 2 weeks ago so we're already at the halfway point of my first semester. What's next to come is more assignments, some may be on the field, some may be just research. But whatever may come, I hope to be ready. And I hope to share my experiences with you through my blog.  

  This Friday is Halloween and I plan on going back to Guelph to go trick-or-treating with my little sister, Bridgette. So today I went to STC (Scarborough Town Center) with one of my friends, Cameron, to look for a costume. Also to buy Taylor Swift's latest album in 2 years, 1989. Buy it now. 

I look like I could be in an ad

   The funniest thing happened though. When we were at HMV for me to buy the album, I got Cameron to take a picture of me posing with 1989 in the store. The sales lady asked if Cameron wanted to be in the picture with me so I responded with a yes and he responded with a no. He reluctantly went to stand in the picture with me. Katie (godsister) said she noticed he was standing away from me but that's because I told him to move because he was blocking Taylor Swift's poster. 

Can't wait to listen to 1989

   Shortly after browsing around STC and getting sidetracked we finally got around to going to the dollar store to get the item I needed to complete my Halloween costume. I bought angel wings. And Cameron bought a recorder and annoyed me with it. Although I suppose I led him to it. There was Christmas decorations already being sold and as I was picking them up to look at it I accidentally got sparkles all over my hands so then I put the remaining sparkles onto Cameron's jacket sleeves. In my opinion he never looked better. 

   I thought shopping with a guy would help me to not buy anything but I was incorrect in that thought. First off he encouraged me to go into Bulk Barn when he saw me staring at the store, when usually my friends back home would be against it. Second off when I got the items I needed he responded with "That's it?". And thirdly when I went to H&M and I picked an oversized green sweater to try on he responded with "Why that colour?". In the end I guess it kind of helped because I have about 5-6 green sweaters. I went with a mixed dark blue and bright pink oversized sweater, on sale for $10. 

  Going onto the RT (Rapid Transit) to get to Kennedy Station for me to bus home, I was in awe at the beautiful sunset we saw ahead of us. 

Prettiest colours

Had to Instagram and make this my cover picture on Facebook

   Well I've got class tomorrow at 8:30am and I've still got a bit of a headache. So going to head to bed soon after finishing this blog post. 

Until then, Fatima 

P.S. Thanks to volunteer Aysha for keeping me company during the time I was at the election reception. Best of luck to you on your studies, I'm sure you'd make a fine lawyer someday. 

Thanksgiving Bowling

   Last night I went bowling with my family. It wasn't planned or anything, we were actually in the area for Harvey's or McDonald's and then we saw that the bowling place in front of the two fast food establishments was still open so we spent some time there. It was Bridgette's first time bowling and at first she was reluctant because it was difficult but then she got the bowling ramp to help her with it. Since then she was just non-stop bowling. She even took some of my turns for me when I got tired. Got a few spares and 3 strikes. But who "won" the bowling match in my family? It was practically Bridgette because she kept playing when we all stopped. My friend Nathan saw me there while he was there with his friends and came by to say hi and catch up a bit.

My bowling stances got more dramatic amazing each time

   Today we went over to our Granny's place and saw her, Grandpa, and the cats. Then I helped her fix some of her computer problems. Since yesterday my lower back has been feeling a whole lot better which is fortunate for me because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go bowling last night. Tomorrow I'm probably going to be dropping off my sister at her bus stop in the morning since school starts again for her. Going to make sure she's all bundled up as well since the weather's getting colder each day. 

Until then, Fatima 

Back In Guelph

   I got back in Guelph last Friday. I took the Greyhound bus going to Guelph AND Kitchener around 2pm so best believe it was packed during that time. Usually it's just the Guelph bus I take but since it's a long weekend I suppose they just had to join the two trips together. 

   Yesterday I saw my friends Henry, Paulo, and Chloe. Paulo picked up Henry and my sister and I in his car. We strolled around Stone Road Mall then afterwards we went out to a froyo place called Menchies just across the street. Then Henry contacted Chloe to see what she was doing and she said she would be going to Stone Road Mall in a bit and asked if we wanted to wait up to meet with her. While we were waiting for her to join us we decided to just drive around a bit while on the south end and ended up going to Paulo's house. His dog named Lucky was ecstatic to see us and I was incredibly excited to see her as well. My sister Bridgette was a little startled because Lucky was overly hyper to see us all so Henry had to carry her. I would have carried her myself but I've been experiencing some lower back pain so thanks Henry. 

   After spending some time at Paulo's place and saying hi to Lucky, we contacted Chloe to see if she was on the way to Stone Road Mall yet. She said she would be leaving in just a couple minutes so we decided to head back. While waiting I did some shopping myself at the Shoppers in the mall to buy a couple soaps that was on sale. Bridgette started getting grumpy by the time Chloe came, so when Chloe met up with us and then said her Mom needed her to do some grocery shopping I asked Paulo if he didn't mind dropping Bridgette off back home. So Paulo and I dropped off Bridgette at home then we headed back to the south end to meet up with Chloe and Henry again for dinner since she was done grocery shopping. We went to East Side Mario's but before then Paulo and I went to the Bulk Barn near there to buy some candies and chocolates. When I told Chloe we were heading there first before dinner she said of course we are because it's me. Yes I must admit I have a sweet tooth.

  After dinner at East Side's Paulo headed home and I got a ride back with Chloe and Henry. We just hung out at Henry's for a bit until Chloe had to go home to help prep with her family for Thanksgiving. Going to add in one of the webcam pictures we took on Henry's laptop later when I get them from him. 

The quality was bad so edited it in B&W (so much for "no filter")

   

   Today I've just been catching up on my blogging and going to download some songs onto Henry's old phone which is now mine because he gave it to me, just like he had done with his other older phone. Which I appreciate since his older phone I had was having some technical issues like running out of battery really quickly and freezing a lot. I have yet to purchase a new phone with a new number since I live in Toronto now. 

Until then, Fatima

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all get stuffed with food tonight and have memorable times with family and friends. I give thanks to those who have impacted my life in a positive light. 

Psyched For The Break

   Yes! My midterm for my political economics class is finally over and done with! My friends and I are super psyched about that and now begins our Thanksgiving break until Monday the 20th, we don't have school tomorrow and Thanksgiving is this Monday.

   So this is how my day went down. I got to school almost 2 hours before the actual exam to get some more studying time in. I saw Victoria and Austin sitting at one of the tables in the hallway so I went over and asked how it was going, then I said I was headed over to the library to study. They followed me since it was getting too loud in the hallway with the piano playing to focus. As we went to the library we saw Kirk already there studying so we asked him to join us. An hour later Richard came by to the library and soon enough it was exam time.

   We all basically huddled in as fast as we could because we wanted to get the exam over and done with as soon as we can. I was one of the remaining 3 people still there minutes before our time was up. My friends Scout, Varad, and Cameron waited for me a bit longer than intended because I had to meet up with and speak with another teacher in her office about some guidelines to an assignment after my midterm. So my friends basically waited over an hour for me...thank you!

   As soon as I told them I was ready to go we headed out, this was around 6:30pm. We TTC'd to Dundas so I could get my Greyhound ticket for my commute to Guelph tomorrow. I met this guy named Adrian in line to buy a bus ticket. He started talking to me but at first I wasn't sure if he was speaking to me because the first thing he said to me was "Can't you just get your friends over there to hold onto your backpack? Save you the trouble of holding it." So I called over to my friends and Scout got my backpack from me to hold onto, thanks Scout!

   So Adrian being the friendly stranger I had just met told me some stuff about him such as he goes to the University of Waterloo for Psychology and he's getting into Business now and how he's buying a bus ticket to see his family in Ottawa who he hasn't seen in 4 years. Then I exchanged some information about myself, that I was with my friends and we're going out to celebrate having finished our midterm and that our break officially starts now. And then he asked for my last name to add me on facebook. I'll accept his add after I'm done writing this blog.

   After he and I bought our tickets he told me to link him to my blog. I'm embarrassed now because this blog is still a work in progress. As soon as I go over to my friends I go "Look I've made a friend and his name is Adrian!" and then he walks over to say hi and then he parts ways with us. He was a really nice guy, if you're reading this right now, Adrian, thanks for keeping me company in line. Afterwards my friends and I started to make our way to Jack Astor's and we waited about 10 minutes for us to be seated. Cameron and Varad ordered burgers, Scout ordered pasta, and I ordered a quesadilla. Afterwards we all took some pictures together and then parted ways. Varad and Scout went on the Westbound subway together whereas Cameron and I went on the Southbound subway together to head home. By the end of the day, I'm just feeling lucky and blessed that I have the friends I have now to join me on my journey of being a journalism student in Toronto.

Not going to lie, I couldn't stop laughing while I was editing these pictures

   In the middle pictures Cameron looks like he's my Mother trying to smother me and me accepting it in the second picture and Varad just looks like a confused Father in both pictures. Oh my gosh I'm laughing again right now as I'm typing this. I'll see you all again after this week long Thanksgiving break, don't miss me too much! ;)

Until then, Fatima 

P.S. If you have a moment pray or send good thoughts to my Ninang (godmother) Precy who hasn't been feeling too well these past couple days. Thank you. 

Sorry For Being On Hiatus

   My first midterm is tomorrow for my political economics class. After tomorrow starts the Thanksgiving break for the majority of Centennial college students. Scout, Varad, and I decided we wanted to go out after our midterm considering I'm already going to be downtown anyways to buy my Greyhound ticket for Friday's commute to Guelph. We're going to be going out for dinner. We invited Cameron and Richard as well and they said that they would get back to us tomorrow.

   Last Saturday, October 4th was Nuit Blanche. I was going to go but only saw a part of it before I headed home. I spent some time with my godbrother's girlfriend and her friends because she didn't want me to be alone downtown. It was hectic out there. The streets were filled with people. The view from the condo of Pam's friend Martina was really nice, I could see the Toronto Sun newspaper building from there and further on I believe was Lake Ontario. I couldn't really see too much of the lake because the buildings were blocking it plus it was night time. Also Martina has a puppy named Steeler, she was too cute!

Some of the sights of the night life I saw in downtown Toronto

   Dyan actually reminded me yesterday to update my blog, I know it's been awhile but I've been busy with assignments and reviewing for my midterm tomorrow and just haven't really had much happen to me to write about in general. Today's and last Monday's class was basically the same. Do more assignments, get assigned more assignments, and prep for the next assignment. Also like I've already stated I've been studying for the midterm tomorrow. I actually stayed behind class again today with Scout and Varad in the library just to make sure we're all on the right track for review. Anyways just took a short break from studying, going to get right back on that again now. Wish me luck! 

What's another school day without taking pictures with my friends 

Until then, Fatima 

Routine, Routine, Routine

   Routine, routine, routine. That's what these days are starting to feel like. Which isn't a good or bad thing necessarily. I actually need routine. Today I went to the one class I had today, political economics. We've got a mid-term for that class next week so thank goodness our teacher gave us the outline for it today. I even made sure to ask the teacher how long the responses to our essay questions should be and he said there isn't a minimum or maximum, which I would rather if there was but he said he didn't want to limit us. Then I took some pictures with friends using my laptop during break time.

Some child likes messing with my selfies

   I've got some assignments due soon, I guess my classes are starting to pile in on assignments because Thanksgiving break is in two weeks but I can handle it. And if anything my teachers, the correct term should be professors actually, anyways my professors usually offer help and clarify the work the best they can. The great thing is that I can reach them by emailing them as well. Most of the assignments have a creative and of course writing aspect to them, which is awesome. But sometimes too much of one thing can get tiring. For example I write these blogs because it would to help me sum up the day and look back on it and laugh. Now I'm just feeling disinterested. 

   Writing does help me express myself though. I also love helping others express themselves through writing. Because for example...while I was beginning to write this blog post I got asked by one of my best friend's younger brother in Grade 12 for some help on his english essay. I'm still up so I'm going to help him right after I'm done writing today's post. I really don't mind. I actually enjoy editing other people's writing to help them get the best mark they can. Even though there are times when essay topics stump me but this one isn't one of them. His essay is on a story I've read about awhile back so it should be easy enough to work with. Also as a journalism student I'm required to learn how to edit any piece of writing well by the time I get out of college, so this is just some more practice for me. I'm going to help him out now. While I do that I'm also going to think about whether or not I should change my topic for an assignment completely or keep it but fix it up.

Until then, Fatima 

October Begins!

   Today's the first day of October! September was a really good month and I hope that October is going to be good as well. I'm all ready for my favourite season, Fall, wearing over-sized sweaters, looking at the leaves change to all sorts of beautiful vibrant colours, Thanksgiving break, and of course Halloween!!

   My day started out really fast. I woke up very late (kept hitting snooze) so I was rushing to get my stuff and self ready and ran to catch the bus. I arrived at school just minutes before class started. Although some students were still coming in an hour after class started (probably going to be me as well once Winter comes). My group and I presented our "blog project" today and after all the groups presented we had some free time (a whole hour) so why not take some selfies on the photo booth on the Mac computers. What else are they there for? Scout wanted to try out the effect where it takes a whole bunch of pictures simultaneously. So it made for a funny picture.

...You can see Cameron moving away in each frame 

   In my second class we did another radio talk show but this time we all had to do different tasks. So instead of me doing entertainment news like last week, this week I did the technical stuff like the editing of their scripts and recording of everyone's parts on the radio soundboard. It was a learning experience. Not going to lie it was kind of intimidating at first but since Varad actually interns at this Indian radio show he thoroughly helped show me how I'm suppose to do it. And when they were still repeatedly telling me what to do, I put their volumes down low/off so I couldn't hear them. I told the teacher this and she chuckled and said good for me, that they should listen to me anyways since today I was the producer. After my group joked about how I probably stopped recording after the first segment, they showed their support by saying I did a good job. Pft, I can totally be a DJ now guys (okay probably not).

Until then, Fatima