Slim?

Waiting for pizza to bake. Much hungry. Bake, pizza, bake! Can't think of anything else to do that would only take 10 minutes, and I can't hang around downstairs by the oven because my dad's got the NFL network on and the amount of crap that network pulls together to that it has stuff to air is really quite painful.

Someone with an English display name added me to their MSN list. This is rare. I think it's Scott, but I'm not sure, since I never got his e-mail address. He never got mine, either, but Lester could have given it to him. I have so many people adding me to their MSN list thinking I'm @hotmail.FR that I usually just go on auto-pilot to block anybody who adds me to their list. But I'm giving whomever this is a chance. I mean, really, who else would have an e-mail handle salim.hips?

I got a watch!!! So very, very happy! And it cost $55 dollars less than the one my mom originally bought be, so I got the difference handed to me on a spiffy little HBC giftcard. I'm thinking MAC... ^_^

Bah! Bake, you stupid disc of deliciousness!

Too Much Time on my Hands

So I woke up early this morning, which means that I have several hours to fill that I had not planned anything for. Bah.

So, I figured, hey! what's more time-consuming than worrying? Ali's apparently been doing a bit of the suicidal thing. Yay. Thank God her new advisor is making her see a "shrink," even if she's putting off going. Also, my dog's back was sore last night, and he kept shaking, and even yelped once. Less worrisome, true, but, still, it's my puppy...

I should find another Best Buy and go there today. The one in South Common didn't have ANY copies of Serenity when I was there on Wednesday. I was quite miffed. And neither the Bay at Southgate nor the one at West Ed had a watch I would consider wearing as anything other than a novelty. I was channelling my grade nine Englsih class and ranting about Mr. Hogan in my head while looking at the display cases. So I still don't have a watch that I can wear around my wrist...

Maybe I should turn on CNN or something and have something to grumble about. Oh, tangentally related, my mom has already voted in the Federal election. How the hell does that work? Advanced voting days aren't for another couple of weeks. Maybe she did some sort of absentee voting thing... My mom's weird. I suppose she will have enough to do on election day that getting down to the polling station might be a bit of a hassel, but then why not just vote on the advance days? Maybe this makes her vote "special" in some way... Like I said, my mom's weird.

I went through iTunes with a fine-toothed comb a couple of days ago to update my main pop playlist, and for a lark, I listened to MMMBop (from a Grammy Nominees CD--I did not buy a Hansen CD), and it's been stuck in my head ever since. *sigh* Although, I gotta say, I like the perspective of the line (paraphrasing) "Say you get old and lose your hair? Will you still care?"

Hmmm... Maybe I should do a "Lookback on 2005" thing here. Let's see what I can come up with.

Memorable events of 2005
(in chronological oder)

I "learned to play" the bassoon
With a hand-made reed, so I didn't _totally_ suck! It made me miss my barri sax... :-(
Chololate fondue at Suede for Valentines Day
Despite Peter having to work that evening, we had a great dinner/dessert first. It was a Monday night, and we were more or less the first people in there and had the place to ourselves, and we made pictures out of the multi-coloured mini marshmallows! ^_^
I "learned to play" the oboe
With a store-bought reed. I could play it sideways! Now let us never speak of this again...
Sarah died :-(
And everybody, Joyce especially, was very sad. I miss you, Sawah!
I spent another summer unemployed
I can't remember making the decision to do so, but it was for the best. I kept up my trumpet, though, and was prepped for my ensemble audition in September.
Eric and Jo's going-away party
Though I missed John's 20-minute 3am toast, this party was a blast. Too bad it had to end with Eric and Jo leaving...
Trip to Vancouver
Yay, Jackie and Ken! They rock, letting Peter and I stay and cooking for us! And we got to do some of the touristy stuff, and, most importantly, Peter got to go buy stock. ;-p
Kick-ass 21st birthday party
I agonized over this party, but, in the end, there were people, there were drinks and there was much fun. And Jell-o shots! Everybody loves Jell-o shots!
Went back to school full-time, including lessons
And I actually got back most of the "skillz" I'd lost during my year of part-timing. got in shape, too. All-around spiffiness.
Actually befriended Drama students ^_^
Since I wound up taking two Drama courses this past term, I *gasp* actually got to know the people in them. Lester was talking about starting up a WoW guild... ^_^
Peter and I hit the 2-year mark
*smiles happily to self*
Invented Chess
Oh, wait, no, that was a few years ago...
And, um, now...
Yeah, now I'm sitting on my couch, writing in my blog. Ohohoh! That's what I forgot to put on this list! I got my blog! Yay, blog! Dave was against the idea, but I ignored him and fought against the adversity of trendiness all the way to believing that I have something worth saying and that people all over the world find it worth reading! ^_^

Christmasy Goodness

Everybody at Christmas dinner, except me, who was taking the picture. That's the back of my Dad's head in the foreground, and clockwise from there is Peter, my brother Chris, my mom, Peter's brother Dave, Dave's girlfriend Sheryl, and Andy. My dad and Andy talked for a remarkably long time. I guess they had a lot of catching up to do or something. ^_^
Peter and I. I chose to upload this picture instead of the more entertaining but less classic close-up picutre that I took of us. ^_^
Dave and Sheryl being silly. It was a really great moment, actually. :-)
Peter with Farley. Yes, my dog is possesed. It's not all that bad, though. Whatever is possessing him is easily placated with Jerky Treats and Milk Bones.

Obviously, I got a digital camera for Christmas. It's very spiffy, a Canon SD400 Elph. It's small enough that I've been carrying it around in my pocket all night, so it should be quite happy living in my backpack. :-)

It's pretty quiet now. Peter & co. left early-ish because they're leaving at 9am for Calgary tomorrow. Andy's on his way to Banff, and he's dropping Peter and Dave off in Calgary to have Christmas with their mom and aunt and uncle and cousins. That's three Christmas dinners in a row. I mean, I was pretty full after last night, but tonight was just so much worse. I can't imagine doing this a third night. Mind you, we had a _lot_ more food tonight than last night. Turkey _and_ ham, mashed potatoes _and_ yams, brocoli _and_ brussel sprouts, stuffing _and_ dressing (well, okay, those are essentially the same thing, but I was on a roll ^_^). And for dessert we had pumpkin pie _and_ coffee cream mousse. And some 77 port (English of some kind, started with a B) and stilton. Oh, god, that was good. It was too much alcohol and richness, though, and I would up giving nearly half of mine to Peter. Then I went and took some Gravol, some migrane medication and a lot of water. ^_^

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

And all through the house
Lobsters were running
Their little tails off

Well, not really. The lobsters aren't here yet, and I'm pretty sure my dad won't let them run around once he brings them home. See, my parents have this tradition of having a seafood dinner every Christmas Eve. I'm not sure where that came from. Now, I quite like fish, but everything else you might call "seafood" tends to very much not appeal to me. It's a texture issue. So I get to run away and join Peter's mini-ish Christmas dinner. I've even prettied myself up, despite knowing that I'll look ridiculously over-dressed next to Peter. But I don't care. I feel festive. :-)

I got to play Sanata last night. I gave Wendy, Joyce and Jenilee each their gifts. That was a _lot_ of driving around, but it was fun. When I was over at Jenilee's place, we watched this weird movie called "Cursed." It was about these siblings who were bitten by a werewolf. It must have had quite the budget, because it starred Christina Ricci and Jsoshua Jackson and it was quite liberal with the special effects, but it seems also to have been quite the flop, because I'd never heard of it before. And, yeah, it kinda sucked, but it also had Milo Ventimiglia in it (playing a closeted wrestling team captain~!), so I let myself enjoy. ^_^

Ah, it seems that the lobsters are here. I think I'll go greet them.

Oooh... Mi Estomago!

Vaguely drunk. Apple cider butterbeer has been the biggest hit. Some people like it with more cream, others with less. I personally actually like the rootbeer one, but it doesn't taste like what butterbeer supposedly should taste like. Also vaguely sick to my stomach.

Ku and Kaitlyn couldn't make it, so it was just the four of us plus Jenilee and Pri4Q and Morgasm at Darriens. We had too much food. Jenilee did not come back to Peter's, so she is currently missing out on Liquid Crack. Cheryl has never played this before. It's amusing watching her fumble. ^_^

Peter and I will be having lunch with Kaitlyn tomorrow, though, so we'll still get to see her. Also, and this totally made my day: Peter's family is going to come to my place for Christmas dinner!!!!!!! It would have just been me, my parents and my brother otherwise, and just Peter, Dave and Andy for them, so we combined our merriment. ^_^

Anyway, MY turn for liquid crack!!! And I put too much Schnapps in this milk butterbeer, but it's still yummy. ^_^

*twitch*

Dave and Cheryl are downstairs making lemon tarte. Dave apparently promised Cheryl he'd make her some. I consider this a kind of trial by fire. They're whisking right now. That's the part that always made me twitch. In fact, I'm kind of twitching right now.

Otherwise, though, I'm having fun making sure the butterbeer recipes I got do in fact turn into something non-toxic. The apple one is yummy. :-) But the microwave haws been a source of trouble and amusement today. If you put the liquor in the drink and _then_ nuke it, it bubbles over and becomes incredibly hot almost instantly. Also, grapes spin around like crazy if you microwave them, but I wasn't around to see that one. :-( Oh, and the Club Soda is possesed. That was only fun in retrospect.

Post #109

Not much happening today, although I've had the feeling all day that there's something I need to be doing. Had yummy Greek food for dinner. Mmm, yummy Greek food. :-) But, yeah... otherwise, I'm kinda bored. You people don't want to read about me being bored. So, how about this:

I woke up this morning to a lion roaring outside my window. When I went outside to look at it, it lead me to a saskatoon berry bush out back, where I found a leprechaun. The leprechaun stole the lion, and I had to chase it all the way to the University. There, my Stagecraft prof told me that he needed help flying some scenery, so I had to give up on the poor lion and go be a stageweight. I quit when my nose got squished on the arbor, and went outside to drive my car home. My car wasn't there, though, so I started to head towards the buses. On my way, though, I spotted the leprechaun. I chased it all the way downtown, but it got away again. I was pretty tired by this point, so I went to take a nap in the library. I was rudely awoken by the police half an hour later when they came to clear out the homeless people, and since I was still wearing my pyjamas and cursing at them, they took me in. Conveniently enough, the leprechaun was in the next cell, and I agreed to bust us out as long as he gave me back the lion. He turned on me, of course, leaving me behind as soon as the hole I dug was big enough for him to squeeze through. When I got out, I decided that the first thing I needed was some food. I went to this panini place and had a turkey sandwhich. It was really good, actually, but it gave me food poisoning as I was walking home. I stopped at a pharmacy for Gravol and the pharmacist diagnosed me with schizophrenia and called an ambulance. Maybe I shouldn't have told him about the leprechaun. Luckily, the hospital they took me to was really close to my house, so when I was able to steal some scrubs and get out of there, it didn't take me long to get home. As I was walking down my street, though, I saw the lion standing in front of my house, roaring. I ran up and gave it a hug, and it took me back to the saskatoon berry bush. There, the leprechaun was taking a little late-afternoon nap. The lion nudged it with its nose, waking the leprechaun up. It started, but before it could do anything, the lion ate it. It got food poisoning, too, but I told it that the pharmacy wasn't a very nice place.

*does more happy dance*

I am in a ridiculously good mood. I just had my last exam (Conducting), I passed Percussion Tech despite not going to at least one third of the classes (*at least*), and I have a celebratory mug of tea and a couple of Turtles chocolates. Mmm. :-)

Also, girl from last night turns out to be Dave's new/first/whatever girlfriend, which makes me happy because now there's another girl around to complain that the toilet doesn't have a seat. ^_^ Last night was kind of awkward, though. Andy's secretary was at dinner, and didn't really say much at all, and I was worried that she was miffed that the conversation was being dominated by the four 20-somethings while she and Andy sat at opposite ends of the table, looking confused.

But right now my mug of tea tells me it's not worth worrying about. :-)

Anyway, butterscotch (or, rather, "butter ripple") Schnapps has been purchased, and I look forward to Thursday!

Allo?

Does anybody know if Pri is still alive? I can't find her phone number, and she hasn't replied to my e-mail. Morgan, you're coming Thursday, right? Could you get ahold of Pri?

(PS: Dave's got a girl over for Sunday night dinner. ^_^)

Butterbeer!

So I have decided to use Thursday's gathering as an opportunity to test out butterbeer recipes. See, Katie recently made butterbeer at school that was rootbeer-based, which surprised me, because I'd always thought of it as a kind of apple cider drink. So I went and researched recipes for it. Apparently, the official word from Rowling is that it tastes much like butterscotch. And, oddly enough, the most common kind I found online was a cream soda-based kind. So I'll have that along with a rootbeer one, a milk one and an apple cider one. The running theme seems to be butterscotch schnapps, so that's what'll be in them, unless you either hate that (I'm gonna buy some spiced rum to see how that works, with butterscotch syrup) or don't want any alcohol, in which case you just get syrup. Three cheers for chicken wings absorbing alcohol so we don't all get horribly, horribly sick! ^_^

Doug!

I'm sorry! I didn't know you were coming back for Christmas!! Here, classes go until the 23rd, so I guess I just assumed... So I guess that, gosh darn, we'll just have to have another time of merriment in order to see you. ;-)

In other news, I have just remembered the existence of the 90s dance song "The Real Thing." Anybody else remember that one? It's gonna be in my head all day now, I swear...

So I went Christmas shopping yesterday. Got gifts for Joyce and Jenilee. Realized that I'll have to do a remarkable amount of my Christmas shopping at a wine store (Peter's parents, among others). I'm making Peter come with me because, while I can tell you a good wine for a reasonable price, I have no idea what kind of wine they like.

Oh! Did I mention what I got my sister's dog for Christmas? I got him dog treats from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory! They come in a tin shaped like a bone. ^_^ It's going to be a little expensive to ship, but I couldn't resist.

Hmmm... It's been a nice, slow Friday morning here. Read paper, ate bagel, drank latte... :-) Am now petting dog. I feel much better than I did yesterday, when I ate a bunch of sweets (Jenilee gave me a bunch of Chirstmas baking) and then crashed and felt horrible. They were really good sweets, though. ^_^

ETA: Okay, so I just noticed that I have two comments from my post on the tenth that I hadn't read. Doug, apologies, you did indeed tell me you were coming back. And I guess John-if-you're-still-in-the-country has in fact left for Australia. Which is too bad, but now I feel less bad about now having an e-mail address for him (his ualberta account has been deactivated).

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

I am currently attempting to comb my hair. As I'm sure anybody with long hair knows, it doesn't comb well, especially when it's wet and underconditioned. I'm not sure where the brush around here went (I'm at Peter's). I suspect it might have belonged to Shelly, and therefore disappeared when she and Andy broke up. Boo. :-(

Anyway, I am making an official declaration! Some kind of dinner-oriented social gathering will be happening on the night of the 22nd! Kaitlyn, you'll be around in time for dinner, right? I vote Darriens, because I haven't been there in a while and BP's wings just don't compare. Afterwards, of course, y'all are invited back here for some festive tipples and whatnot. ;-) I suppose I should send out an e-mail, so I'll go do that.

Silliness ^_^

Remus Lupin
You are looking for someone sweet, intelligent, and
understanding. Although he may have big
troubles to overcome, with you by his side this
wolfman will at least have a non-judgmental,
loving romance.


Who is your Harry Potter love match? (for girls)
brought to you by Quizilla


So apparently I'm Tonks. I actually quite like Lupin in the Books, but the choice of actor for the movies I wasn't as fond of. Oh, well. Three cheers for wasting time instead of practicing for my Conducting Exam! ^_^ At least Percussion Tech this morning went reasonably well...

Happy Birthday!

Stagecraft exam this morning went well enough. I was too obsessed with understanding things in my studying, instead of just regurgitating answers. I passed, although I'm not sure I did well. I said Vitruvius was a window. If you find out the relevance of Vitruvius to stagecraft and then look at the etimological (sp?) connotations of Vitruvius, I actually made a horrendous but amusing error. I'm actually kind of proud of it. ^_^

CBC is showing Christmas specials tonight. Winnie the Pooh and Christmas, Too!, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and I'm currently watching Frosty the Snowman. I often say "Messy, messy, messy!" like the magician does, and nobody gets it.

Oh! I finally bought the text for my Percussion Tech class today! One day before the final! Yay me! ^_^ Not that I've taken it out of the bag to practice yet. I went over Erika's old notes today (good lord, she's meticulous), so hopefully I'll be okay for the written part, and then I have nearly three hours to practice for the playing portion. Yeah, I was last to sign up, and therefore I got the last spot. And then only Conducting left, next Monday.

@$#%!!!!

Studying counterweight scenery system. And I'm not happy about it. All of these diagrams from my prof have two pullies to demonstrate mechanical advantage, but I can't figure out how those work, since one end of the purchaseline/drift is fixed and that seems to not let anything move. And if neither end is fixed, and you have, for example, three pullies, how does the 25 lb arbor balance with the 75 lb flat? I understand that you can move the 75 lbs by just moving the 25lbs, but unless it's clamped in place somehow, shouldn't the flat fall? How would it be clamped? Oh, I am so confused...

Luckily, all I have to do is label a diagram, and that I can do. Who says I actually have to know how this crap works? I'm gonna be teaching junior/senior high Drama. What little scenery I have will be made out of old refrigerator boxes.

Stuffed

So today Peter and I went out for brunch as our official celebration of our 2-year anniversary, which was technically on Monday. We ordered too much food. It was soooo yummy, though. We got a cinnamon bun with cream cheese icing and maple syrup first, and then I had eggs benedict and Peter had mascarpone french toast with bananas and a side of bacon. Wow, maybe you guys don't care abo0ut that. But I'm trying to emphasize that it was a _lot_ of food. And so now I'm lounging around and trying to digest.

Andy's doing something with a rocking chair and a digital camera... It looks awkward...

Anyway, yeah, I'm at Peter's place because I have locked myself out of my car. Or, at least, I think I have. I can't find my keys, and I'm hoping they're in the centre console of my car, because otherwise I might be kind of screwed. I should call my mom to get her to bring me a spare key, but it's really all the same to me where I hang around, and since I've got my comp here with me, I figure I'll stay here for a bit. I like this place. I'd say that I wish I lived here, but I kind of do sometimes. ^_^

I Miss You!

Peter mentioned tonight how a bunch of Dave's friends meet at this guy Zach's place, and I remembered how we always had people over here. So I suggested we have a Christmas party. Then I realized that y'all are big losers, going off and having lives and whatnot, and thus not being around. So Joanne, Eric, Doug, Katilyn, Sean and Jere, I blow raspberries at you!

But for those who are around and I just don't get to see very often (Pri, Morgan, Angela, John-if-you're-still-in-the-country, I'm looking at you), give us a shout if you want to get together. I had suggested a Christmas baking potluck gathering. Sometime after the 21st would be best, since Peter's writing term papers until then (sucker!), and Kaitlyn gets in on the 22nd and it would be cool to have her around, too.

But, yeah, we'll see if anybody's interested. And I send Christmas hugs all around, even if you have gone off and left me here. ;-p

Class Clashes

So since I decided to put off taking French for yet another year, I have found myself with three credits worth of space in my Winter schedule and a strong desire to take another Drama course. See, this past term, I made the mistake of befriending the second-year Drama students, and I would like to continue to see them. Now, after consulting my degree requirements, I have found that I only need one more Drama course. This, I must say, floored me. I need either 240 or 247. They're both Oral Communications courses, but 247 is a kind of remedial stream. If you ever want to see my face turn purple, ask me about the BEd (Secondary) Drama Minor courses that are currently being phased out. *ugh* Anyway, so I need 240. I would also like to take 383, which is a directing course. I have no idea why it isn't mandatory. Drama teachers will obviously need to direct. Now, here are my problems:

1. Bear Tracks is going all Fort Knox and won't let me into either of these courses, no matter what. I'd have to beg my way in via the prof, because the courses are all full (except for one section of 240, but even that only has one spot) and the Drama deptartment doesn't keep waiting lists. Even if the classes had space, I'd have to get Connie at the Drama office to register me because for some reason I haven't yet been able to get around, I cannot seem to declare my minor. Grr. And 240 doesn't even let minors in, strictly speaking.

2. Both sections of 383 and one of the sections of 240 conflict with my existing schedule. Now, one of the 383 sections conflicts with Band Techniques, which I really shouldn't drop, so that's out of the question, but the other two sections conflict with my Music 281, aka The First Half of Music History. I really don't want to take 281. Even in the old stream, I was going to take 272 and 273 and that would be all. Now, I know that I _have_ to take 281 (and 282), but I'm not sure if I need the credit before my APT or not. I certainly have room for both after my APT, but if I have to keep 281 or not be admitted to Ed for next year, then I'm down to the other 240 class. Which is full and I'm strictly speaking not allowed to take, even though it applies directly to my degree. I'm hoping that that discrepancy is just Bear Tracks being behind on things.

So, yeah. This is a little complicated. I am left with a few options:

1. I can drop 281 and try to force myself into 383 or 240 (I think I'd go for 383, since I like the prof and I'll have a better chance of getting into 240 legitimately in a couple of years).

2. I can keep 281 and try to force myself into that one section of 240, hoping that it has the same people I've come to like.

or

3. I can suck it up, leave my schedule as it is and do Drama only through extra-curricular stuff, like acting in the 383 and 483 scenes.

I am annoyed. And sad at the prospect of loosing touch with these people. Stupid 281. I was so excited to take 170. I thought I was finally going to understand all those stupid jokes that people like Ian Munro made about Brahams and the like. But no. It was feminist musicology, Chicago Style and Folkways. And a great many naps and stories about Auntie Brenda's newphews. And even though I quite like Brenda (and she's teaching 281), I have lost faith in the Music History curriculum at the U of A. Maybe I should say fuck it all and take that new 103 course on Popular Music.

It's Over!!

School, that is. Well, except for exams, which start Monday. Yesterday was the last day of classes and today was my jury, so now I get to relax. My jury went really well. Well, the piece went really well. The etude not so much, but I hadn't really bothered to learn it, and that's more or less why Russ made me play it. Oh, well. Russ, Deebs and Diane Pearson were on the jury, and their comments were good.

So Monday was my Scene Study final. It went really well. Scott and I were going to meet 15 minutes before class started to go over our lines one last time, but we both wound up being half an hour late for class because of absolutely atrocious traffic conditions. We were supposed to go first, too. ^_^ Oh, well. My prof had nothing but praise for my performance, which floored me, but I'm ceraintly not going to object. ;-)

Then I built my box. My valiant little box. I went to assemble all of the pieces (it was actually a model set for Antigone) the Tuesday morning during my break so that the glue didn't shrink or crack or anything in the cold, but then I remembered that I had an optometrist appointment that morning, so I had to be late for class to put the damned thing together. Good lord, that appointment took a long time. But I got contact lenses that work!!!!! They're not just the spherical myopia contact lenses, and they're not the toric myopia-astigmatism lenses, either. They're aspherical lenses, which apparently correct myopia and "mask" astigmatism. I'm not sure how that works, but I can see, so I don't particularly care. ^_^

Tuesday night was my night to do my last text analysis/character bone structure for my Scene Study class. I was going to go to yoga beforehand, though, but their online schedule was wrong, so I got there half an hour late. I was disappointed. But Joyce called and she wound up giving me a kind of personal yoga lesson. That was really neat, but it took longer than I should have spent. So I conked out before finishing the project and woke up really early Wednesday morning to finish it. And I did, too! I was actually kind of surprised. I wouldn't call it my best work, but it wasn't so much a matter of thinking it out so much as it was just writing it out, so I'm sure it'll be fine.

Actually, yesterday was a really good day, despite feeling like death for a considerable chunk of it. Katie decided to go to Safeway and the liquor store and get stuff to make her version of butterbeer. It was soooo good! It sounds totally disgusting to describe it, but, trust me, it's delicious. It contains rootbeer and butter, which are microwaved to melt and warm, respectively. Add rootbeer schnapps if you wish, and stir with a cinamon stick. I've always imagined butterbeer to be kind of hot apple cider-based, but this worked. Maybe I should have a butterbeer cookoff or something, where I make a batch of everything that butterbeer could be (one rootbeer, one cider, one wine/mead-ish) and see which works best. So I inquire: what do you guys imagine butterbeer to be like? It's supposedly mildly alcoholic and warming, but that's all I can remember for sure.

But, yeah, I drank that right before Conducting class, and then I fell asleep while singing. I dind't even know I could do that. ^_^

The feeling like death part starts here. I got a flat tire. I wasn't sure what was wrong until somebody tapped on my window and told me. Apparently, I ran over a screw. I drove home from the University, going slowly, because I wasn't sure what else to do. I thought I didn't have a spare because of a flat I got about two years ago, but I later discovered that I did. But, yeah, I went home and we had the AMA come over to replace the tire. It wasn't bad. I slept through it all, actually. I was soooooo wiped by that point. No damage to the rim or axel or anything, though, so it's all good. We got the tire repaired today, and when I went to pick it up, they even gave me the screw back~!

So what does one do after waking up in the evening feeling like death? Go drinking, of course!! Well, I only had one glass of wine, but I was so overtired that it felt like a lot more. The HCGSA (History and Classics Graduate Students' Association) Christmas party was last night at Yianni's. It was actually really good once it got going. I turned in pretty early, though, because of my jury this morning. But the Chicken skewers dipped in Hummous were very yummy. ^_^

And that brings us to today. I have until Monday to do essentially what I want, although if I want to do well on my exam on Monday, I will have to want to study. The trumpet players all went to Academy after juries because Russ didn't have enough time to go to Earls. It was yummy and enjoyable. And now I may just take a nap.

Things I Learnt Today (and Yesterday)

Toan was being mugged when he was stabbed. So it's nothing to do with any kind of sordid lifestyle, thankfully, and he's doing a lot better now.

I prefer shopping with a 30% off coupon to doing homework. I bought the best argyle cardigan!

The "screaming punk" listening, which finally got to me on Thursday, is a mix CD created in celebration of the fact that Scott's then girlfriend wasn't pregnant. Now I understand why he titled it "Freedom 5000: The Way Lovers Flee Chaos." But, really, who thinks to celebrate that by making a mix CD?

Craft supplies are fucking expensive. The stuff for my model set cost nearly $50!

My jury will be OK. (If I ever bother to work properly on the etude.)

My Scene Study final, however, will be good pretty well no matter what. Good lord, that thing's taken a lot of work, but it's gonna rock. :-)

Oh, and one more thing I learnt last Friday, but forgot to mention: Peter's History student friends think I'm "hot." The word "babe" was apparently also used. I'm choosing to take this as a compliment, even if it was Pub Night. ^_^

For Kaitlyn

My Adventrues with Soy Milk

I got sick. I had a bladder infection. Annoying. I went to the Medicentre. The big Eastern European doctor lady there gave me anti-biotics. Evil antibiotics. I was not allowed to eat dairy with these anti-biotics, lest I get horribly nauseous. So I bought soy milk. Well, first I had to find it. It never occured to me that there would be a type of "milk" that you wouldn't have to refrigerate. Apart from quickly discovering that I got horribly nauseous no matter what I ate while taking the meds, I also discovered that Vanilla soy milk is not the defualt flavour of soy milk. It made a wonderful latte, but didn't go so well in cereal, especially when it was warm. But I got home so desperately wanting cereal, having not had any in a couple of days (and I subsist on cereal), and it didn't occur to me that warm, funky-flavoured soy product would taste bad. I wound up not drinking the entire carton, and when my parents got back into town (they were on a cruise at the time), and they saw it, not only did I have to explain my follies, but I to to tell them why I hadn't thrown it out: it doesn't expire until March. March! So everybody feels guilty about throwing it out. So it'll sit in my fridge at least until March, or possibly until August, to be discarded only when we move.

The trump to this whole situation, though, doesn't have anything to do with soy: the anti-biotics didn't even work.

One Week and Counting

I just got an unpleasant e-mail telling me that Toan, a guy I went to junior and senior high school with, was stabbed three times. He's had surgery and is stable, but I have no idea why anyone would want to stab Toan! He's a great guy. It did cross my mind that it might have been a hate crime or something (he's gay), but I really just don't get it. And he's having problems with the University about postponing his exams, now...

Today was a mixed bag. I slept until nine, which was nice, but I couldn't remember whether my extra lesson was at ten or eleven, so I rushed to school, which was not nice. It was at 11, and was the best lesson I've had all term, which was good, but the lownjlounge was booked for some sort of luncheon (!), so I had to eat in the crowded Zoo. We played a neat Samuel Barber piece in Wind Ensemble ("First Symphony"), but Aura needed to take back all the parts for photocopying, so I don't get to futz around with it when I'm sick of my jury piece. My Stagecraft class had exam review with the good prof, but people were confused enough by converting board feet of lumber into linear feet (IT'S NOT THAT HARD!!!) that time was wasted and we didn't get all the way through the review. I had a good rehearsal for my Scene Study project, but Scott only had 40 minutes, so it was really short. I went and saw Peter, but he was feeling funky. We decided where to go for our two year anniversary (which is offically on Monday), but we bickered about why he wouldn't go skating with me first. And I felt bad. :-(

But now I'm about to go to yoga, and I intend to actually make it there on time. Traffic seems a little more sane today than it was on Tuesday. And maybe afterwards I'll go over to Peter's and we can have some sort of Super Smash Bros drinking game to help him relax and get to sleep. ^_^

One week and counting until I can collapse.