janitablog

Ooooh! Aaaah!

2010-07-17T13:43:00.002-06:00

I am making this post from the iPad that my mom got for her birthday today. People have been asking for demonstrations on how to use this thing, so I'm doing this to show them stuff. This is the 64GB version with 3G capability, which is pretty impressive. Typing is pretty easy on it, too. Taadaa!

Return of Blog

2010-03-22T23:25:00.002-06:00

Wow. It's been so long since I used this blog that I tried to sign into my account with the wrong e-mail address. o.O I used my gmail account by mistake, and it told me I wasn't the author of any blogs, and for half a second I wondered if I'd just let this thing languish for so long that it had disappeared into the ether. I should find a way to back up the entirety of my blog. This is the 433rd post, according to Blogger, so backing up each one individually would be a pain. Anybody know if it's possible to save your enitre blog at once? I am so out of touch with what can be done with Blogger...

In any case, I'm feeling the urge to talk about myself and my non-interesting life right now, so have a post:

Got a haircut today for the first time in freaking forever. It's only a few inches shorter than before, but I got layers added, so I actually have a lot less hair now. Hopefully this means it'll dry faster. The hair around my face doesn't fit into a ponytail, though. =/ My hair is no longer "Eve in Eden" long, but it's still to my mid-back. And this cut got rid of the last of the frazzled part from when I bleached out the red streaks I had a few years ago.

Updated Firefox and discovered that there's an entire category of Foxkeh "personas" (read: themes). I have a love of foxes, so I went and browsed through them. I actually found one that's both awesome and subtle enough for my tastes, so I'm now using it. I even changed my display options to always show the tabs bar so that I can see the entire picture of the little foxkeh in the corner. ^_^ I tend to hate tabs, but maybe always having the tabs bar displayed will encourage me to use them. So far, though, my opinion of them has been that I prefer seeing how many webpages I'm looking at by looking at the Windows Task Bar, because I often have different Firefox windows open relating to different tasks I'm working on, so having two Firefox windows and two other programs open makes more visual sense to me than having to look at Firefox specifically and then relate my tabs back to the other programs. It's a small thing, but I've always figured that if it's just a matter of preference, then it doesn't particularly matter, so I might as well do it the way I like. Hmm. That logic may be circular. I might have to rethink my defense of separate browser windows for separate webpages/tasks. Bah.

You know what? That's all I feel like talking about right now. Everything else in my life has been discussed to death lately. I just need the internet so that I can ramble about things nobody cares about. ^_^

25 Things About Me

2010-01-21T00:57:00.002-07:00

So a couple people have tagged me to do this. If I've tagged you, it means I want you to write a similar blog post/facebook note. Because I think you're cool. (Or, if you're one of the people who tagged me, I've tagged you to show off the fact that I've finally done this!)

So, yeah, the idea is to list 25 facts/quriks/habits/etc. pertaining to me. Here they are.

1) I am verbose. I try to be concise, but I like to talk about things. This will likely be relevant throughout the rest of this post.

2) I have had my janitablog.blogspot blog/account for four and a half years now. I loved it and used it constantly at first. I still love it, but I barely use it anymore. I feel kind of bad about that. =(

3) I semi-recently acquired a Dreamwidth blog account, which you can find at http://janita.dreamwidth.org. A site invitation fell into my lap, so I decided to get my name while it was available. I think there are three posts on that blog, two of which are about the layout. Layouts on Dreamwidth are much more complicated than on Blogger. Actually, a lot of things on Dreamwidth are much more complicated than on Blogger. I'm starting to wonder why I bothered getting the account...

4) My vision is really horrid. I wear contact lenses for sever myopia, and I put glasses overtop of those for my mild astigmatism when I need them and remember them. My optometrist and I tried really hard to find a brand of torric contact lenses that worked for me so that I could correct both problems with just contacts, but we were unsuccessful. I have a pair of glasses that corrects both my myopia and my astigmatism, but I lose so much peripheral vision when I don't wear my contacts that it annoys me. Come to think of it, my optometrist recently had a stroke and is no longer working, so I have to find a new one. Dang...

5) I'm no good at playing the piano. I took lessons as a kid, and I could probably improve with considerable effort, but my piano profficiency course in first year university was like torture for me. Completing it supposedly gives me grade 3 on the RCM scale, but it was a mandatory pass/fail course, so it's not worth much.

6) I was a very literal child. I didn't understand the concept "figure of speech." The example I give most often of this is that, when I was very young, I thought that "making love" consisted of two people sitting around, cutting hearts out of construction paper. They were literally *making* love. It was therefore a shock to discover that you were supposed to be naked while making love--I didn't see why, and I thought it was rather inappropriate.

7) I've always thought that, if anybody could read my mind, I'd sound like a broken jukebox. I live with constant "earworms." And, for the most part, I don't mind. The only times it bothers me is if I don't like what's stuck in my heaad. Very seldom do I get annoyed with a song or something simply because it's been repeated too many times. Right now I have the music from the Finish diswasher detergent commercial stuck in my head. It's relatively inoffensive.

8) I am a night owl. I enjoy doing things at night because there aren't any deadlines or appointments. Nothing gets in my way. Well, except the morning. I do not suffer from insomnia. I did briefly, actually, but it was because I kept waking up early, not because I couldn't get to sleep. But, anyway, yeah, I'm productive at night, just like a lot of my friends, with whom I hang out online on IM and whatnot. ^_^

9) I work alone. This is related to number eight. I focus best when I don't have to worry about other people, so at night, when everybody else is in bed, I'm in my element. I'm happy to be social with other people while I'm working, so long as I don't have to deal with them in relation to my work. I find it really difficult to co-ordinate my thought process with other people, so group work just doesn't go well for me. It was always my least favourite part of school. If I wasn't a musician, I'd get myself a t-shirt that says "Does not play well with others."

10) I am a very private person. This is related to number nine, in that I work alone because I don't like other people knowing what I'm doing. It's rather stupid, really. For no good reason that I've ever really been able to articulate, I don't like other people knowing much about me or messing with my stuff. Obviously, there are many exceptions to this, such as friends and Peter, but my default setting is to just not tell people things and to keep my stuff away from people who might go through it or even move it around. I do think it's simpler in some ways because a lot of people just don't need to know some stuff, but I can't shake the feeling that this means I'm screwed up in some way.

11) I still cringe at gaffes I made 20 years ago. I am 25 years old. Nothing I did at the age of 5 should embarrass me, but some of it still does. I'm surprised I even remember any of it... ^_^

12) I eat a lot of cold cereal. It is my go-to food. If I'm hungry and I don't feel like making anything, I'll have cereal. This happens remarkably often. Raisin Bran and Mini Wheats are the most common kinds I'll eat, but I also like Just Right, Honey Nut Cornflakes, and Oatmeal Crisp. Occasionally, I'll eat my mom's Life cereal, though, ironically, I don't much like it. My cereal-eating habit makes Peter shake his head.

13) I have a partially eidetic memory. My father and siblings are the same way. I can usually be counted on to remember things. I have to actually take something in in order to remember it, though, so stuff like history, which I never really studied, I just don't know about. It makes an interesting contrast with stuff I have studied. And by "interesting," I mean it makes me look like an idiot. ^_^

14) I watched Sailor Moon when I was a kid. Like, 11-13 years old. It's where I picked up the ^_^ emoticon that I've been using occasionally in this post. It's pretty much the only anime I ever watched, but a lot of people who see me use that emoticon assume I watch all kinds of anime. I had Sailor Moon trading cards and everything. It was Pokemon for girls, but before Pokemon really came onto the scene. Ah, my awkward adolescence. ^_^

15) My mom tried to force me to take Home Economics in junior high school. I wanted to take Drama instead. I have never been in the habit of letting my parents force me to do anything, so I fought tooth and nail against taking Home Ec. My mom made me pass a test of what she thought I should learn from the course before she let me take Drama. The test included how to make baking powder biscuits. Because there's no such thing as recipes. My mother is a strange woman in some ways...

16) I love pickles, but I avoid any other pickled foods. The thing I love about pickles is the texture of the pickled cucumber flesh. Because of this, I prefer to eat pickles whole, rather than sliced. Other foods just aren't the same when pickled. I'm not a huge salt fan (I prefer sweet things), so the brine doesn't appeal to me all that much. It took me a long time to develop any kind of a taste for pickles. When I was a kid, Jenilee used to eat my pickles because I didn't like them. Jenilee would eat anything, though, so I'm not sure that anecdote is evidence of her more developed palate.

17) When I started university, I discovered an unexpected love for music theory. Though my favourite part of music was and still is conducting, I would have been interested in doing a degree in music theory. Sadly, though, that was only possible at the U of A if I did Theory and Composition, and I didn't want to compose. A lot of junior/senior high kids think of theory as that annoying bookwork they get punished with when they keep goofing around, but it's actually quite wonderful. I am toally a geek...

18) When I was on vacation in Mexico the summer I turned 12, there was a hurricane a ways down the coast that was causing large waves where we were in Cancun. My parents and I were wading in the surf on our way back to our room one day when, seemingly out of nowhere, a huge wave hit us (well, mostly me), and washed away my glasses. This was before I started wearing contact lenses, and it was only halfway through our two-week vacation, so I was blind for about a week.

19) In high school, a lot of people knew who I was. I went to a pretty big high school (over 2000 students in three grades), and I had no idea who most people were. It was always weird to have somebody say they'd seen me perform in band at some school function, or in the play or something. It was like being popular, except I was a keener instead of being cool. ^_^

20) Something else that happened in high school is that my school had a lockdown drill after 9/11. I thought this was bullshit, so I decided to protest it. I had Drama class at the time the drill was scheduled, which was a largely unsupervised class, so when the announcement for the lockdown was made, I went into the "rotunda" (big open space in the middle of the school) in front of the office. One of the teachers came out and told me to go to class, and I yelled at him for a bit about how stupid the whole thing was before I sat myself down and refused to move. I was alone for this. My Drama teacher knew where I was, mind. I don't think he made any of his students stop whatever they were doing for the lockdown. When the drill was over, I went back to class. I didn't have to go talk to the principal or anything like that (probably because they were busy at the time), but one of the administration cornered my Drama teacher later to ask him why I wasn't in class for the lockdown drill. He defended me, saying that my ancestors had had enough experience with fascism. He had no idea who any of my family members were, of course. He told me all of this after school that day when he was tweaking my costume for the play. Looking back, I can't believe I got worked up enough to do that, but I love my Drama teacher so much. =)

21) My favourite TV show of all time is ReBoot, one of the earliest CGI series. My favourite character from the show is AndrAIa. The show started airing when I was 10, but it still rocks my socks.

22) For my current job, I had to learn how to drive a standard transmission. I'm a school liason/sales rep for a musical instrument repair shop, so I drive around to schools all day. The company has a car for this purpose, but it's a standard. I was taught mostly by the guy I took over from, who was 21 or 22. It made me feel rather silly to be taking driving lessons from a guy who was younger than me.

23) I have read the Twilight books, and I didn't hate them. Actually, I kind of like them. Please note that this is a moderate opinion. I bought the first one when I was living in England and my computer was sent in for repairs, so I was bored stiff. I read it twice, then bought the other books as I went through them. They have their issues, certainly, but there's some neat stuff in there. The movies are vastly inferior to the books, of course.

24) I haven't bothered to get a haircut in over a year. I've been meaning to since the summer, but I've always been wanting to get a salon dye job to make my hair silvery-gray, so I've been postponing getting it cut until I dye it, which I have been postponing for various reasons. Currently, it's because I'm post-Christmas broke, so I think I'll cave and just get a cut without getting it dyed. My hair is almost down to my waist now, which is kind of crazy.

25) My drink of choice at Starbucks is a triple grande non-fat latte. If I'm in the mood for something sweet, I get a grande non-fat caramel macchiato. On the rare occasion that I'm looking for something low in caffeine, I get a grande non-fat earl gray tea misto with vanilla syrup. The Starbucks giftcard I got for Christmas has already been used up. ^_^

That's all! I hope you've enjoyed this extremely long entry! I don't even want to guess at how long it took me to write. =)

Meditative Blogging

2009-10-01T21:48:00.003-06:00

There was frost this morning, and, though it wasn't really that cold, my car had trouble starting.

Things have not gotten better since then.

And, of course, I'm blogging about it, because the world totally wants to hear about my headdesk-inducing day. Except not. Moving along, then...

I have a plastic sleeve that contains my birth certificate, my health care card, and my social insurance card. This sleeve usually lives inside my passport. Throw in my driver's license and my bank card, and that's basically the official me. Not all of those documents would be needed for identity theft, but it's kind of odd to have such a dense handful of official identity.

In a related incident, I discovered today that you can't sign up for Alberta Blue Cross online. You can, however, fill out a form and have them contact you with a recommended plan. I did not do this. I'll have to call them tomorrow. The plan I'm getting pays out $15,000 if I die accidentally. That surprised me.

Looking at all these documents with my name on them makes me think of how much of a pain it would be if I changed my name for whatever reason. It's enough to tempt me to keep my current last name when I get married. Well, that and the fact that I like my last name. I don't want to hyphenate my name, and, really, if I got married to Peter, I'd be Mrs. B-S if I hyphenated, which I obviously don't want. I wouldn't necessarily mind taking my husband's name, though, and I like the idea of the whole family having the same last name (especially me having the same last name as my kids). I think it mostly comes down to the sense of identity I've attached to my name. My first name is uncommon enough around here that I think of it more or less as belonging to me. My middle name, the rather common Helen, I wouldn't particularly mourn the loss of, though. My last name is somewhere in between. *ponder*

There's music coming from the next room that sounds like Burl Ives, and it's making me think of Christmas. ^_^

Have Blog, Will Write (Occasionally)

2009-09-13T20:59:00.003-06:00

Time for my monthly blog post. I actually went and poked at all of the settings for this blog, which I hadn't done in years. I didn't really change anything--I just set it to e-mail me when somebody comments on my blog, and to send me a copy of my blog when I publish it, which I did so that I can easily back it up. As I've mentioned before, Blogger is nice and simple to use, so the fact that I haven't looked "under the hood" in so long hasn't had any kind of negative effect.

Tomorrow I start my school rounds at work, which means I start at 8am. Blah. Oh, well. I wouldn't be terribly thrilled to just sit around in the shop all day with nothing to do, so I guess this is a good thing. So I'll go gather up my promotional materials bright and early tomorrow morning and head off to introduce myself to teachers. It'll be shiny.

I've joined Festival City Winds this year. It looks like it's exactly what I've been wanting to do, and I know lots of people in the ensemble (I'm in the advanced band). Our first rehearsal was on Wednesday, and it went well.

Peter leaves London on the 19th. He'll be in Uruguay until he comes home for Christmas, I believe, getting the lay of the land in terms of what resources are available to him. This means he likely won't have regular access to WiFi internet, so our methods of communication will have to change somewhat. I will greatly miss actually talking to him every day. Sad.

Ok, now that I've totally depressed myself, I'm gonna end this entry and go plug in my laptop, because it's showing me the yellow triangle of plug-in-your-laptop-right-now. Hopefully you people who read this from around the world are doing well. =)

Still Alive

2009-08-08T23:20:00.002-06:00

I'm bored, so I'm writing a blog post. That's how these things work, right?

Peter was in town for pretty much all of July. That was really nice, but now I don't get to see him until Christmas. :-( He's spending the next several months flitting around Europe and South America. While he was here, I was ridiculously busy. We had a joint birthday party (which I still need to post pictures of on Facebook) and many, many other social obligations. What with working full-time during all of this, I was left exhausted most of the time. Getting to spend time with Peter was worth it, though. I miss him. And I'm going to stop writing about this now because it's making me sad.

Life in general is good. Work is going well. All of the instruments that are in for summer maintenance and repair are done (except for a few tubas, which I've cleaned, but my boss hasn't un-dented). This means I don't have much to do for the next couple of weeks. We'll be returning the instruments during the last week of August because there's much less chance that teachers will be around before then. My boss has suggested that we trade half days so that neither of us has to sit around for 7 hours while the shop is open.

My dad is going out of town for a few days tomorrow, and my mother and I have made plans for activities in his absence. She wanted to go see Harry Potter for her birthday, and we're finally going to get to that. We're also going to go look at the new Sephora in Southgate. The new section of that place looks pretty spiffy. I have no idea why there would be two Coach stores in Edmonton, though, but whatever.

Oh, and for my birthday I was given a Blackberry Curve. It's red, and I love it. It lets me be much more connected than I was, which is good because I'm rarely at a computer during the day. I still have to do things like enter stuff into the address book, but maybe I'll do that one of the days I'm stuck at work with nothing to do. :-)

And... that's it, more or less. You'd think that, with how busy it feels like I've been, I would have more to say. I guess the verbose tendancies of my youth have faded--after all, I'm now 25. Gasp! A quarter of a century! Shouldn't I be having some sort of crisis about now? Meh, whatever. ^_^

Post 427

2009-06-27T19:38:00.002-06:00

Five weeks to the day since I last posted anything here. Not much is going on. Peter gets back Tuesday evening, which I'm looking forward to. I'm glad I have Wednesday off for Canada Day. =) There should be some people coming over to watch the fireworks. I'm not sure where they'll be coming to--I think it mostly has to do with how jetlagged Peter is. The weather forecast said it might rain that day, actually, which would not be fun.

Work is good, I guess. I quite like my job, generally speaking, but cleaning out so many instruments with acid has given me a rash on my arms (where they touch the edge of the counter by the sink because the gloves aren't long enough). Oh, well. I found a really good hand cream yesterday (a variety of Aveeno), and it was on sale, too, so that made me happy. =)

My parents returned last weekend from their 5-week European vacation. They were both glad to get home. My mom bought herself a real Hermes scarf, something she's wanted for a while. My dad looked at buying this nice corkscrew, but he didn't want to spend the money it cost, so my mom sneakily bought it and gave it to him for Father's Day. My dog is happy that he's back to having three people to beg for food.

I'm very much enjoying the summer weather we're having, even if both my work and home have the AC cranked to the point where I have to wear sweaters. I prefer warm weather, I guess. ^_^

And, yeah, that's about all I have to say for now. =)

Saturday Fail

2009-05-23T22:00:00.002-06:00

It is 10pm on Saturday night and I am at home, not quite sure what to do with myself. I took both Thursday and Friday off work because I was sick, but I'm doing a lot better now. I even offered to go into work today, but my boss told me not to worry about it. I made brownies earlier and ate some for dinner. I'm actually kind of disappointed in my brownie eating abilities--my stomach gave up on me long before I expected it to. Stupid stomach.

My dog also seems uncertain of what to do with himself. For about 24 hours, his treatball was lost, and he was heartbroken. It turned out to be behind my dad's recliner, where I looked at least twice before (but whatever, as long as I found it), and now it's almost as if Farley is bored. He begged for brownies earlier, but I'm not about to give chocolate to my 13-year-old dog who has digestive problems already. So right now he's asleep on the area rug in the upstairs sitting area, where I am also sitting. We make quite a pair.

My parents are in Europe for five weeks, and being by myself so much is kind of disorienting. But the internet will affirm my existence! Right? Right?! ...Damn.

Nothing much is new with me. I miss Peter. He'll be back in Canada in a little over a month. He'll only be in town for a month, of course, but I'm trying to focus on the positives. I finally turned off the AC in the house, so it's not freezing cold anymore. When I finally went to poke at the thermostat, it was 63 degrees in here and set to Cool instead of Heat. Brr.

On a random note, I love the mug Jenilee gave me for Christmas. It is very large and holds an excellent amount of tea. And honey. Tea and honey. Mmm. Actually, I went outside a few minutes ago to let my dog out, and the weather was nice enough that tea seemed almost unseasonable. This was a great contrast to earlier in the week, when it was frekaing SNOWING! Actually, come to think of it, I made iced tea earlier today, too. My beverage moods seem to be fickle.

On Wednesday, I was getting gas, and I had a thought that should not cross one's mind in late May: "Holly hell, those trees have leaves on them!" I've noticed more trees with leaves since, but, really, spring is running late this year. Did I mention the snow on Victoria Day? Oh, wait, yes, I did. Usually, it rains in May. The whole "April showers bring May flowers" expression has always been about a month off for Edmonton, but this May has not seen much in the way of actual rain. I'd make some demand about getting a particularly hot July, or maybe a nice warm September in exchange for this, but I know I'll just be disappointed.

Ok, I'm talking about the weather. A lot. This limits my "Blog Post Interest Rating" to no more than a 4 out of 10. So I'm gonna stop while I'm behind. Later, all.

Hello!

2009-05-08T19:41:00.002-06:00

I have a blog? Really? Oh, yeah... So, in honour of this rememberance, have a real update about my life:

I have been back in Edmonton/Canada for one month and ten days. I miss Peter. =( If Peter is to be believed, he misses me as well. I've settled back in comfortably with my parents. It's cheaper and easier this way, plus, I get to be with my dog. =) Perhaps, eventually, I'll move out. We'll see.

I gave myself a week to get things together before I started looking for a job. The search was going so-so when I got a call from Frankenhorn, the musical instrument repair place. I'd been around to talk to people at those kinds of places and leave resumes. Robert (the guy who owns/runs Frankenhorn), had told me that he wasn't hiring, and, if he was, it wouldn't be until the end of June, when the summer rush would hit. But, yeah, then I got a call from him the next week. Turned out that the "sales" guy wanted to be gone by the end of June, so Robert had decided to train me to do his job and to cover for the woodwind repair girl, Frauka (I may not be spelling that correctly) during August, when she'll be in Germany getting married. I started on Tuesday.

So far, it's seems quite excellent. I'm refurbishing a couple of clarinets to familiarize myself with their mechanics and basic repairs, then I'll move on to flutes, I think. Frauka, who is training me in this, is only in three days a week, though, so the other two days I've spent with Louis, the "sales" guy I'll officially be replacing. I put "sales" in quotation marks because this job isn't like any other sales-type job I've ever had. Basically, it involves dealing with schools to get them to send their instruments to Frankenhorn for repair, instead of elesewhere. It does involve "cold calling" some places every day, but it's not like telemarketing--the teachers know who we are, and we call every week or so to tell them we'll be in their area and ask if they need anything fixed. There are also flyers to hand out sometimes that we just leave with the office for most teachers. Basically, it's a lot of driving and picking up and dropping off of instruments.

Speaking of the driving, the "company car" (*snerk*) is a standard. I never learned how to drive a standard, so Louis has been teaching me. I drove from the shop to St. Albert today. There were three stalling-related incidents, but, overall, I don't think I'm doing too poorly. It really helps that I know how to drive to start with. I have no idea how people first learn to drive on a standard--it seems like it would be a great deal to learn about at once.

This is the kind of job I would have gotten in London if I'd had my pick of jobs. I'd probably have wanted to work with Phil Parker, which deals only in brass instruments, but I have no problem fixing woodwinds. The thing is, though, that this job isn't in London, and it's not just a summer job, either--Louis' position won't really need to be filled until the fall, when school gets back in session. I've decided to stay at the job for a full schoolyear, so until next summer or fall. Peter, obviously, will have to be in London for at least a couple more years. We've decided to give the long-distance thing a try. This is hardly ideal, and, like I said, I miss him a great deal already, but this is the best thing to do, we think. A good job in a field I like will allow me to save up some money and get some experience that I can put on my resume for when/if I go to London or elsewhere with Peter. Robert knows that there's a chance I might go back next year, and he's fine with that. Honestly, I think I lucked out in getting this job, so I'm not going to just assume that I can go anywhere and do the same thing.

But, yeah, after being together for five years (nearly five and a half, now), being away from Peter for so long is sad and difficult. =(

Other than that, life is pretty normal. I've been hanging out with friends, something I missed desperately in London. Even before I was working, I had much more of a sense of purpose after coming back to Canada. It's nice to have more things to do and people to interact with. I asked my psychiatrist to lower my dose of meds so that I only had to take them twice a day instead of three times a day, and that's going well. Actually, I feel good and fine in that department. I have an appointment with the specialist who deals with they myriad of things that have been wrong with my ear over the course of my lifetime. Not too long before I left London, I started feeling pressure in my left ear, and it was... leaking, for lack of a better word, this sweet-smelling stuff. I went and talked to my GP about it, and she said that she couldn't see anything wrong, but that what I was describing warrented going back to my specialist. I doubt it's the cholesteatoma again--after the second surgery, I was doing remarkably well, and even if it was growing back, there's a large enough cavity in my inner ear from all the little organs they removed that a cholesteatoma cyst wouldn't be causing pressure yet. That appointment's in a little over a month, so I'll know then what's going on, hopefully.

So, yeah, that's what's new with me. What's new with whomever reads this blog?

Good Lord

2009-04-06T18:49:00.002-06:00

Yeah, yeah, I haven't updated in a long time, go back into Canada a little over a week ago, all that jazz. I just really need to tell someone (or just cyberspace), what I just witnessed.

There's a new Edo near my house. My parents have taken a liking to it. We decided to get takeout from there for dinner. As my mom was writing down what I wanted (sukiyaki beef with sauce--I have no idea why she wrote it down), my dad pulls some money out of his pocket and asks if forty dollars will be enough to cover dinner for the three of us.

To be fair, he had asked for beef, chicken and shrimp (which he apparently usually gets sumo-sized, though not today), and my mom said she only needed thirty dollars, but still. I went and thunked my head against the front door and left it there for a minute after that happened.

o.O

Yawn Count: Six

2009-02-22T18:29:00.002-07:00

I should really go to bed. It's 1:30am on Sunday night/Monday morning. Unfortunately, I slept in until after noon today, so I'm not the least bit tired right now. Wait, I just yawned. I think I'm just warm, though. I've been uncomfortably warm while trying to sleep lately. I have no idea why, but my bedroom gets really warm. And there's mould growing on the window. Just on the glass, though, so it's easy enough to clean off, but, still, ew. It was noted on the forms when we moved in, so we're not going to get charged for it, regardless, which is good, but, yeah, I don't like mould.

Wait. I was saying something about how I should go to sleep. Heh, and I just yawned again. Maybe if I write that I should go to bed enough times, I'll actually fall asleep. Well, that'd probably happen eventually, anyway, since the time I'd spend writing would be time spent awake, so I would get tired at some point. And there's another yawn.

I have grand plans for tomorrow. They include getting lost while trying to find that brass shop I went to last fall. They may also include getting coffee, but I broke down and bought some Nescafe freeze-dried stuff the other day, which I can stomach, unlike Peter, so that's been feeding my cravings/addiction. Maybe I'll go to sleep if I have a cup of coffee. This guy I went to high school with claimed that coffee put him to sleep, but I suspect that's because he drank lattes, which are mostly warm milk. And there's another yawn. I should start keeping count. That was what, my fourth one so far?

I'm itching to read another Chuck Palahniuk book. I was thinking aout Survivor the other day and that kick-started the urge. I'm kind of interested in Rant, just because of the name. Unfortunately, Chuck Palahniuk books are bad for me. I know this, yet I continue to read them. And then they take over my brain for a while, and I hate that. Actually, I think that, first, I'll re-read Breaking Dawn, the last book in the Twilight series. I had some serious problems with that book, and I want to see if I can reconcile them by reading through it when I'm familiar with the whole thing. Hmm, I haven't yawned in a while. And typing that didn't make me yawn. I fail at yawn psychology.

Okay, with some persistence, I've managed yawn number five. In other news, my headset is broken, so I need a new one. I bought the one I did because it was the cheapest, and it seems that I got what I paid for. Not that I can afford to buy a better one right now, mind you. And yawn number six has come unprovoked; this is a good sign. I don't remember if there's a Curry's (electronics store) in the mall at Stratford, but I think I'll go there tomorrow, anyway, since it's the closest Sainsbury's (grocery store) to my place, I think, and I hate lugging groceries all the way back from central London, where I usually am, and, therefore, where I usually shop. I'm out of cereal. This saddens me, so I must rectify it as soon as possible. Looking at my water bottle on the coffee table in front of me, I realize that I haven't had any Ribena this weekend, and I want some. Mmm, Ribena.

Yawn seven seems unforthcoming, so I think I'll go mix myself some black currant deliciousness and see where life takes me from there.

Random Blathering

2009-02-19T11:54:00.002-07:00

The world is failing miserably at any attempt it might be making to entertain me today. I feel resentful. In the other room, my brother is watching something that sounds like it could be an episode of the new 90210 on his computer. Today's lesson is about intellectual property. It's Thursday, so Peter's at school late for his departmental seminar. I have some uncooked tortellini sitting next to me, leftover from my late lunch, but I'm not sure if I really feel like eating that for dinner, too. I've been drinking a lot of Ribena lately, since it's tasty and you can mix it so that it's not disgustingly sweet. I've been using my waterbottle for mixing is, so I drink half a leter a a time. This may not be the best idea, given that I then spend the next few hours having to go to the bathroom frequently. We need food, but by the time I rememered what time Peter was going to be back, it wasn't worth heading out myself, so I'll just wait to see what he brings back. Then again, maybe I should go down to the supermarket I can walk to and get som milk and cereal. Mmm, cereal. I should clean off the coffee table--there's a lot of clutter on it. An umbrella, my broken headset, DVD-ROMs, manicure stuff, and lots of books, among other flotsam and jetsam. There's also the shipping box my computer was returned in sitting under the coffee table. Definitely need to tidy up.

Post 420

2009-02-04T06:16:00.003-07:00

Hello, fine people! Welcome to my Wednesday afternoon! I would say that all's quiet, but it's really not--Chris is watching some sort of action movie in his room, and I don't know how he can stand it so loud, since it's too loud for me and I'm in the next room and am hard of hearing.

In good news, for those of you who haven't heard, my computer has been returned to me, and it's happy. This makes me happy. We have much catching up to do. =)

I've found a job at the Canadian Embassy/High Commission to apply for. Writing cover letters is never something I've been good at. But it's a neccessary evil. The whole application process has been a fair amount of trouble. I have to submit this form detailing what kind of UK work status I have, but it can't be submitting online, so I have to print it off and then scan it so that I can submit it as a PDF with my resume and cover letter (one of two formats they're willing to accept, the other being .doc(x)). Thankfully, Peter has access to both a printer and a scanner at the LSE, neither of which we have here.

Speaking of Peter and computers, he managed to spill wine all over the keyboard of his laptop the other day. The keyboard no longer works, but I half suspect that that's because he took it apart to let it dry. It's not too much of a big deal, though, since it works fine if he just plugs in a USB keyboard. It's British keyboard, though, so the keys are different, but the computer is set to a North American layout, so not all of the keys type the symbol that's on them. Its kind of amusing. It's also a very loud, clacky thing. I was teasing him about that yesterday. ^_^

In an embarrassing development, while my computer was away, I bought the book Twilight to read. While I wouldn't call it good literature, it's kind of addictive, and now I want to buy the others. I'm trying to tell myself that I shouldn't spend the money, but I don't think that argument will be sufficient. Silly teenage vampire romance. I remember I actually had a book of teenage romance short stories when I was younger. I read them, but it was never something I was into. The picture on the cover was a close-up of two hands clasped as a young couple walked into a sunset. It was horribly cliched.

Onto more relevant and happy things. Peter and I ordered an espresso machine over the weekend. It uses pods, but it seems that most machines over here do, so oh, well. It was cheap. Normally 165 pounds, we got it on special--the machine and a box of pods for 100 pounds. And it's new, not refurbished like the other ones we were looking at for that price. And the reviews sounded alright, plus it comes with a warranty of one or two years, I can't remember which, so if there's anything particularly wrong with it, we can get it fixed. I am so very looking forward to having a source of coffee at home. =D

I think that's about all that's new right now. I hope everything's going all right with everybody else. Keep in touch and all that. =)

I Am Becoming Nocturnal

2009-01-29T19:43:00.002-07:00

It's about quarter to three in the morning, and I am not even entertaining the notion of sleeping just yet. My sleep patterns have been all weird lately, and I think I've been sleeping too much, anyway, so I don't feel terribly bad about this.

I miss my computer. I should have it back early next week, I believe. That's still far too long of a wait, in my opinion, but it will be happy and healthy upon its return, so I suppose I can put up with a few more days of using Peter's. It's a perfectly good machine, but, understandably, he uses it for schoolwork, leaving me with little to do around the flat. I actually bought a book the other day, which I've almost finished. It's called Chasing Harry Winston, and it's by the same author who wrote The Devil Wears Prada. It's kind of a beach read, chick lit sort of thing. The characters are all insufferable, of course, and they weigh 95 pounds each despite the copious amounts of alcohol they consume. I bought it because I wanted an easy read--I was getting tired of Borges and essays. I actually went to the store hoping to buy the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books, but I couldn't find them. I wonder if they're sold in Britain, and, if so, if they're called the Sisterhood of the Traveling Trousers, or possibly the Traveling Jeans. I'm not sure what I'll do after I finish Chasing Harry Winston. There's always my Bescherelle...

I am still in a kind of limbo here in London. Basically, I had the good old fashioned plan of "Go to London --> ????? --> Profit!" and I think I'm stuck on step two. I've been looking at job postings, but I haven't applied to any yet. I hate job hunting. I wish there was some sort of Job Fairy that would magically appear and tell me that I start Monday. It doesn't have to be my dream job, just one that's tolerable and pays the bills. I'm certain such a job exists even though everybody and their dog seems terrified of the Credit Crunch over here. I actually kind of wish that newspapers would shut up about it already. I have no debt, no assets, no investments, and I'm not concerned about job security. In other words, I am outside the realm of people affected by the Credit Crunch. All I need is 900 pounds per month for the next five or six months. Hell, I could probably live off of 800 if I was careful. Unfortunately, the British media doesn't really seem to care, so it continues to publish stories about record losses for businesses and ways to celeb watch on the cheap.

Also, baby carrots in England require to be washed, peeled and trimmed. To me, that just totally defeats the purpose of baby carrots.

20 Things About MeMeMe

2009-01-17T11:54:00.002-07:00

I was tagged by Sheryl to do this a while ago, so I thought that I'd actually, you know, do it.

“Here are the rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 20 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose 20 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.”

1. MySpace scares me. Just... because.

2. I can cook, but I'm not terribly fond of doing so. I much prefer food that can be eaten as-is.

3. On Monday, I'm going to walk into the Canadian Embassy and ask for a job. I have no idea how successful I will be.

4. It was a life goal of mine to never be arrested so that my fingerprints/DNA/etc. would never go "on file." Then I applied for my UK visa and they had to take my fingerprints, so I'm now considering a life of crime.

5. I eat a lot of foods with my hands if it's an option. It's just so much easier to pick things up and tear or bite then than it is to deal with cutlery.For instance, I'm currently eating lamb chops with my hands so that I don't have to fuss with cutting around the fat.

6. I'm almost deaf in my left ear because I had a disease called cholesteatoma when I was a teenager. At Peter's suggestion, I am elaborating on this point to mention that I had a hole drilled through my skull for the first surgery to remove the cholesteatoma cyst. It hurt, so they gave me morphine.

7. I have a partially eidetic memory. Not that I've ever heard of somebody with a completely eidetic memory, but mine's not good enough to go around calling it eidetic without the "partially" attached to it. My father and my brother (and I assume my sister, as well) also have eidetic memories. Peter calls mine my "crazy prodigious memory."

8. I am learning little bits and pieces of advanced economic theory from Peter. It makes me want to read more Dickens. And then it makes me want to not read Dickens.

9. I have an astigmatism that my contact lenses can't fix. I've tried several brands of torric lenses to no avail, so my optometrist and I eventually decided that I would just get glasses to wear over my contacts, since I only really needed the astigmatism correction for reading and looking at screens.

10. Despite living in England, I don't much care for going to the pub. It doesn't stop my brother from suggesting it, though. He likes it, and I feel like a wet blanket for not wanting to.

11. I want to be a conductor. Of wind bands, preferably, rather than choirs. And definitely not of electrical currents. Silly Peter, suggesting silly things.

12. I don't blink when I play Rock Band. Or when I look at any screen, really. I'm too focused on watching. After every song in Rock Band, I close my eyes tight and rub them to make up for their lack of hydration.

13. Despite the fact that I have online pseudonyms, like etoile du nord and Blayllis, I rarely am referred to by them. Instead, people just call me Janita, or 'Nita.

14. Despite the fact that there are very many things that I would like to study, I'm not going anywhere near school again for at least a couple of years. 19 years is enough for now.

15. I enjoy dramaturgy. I glibly say that it is a dramaturge's job to be right. There has been a variety of responses to this statement.

16. I brought my Bescherelle with me to England. I have an inexplicable fondness for it. Plus, it could be useful if I get a job where I need to use a lot of French.

17. I bit my nails until I was 14, at which point I discovered that long fingernails drive me crazy. Now I just keep them short.

18. I hate writing lesson plans. This isn't the biggest reason I had for deciding not to teach, but it's certainly near the top of the list. I didn't write lesson plans for a large chunk of my APT. My mentor teacher said he might have been worried if he didn't feel that I knew what I was doing.

19. My favourite food is yougurt. Mmmm.

20. There are 2079 songs on my iPod. This is meagre, I know, but I haven't bought CDs in a long time.

I'm not tagging anybody because Peter needs his computer back and thinking of people to tag would take a while. If you want to do this, then please do! =)

Hunger and Procrastination

2009-01-14T13:04:00.003-07:00

It is one o'clock in the afternoon, and I'm hungry, but I don't know what to have for lunch. I seem to be hopeless without HUB mall nearby. Pasticcio from La Pasta actually sounds damn good right now. Or a tuna melt from Bar Tecca. Mmm...

In any case, I'm leaving to go back to England tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. More than anything, I'm looking forward to getting a job. Even sitting around here with no job is kind of blah. I know a guy who has no job, lives with his parents, is in his late 20s and is flat broke, and I have no idea how he does it. He says he likes it, too. He confuses me. And now I'm hoping he doesn't read this entry. He wouldn't be offended by it, but he would make a joke about blonde female Canadians. >.<

I'm trying to think of something to write about that isn't either a to do list or vaguely angsty ramblings about how I'm going to miss my dog. Maybe if I have a to do list pressing enough that I'm considering writing it in my blog, I should stop blogging and go do things that are on said list. But I'm hungry, and I don't know what I want to eat (chicken parmesan!), and since I can't get work done while I'm hungry, and I can't eat until I know what I want, I'll just have to sit here an procrastinate until I come up with something to eat. Yep, that's totally sound logic.

My mom's laptop, which I'm using because mine's dead, has Office 2000 on it. This is because my mom "borrowed" a copy from work. For some reason, she doesn't want the "borrowed" copies of Office 2003 or 2007 that I have. Now, I prefer 2003 to 2007 in a lot of ways, but I don't know how somebody can use 2000. It need copious amounts of updating so that it can read 2007 documents. But, oh, well. My mom doesn't really use this computer for much other than e-mail and card games. She can't even watch YouTube videos in Firefox. Some people just have small, sad lives.

Ok, now that I'm done being ironic, I'm going to go find food.

In Which I Complain

2009-01-08T00:59:00.002-07:00

It is one in the morning. I am using my parents' computer. I have been running tests on mine all evening, trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with it. It keeps crashing, and the tests are telling me there's something wrong with the memory, but that's not helpful. I called tech support yesterday, and they told me to run more tests. I think I've run damn near every test I can on the drivers/diagnostics CD, the system restore/repair CD, and the startup repair menu thing. The most helpful thing I've been told is to call tech support. My computer's still under warranty (because it's only nine bloody months old!), but I leave for England a week from tomorrow, so I don't exactly want to be sending it out for repairs right now. Using my parents' computer involved sitting in an unpleasant chair that forces me to be abnormally far away from the monitor. It also forces me to be at a desk, as opposed to being able to curl up on the couch or in bed, like my laptop has allowed me to become accustomed to. When I decided to write this blog post, I was sitting in said unpleasant chair, turning semi-circles back and forth, listening to the way the noises of the hard drive tower changed as I spun. It was decidedly less pleasant than being in bed doing something fun with my laptop...

Also, I am sick with a nasty cold. Today is day seven. The nasal congestion is more or less the same as it started out, but the dry cough is getting worse. I'm considering seeing a doctor tomorrow to make sure that it hasn't morphed into something worse. The entire upper half of my body hurts from coughing. I'm waiting for the cold medicine I took a minute ago to kick in before I go to bed, because attempting to lay down and breath calmly is a considerable challenge without medication right now. I'm probably keeping my parents awake with my coughing--I have been for the past couple of nights. I've been scratching my throat and chest so much that the skin is getting irritated. Peter wondered if the scratching actually helped, since the itch is on the inside, but it does, at least a little. I'm not entirely certain how it does, though.

Speaking of Peter, he leaves the day after tomorrow. Chris leaves tomorrow. I leave a week from tomorrow, but I already mentioned that. And now I'm giving up and going to bed, regardless of how I'm breathing.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T07:55:00.002-07:00

It's not quite 8am on January 1st, 2009. No, I'm not still awake. Rather, I woke up almost an hour ago because a cold was preventing me from breathing properly. I think I was snoring. It was making me dream that I couldn't talk properly. I seem to have been very prone to colds since returning to Canada. A pile of used Kleenex is slowly but steadily accumulating next to me. Blah.

It's still dark, as is typical for this hour at this time of year in this part of the world. If it wasn't for the plethora of clocks telling me it's 8am, I would have guessed it was a few hours earlier. I guess I haven't been getting up early enough this winter to really remember what time it gets light out. I can't say that I really mind that, personally. ^_^

New Year's Eve was good. Peter, Jenilee, and this guy Jenilee's started seeing were all over at my place. We watched Ratatouille and played Trivial Pursuit. I actually won Trivial Pursuit. I was rather surprised. Jenilee brought over cookies (and brownies that didn't turn out so well), and between those and the spinach dip I bought (and the pizza), I ate waaaaay too much. The pizza had a lot of cheese on it, which I think made me more full than I expected pizza to.

I'm not making any New Year's Resolutions, even though there are a few I could. I could resolve to get a job, but that's something that's going to happen anyway. And I don't want to think about it right now. I hate job hunting with a passion. I could resolve to be more diligent with taking my medication on time, but that's like resolving to worry more. I could resolve to get into better shape, but I don't know if human beings are physiologically/psychologically capable of taking that resolution seriously.

As for the whole deal of 2008 in review, it was good. Finishing school (finally) was nice. Moving to London has been an experience. Nothing much else happened.

Yeesh. My mom just opened the front door, and I could feel the rush of cold air all the way down here in the basement. It's freezing out there. I think that's my cue to go back to bed, even if it is starting to get light out.

Pretty Pictures and Easy Photo Hosting

2008-12-26T15:47:00.002-07:00

Back in Edmonton

2008-11-27T09:58:00.003-07:00

Ok, so I promised that I'd write a blog post explaining my being back in Edmonton almost a month sooner than planned. There really isn't much to explain, but here you go:

I was going stir crazy. Not having a job or much else to do was getting to me. I tried to go out every day, but there wasn't always something for me to do. Plus, if there was maintenance work being done at the train station near my house, it was a long walk to the next one, which was less than pleasant when carrying things like groceries, so I just went to the supermarket down the street instead of going out into civilization. There was no point in me getting a job a month before leaving for Christmas, so I just kind of sat around not doing much. It was boring and depressing. Coming back to Canada, where there are people I know and I have more mobility, thanks to cars, was the best thing for me to do for now, I think. My grumpiness was starting to make me difficult to get along with, and the last thing I wanted was to strain the relationships I had over there. Plus, my dog was at home, and I missed him.

I fully plan to go back in January and get a job. I'm not entirely certain what kind of job, but having something to do and a way to meet people (plus earning money) should make things much easier for me. I took only a little bit of my stuff home with me, since I have to go back to England with all the stuff my mom couldn't ship. I'm sad to be away from Peter for our five-year anniversary, but the date's not the important thing, so it'll be okay. He and Chris are both coming home for Christmas, so I'll get to see him then.

So, yeah, nobody died or got seriously sick or injured. I just came home for the sake of my own sanity, and I'll be going back in the new year. =)

Wednesday!

2008-11-12T07:40:00.002-07:00

I have remarkably little to do right now. I've checked out the websites I regularly read, I've dealt with my e-mail for now, and World of Warcraft is having technical issues, so there's nothing much for me to do on the computer (except blog). I was going to go out and buy something for dinner tonight, maybe get a coffee, but then Peter called and said that he was going to pick something up on his way back from class, so there's no need to do that. And, besides, my outing yesterday was unpleasant enough that I don't particularly want to repeat it today.

It wasn't that bad, really, but there were a bunch of little things that I didn't like. For instance, despite having a lid on my coffee, some of it managed to jump out through the little sipping hole and burn my thumb. The clock in the kitchen died yesterday, so I was mistaken about what time it was when I left, and I wound up getting caught in rush hour "traffic" on the tube. Holborn station was so busy and full that they had to stop letting people in for a while (this is common during rush hour), so I had to stand outside in the cold with my heavy grocery bags in the middle of a very large crowd that was doing its best to contain itself to the sidewalk (i.e., it was very cramped). Also, there was a panhandler next to the ATM when I stopped to get cash before grocery shopping, and, despite being rather poor myself, I felt bad. He didn't bug me, though, so points for him. I can just see people rolling their eyes at me for my bleeding heart. ^_^

But, yeah, not doing that today would be a good thing. ^_^

Despite yesterday being actually a rather unpleasant day, today is looking to be rather nice. I slept in, which was nice, since I didn't get to sleep until about 5am last night. When I woke up, I noticed that I seem to have lost some weight lately, which is always nice. I have a very tasty glass of Coke Zero with ice on the table next to me (I figure diet pop isn't that bad of a weakness in terms of health and cost, so I'm allowing myself if ^_^). I suspect that Peter will be making dinner tonight, which, according to the system we've set up, means that he's also going to clean (I got annoyed at cleaning up his sometimes excessive messes, so we instituted a "clean up your own mess" rule). World of Warcraft should be back up and running within the next hour or so, which is nice because it was down all day yesterday. So, yeah, everything's more or less good on this side of the pond.

Oh, and, just in case any of you were waiting for a description of the Robin Williams talk show thing, I didn't go. I felt too crappy. Oh, well. I'm sure there will be other opportunities to do interesting things. Yay, optimism! ^_^

Tea and Its Various Associations

2008-11-10T14:32:00.003-07:00

Hello, fine people! Life in London continues to be a mixture of interesting, mundane and bizarre things. Or, well, something like that. Peter is currently talking to himself, wondering where Old Man Barlowe went. If you don't know what that means, then don't talk to him when he's wondering about it--all you'll get is a very ditracted half explanation with at least five seconds of silence in between each spoken word. It's kind of amusing, but kind of not...

I broke a plate cleaning up after dinner tonight. We have a broom, so we were able to sweep up all the shards and dust and whatnot, but we don't have a dustpan or vaccuum or anything like that. So I picked up the tiny little shards and dust with scotch tape. I thought it was a rather resourceful idea. :-)

On Saturday, Chris and I went to meet with a couple of his friends in town. They had 2 for 1 coupons for an IMAX movie at the science museum, so we went and saw a film about the international space station. It was narrated by Tom Cruise, and, despite being half price, not that interesting. Peter, who stayed home to work on a paper, had seen it before and absolutely loved it, but that's because he has a weird affection for the Russian space program, as well as space exploration in general. Afterwards, we went to Harrod's and wandered through the food halls. That place is crazy. In a good way. It has many wonderful foods, but I still couldn't find Orange Pekoe tea. *sigh* Oh, well. It's not like we actually own a kettle or anything.

This reminds me of two things. The first thing is that I had tea last night because I had extra boiled water from making Jell-o! It was a different brand, but it was still very tasty. Also, it didn't come in a powder, but intstead in gelatinous cubes, like very dense Jell-o. I took a nibble of the corner to see what it tasted like; it was slippery and not worth eating straight. ^_^ But, yeah, strawberry Jell-o for desert last night made me happy. :-D

The second thing is the escapades my mother has been having trying to ship the stuff that didn't fit in my suitcases. Long story short, she's not going to be shipping anything. Instead, I'm going to bring two more or less empty suitcases home with me at Christmas and bring my stuff to England that way. But, yeah, at first, when I left, all of my stuff was in boxes with packing peanuts and all that jazz. My mom went to ship it and discovered that she needed a copy of my passport main page and of my visa, as well as itemized lists of what was being shipped with values of everything. Cue my search for a scanner. A few weeks later, I *finally* manage to find one, and I send my the scans to my mom. My mom then spends an hour at the UPS store talking to them. In addition to all the stuff my mom got together (she even repacked my stuff so that there were fewer boxes), they needed a form for me to fill out and fax back. That was more or less ignored, though, since the shipping would cost $530. Even if she only shipped a quarter of what she was planning on, it would have cost hundreds of dollars. So, yeah, no shipping.

The reason tea reminded me of this is because my mom was going to ship me a box of Red Rose (Orange Pekoe) tea, but now I don't get any until Christmas. :-(

However, on the bright side of things, tomorrow, I am going to a taping of a talk show where the guest is Robin Williams. Chris puts his name in draws for tickets to television show tapings, and he "won" four tickets to this, so he invited Peter and I to come along with him. I've never seen Robin Williams without editing before, so it should be fun. :-) I wonder if they do an audience warm-up thing like some talk shows do. Those kind of rub me the wrong way. Oh, well. It'll be a new experience, regardless. I shall inform you all of it at a later date. :-)

Post 410

2008-11-04T11:37:00.003-07:00

Peter's cooking dinner (I'm not even sure what, exactly), and it smells delicious. Mmmm... shallots, garlic and butter in a frying pan. =) I think ground beef in some form, as well as bell peppers, will be added. I'm hungry. ^_^

Not much going on lately. Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past two years, you know that today is the US preseidential election. I want it to be over, one way or the other. Peter's going to an all-night party at the LSE to watch the results come in. It starts at 11pm, and he has a presentation to give in one of his classes at 10am the next day. I hope he's not hungover for that. =p

I was poking around in stores (excuse me, shops) today to see if I could find a knee-length coat that I liked for cheap. I found one that may have fit the bill for 25 pounds, but I decided not to buy it. I basically want a coat that I can wear over my long cardigan--it looks weird to wear it with either of my "normal"-length coats. I was at Primark while shopping, and I considered buying imitation Uggs for 6 pounds, but that store is crazy busy, and I didn't feel like standing in line to pay for shoes. I could have spent more money to make the wait feel more "worth it," but that didn't seem terribly smart to me (though they did have these cute pants for 6 pounds, and I would have bought a gloves/scarf set for 3 pounds).

Tuesdays are less fun for me than other days because World of Warcraft is down from 1pm to 7pm for maintenance. This would be 6am to 12pm in Edmonton, but, alas, time differences make things less convenient over here. That's actually what got me to decide to update my blog, was that I had nothing to do for a while before dinner because WoW is still down. ^_^

I can smell the red wine Peter's added to our dinner. He's bought a fair amount of alcohol lately, but it's been cheap. Three little bottles of wine for 10 pounds, and 8 big cans of Strongbow for 4 pounds. That's even cheaper than the 67 pence cans of beer that I've seen littered around here on Sundays. >.<

Speaking of people being stupidly celebratory, Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfire Night is soon, and people have been letting off fireworks in anticipation. They're loud and annoying and have startled the hell out of me when I've been outside and able to hear their full impact. The dogs in the neighborhood don't like them, either.

I have "official" dates for when I'll be in Canada over Christmas. Peter and I arrive at about 2pm on the 20th of December. Peter hopes to leave on the 8th of January, and I hope to leave on the 15th. The departure dates aren't set in stone, since Air Canada no longer does an Edmonton-London direct flight ever day, but only 3 days a week now, I believe, but that's more or less when we'll be around. Peter has to get back in time for term to start on the 12th, but I want to spend a bit more time at home, so I'm leaving later. Yay for being unemployed! ^_^ It gives you so much more flexibility with your schedule.

Okay, I'm now paying more attention to the smell of dinner than to writing this blog entry, so I'm going to stop writing and go poke my nose into the kitchen. Mmm... =)

Long, Random Post

2008-10-30T13:41:00.002-06:00

It is the day before Hallowe'en. I should buy a bag of candy in case we get any trick or treaters, though I suspect we won't. Oh, well. More candy for us. ^_^

Things have been puttering along over here. I have signed up for National Novel Writing Month. I have no idea why it's called "National," since it has a very obvious internation focus. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it is an event where, during the month of November, you write a 50'000-word novel. According to the welcome e-mail they sent me, I'm supposed to tell everybody that I signed up for this so that the fear of public humiliation will keep me from quitting in the second week. I have a rough idea of what I'm going to write about--who knows, I may even put it up for download if it ever reaches the stage of "readable."

I went and bought a toque today. I couldn't find gloves that I liked for a reasonable price, though, so I think I'll go to other places next week and poke around. I also bought a new mouse for my computer because the one I add was finally starting to give up the ghost after more than three years. The new one is rather small (though not the smallest the store had, by far), and has a rather short cord, but all that really means for me is that there's no long cord to get tangled in, so yay for that. ^_^

Peter had his first big presentation on Tuesday. He says it went well. I don't particularly want to know what it was about. It seems that his introduction to Economic History is very heavily weighted towards the Economics end of things, and everything he's talked about reading so far has been horrifically boring to me, so I kind of try to avoid it when I can.

I found my watch today, much to my surprise. I thought I'd left it at an internet cafe, but I found it under the cushions of the couch. Figures. ^_^

I think we finally have more or less everything we need in terms of housewares. There are a coouple of things that we could use, like another pot and some more dishes, but the basics are covered. This is partly due to the trip I took to Ikea on Saturday. That trip was quite an adventure, but many things were accomplished, so I'm okay with getting lost repeatedly and walking a rather long ways lugging a big bag full of rather heavy stuff.

I called to set up online banking yesterday. I set it up maybe two years ago and then never used it, so I had to set it up again. It was an 800 number, but you pay for those the same as any long distance number from the UK, so the phone call cost me a small fortune. :-( The end result was that I realized just how much money I've spent in the last two months. Initial expenses suck. I have enough money to cover past Christmas, but, after that, I really need to get a job. That was the plan, though, so it's not like I'm shocked or disappointed or anything.

I continue to discover things about London/Britain that I find odd. Of course, now that I'm writing a blog entry, I can't think of any, but I assure you they exist. >.< Okay, here's one: Every shop has a security guard. Like, I walked past The Body Shop today, and the security guard (who looked very bored) was straightening one of the displays a bit. I've accidentally asked security guards for help finding an item in the store. I don't get why they're all over the place. I remember once, when I was working at A&B Sound, a co-worker paged security. I knew the procedure ("Mr. Black to [department]."), but I'd never actually seen it done before. I was floored to see a security guard come upstairs. I'd worked there for months and had never seen a security guard in the building. I wondered where he hid. I still have no idea. But, yeah, security guards in every shop make me vaguely uncomfortable. At least they're unarmed (or they appear to be) unlike some I've seen in South America. :-S

I'm waiting for Peter to get home. He should be home any minute. He has a seminar at 5 (or is it 6?) in the evening every Thursday, and they'll often go out afterwards, so he's usually home around 8 or 8:30. He doesn't have classes on Fridays, though, so maybe I'll get him to go out for lunch with me or something similarly fun and financially irresponsible. ^_^

It's started getting cold overe here. There was sleet/snow on Tuesday night. Hence why I bought the toque today. It's a good toque, from H&M, and it very closely resembles one that Joyce tried to get me to buy (also from H&M) a year or two ago, except it has a more solid knit and no sparkles. ^_^ Peter and Chris both got caught in the bad weather on Tuesday. I was out earlier in the day, and while it was raining, it wasn't nearly as bad as it got later that evening. Peter had to wait for a stalled train to get cleared off the tracks for half an hour in the nasty weather.

Peter and I are going to buy an esspresso machine machine soon, courtesy of his very generous father. I was joking yesterday that owning such a machine would give me one less reason to leave the house, but I greatly look forward to having easy access to caffeine that isn't ludicrously expensive. For example, they sell refrigeratable lattes and mochas at the supermarket, but they're very pricey. Same with the chillable drinks from Starbucks or other cafes. Speaking of cafes, I've discovered a place that I like better than Starbucks. It's called Caffe Nero. For some reason, the British spell it "caffe," with two fs and a downward-pointing accent (accent grave, for those of us who speak French) over the e. It looks so... wrong. But, anyway, Caffe Nero does superlative espresso. I go there when I want a treat, because they don't have the option anywhere on their menu for anything but whole milk. ^_^ I assume you could ask for low-fat milk, but they'd probably give you a disappointed look if you did.

Oh! That's another thing I find odd over here. There's no such thing as 1% milk. You can either get 2% or skimmed. Or whole, of course. And cream comes in containers like yogurt. The milk thing had Peter and I at odds for a while, but I relented and now we buy 2%. Which we need more of, come to think of it. And jam. I should write this down on an actual piece of paper. ^_^

We finally sorted out all of the money stuff from our initial expenses and groceries and stuff, so Peter and I are square, except for the fact that rent is due today. It's direct debit from his account, but I still have to pay him my share, of course. My third of the rent is 404 pounds per month, roughly $800 Canadian. Despite the fact that this place is within the budget we decided on, that number seems high to me. London is expensive. :-(

Another thing I find odd: Counsel tax (basically municipal tax, paid to the borough you live in for infrastructure) is assessed for six-month periods, and you pay for those six months with four monthly payments. So, basically, you pay every month for four months, then they leave you alone for two months. Rinse, repeat. *shakes head* Only the British...

I think I've rambled enough for now. Peter still isn't home, so I think I'll go read. Hope everybody at home is doing well. I miss you guys!

A List of Things I Find Odd About London

2008-10-22T08:20:00.002-06:00

There are pigeons without any green on their necks (or anywhere else). In fact, there are many pigeons that have a great deal of white feathers. I wasn't sure they were pigeons at first.

The fine for taking public transport without a valid pass/ticket is twenty pounds. The fine for spitting your gum on the sidewalk is eighty pounds. Priorities much?

The street signs are large (about 2 feet by 1 foot) and posted on the sides of buildings. The signs that look like street signs in Canada are direction signs telling you which way to go to get certain places. For a while, before I found the street signs, I knew where I was going, but never where I was. It was confusing.

There are many places that seem to do two kinds of business: sell souvenirs and unlock cell phones. I have no idea why these two things go together so often. Also, I'm not entirely sure why networks lock cell phones to start with when it's so easy to unlock them, especially when it comes to pay as you go phones.

Speaking of phones, the cell phones here are much cooler than in North America. You'd think that the states, at least, would be gadget-crazed enough to sell more of these, but it's not the case.

Some people don't understand my accent. I called to register my phone with Orange, and the guy I was talking to had to have me spell out my post code using the "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc" alphabet. There are some people I don't understand, but that's largely because they omit half the syllables in what they're saying--I'm not entirely sure how someone who's fluent in English wouldn't be able to understand me.

All of the service vehicles and garbage trucks and the like are Mercedes Benz. I knew this before coming here, but there's still a little moment of cognitive dissonance every now and then when I see one.

Considering how much you hear about "Tandoori takeaway," I was surprised to find out that the chain called "Curry's" is an electronic store, much like Radio Shack or The Source. (They have really nice power adapters that are more compact than the ones I bought at home, in addition to not buzzing and being cheaper.)

People here love musicals. Like, cheesy musicals, like Andrew Lloyd Webber. If everybody who went to a musical more than three times per year changed one of those trips to the opera, I suspect the income of the opera would more than double.

I think that is all for now. I'll actually tell you what's been going on in my life in a couple of days, when there'll hopefully be something of substance to share. ^_^

Pictures!

2008-10-19T07:22:00.015-06:00

Here are some pictures of our new place. Enjoy. =)

This is the entryway of our flat. I really like the hardwood floors--very pretty. =)

This is our living room as seen when standing in the doorway off the entrance "hall." Chris pointed out that the place is a bit of a mess, but oh, well. ^_^

And the living room again, as seen from the entryway to the kitchen. All that Ikea furniture... The windows/doors look out onto a canal.

This is the canal. It's not that spectacular, but it's what's outside our window.

This is a duck on the canal. Ducks are the most common birds on the canal (pigeons don't seem to like water), but I've also seen geese and swans swimming along.

This is the view if you look at something other than the canal. Kind of boring, generally, but it's interesting to people-watch.

This is Peter and I's bedroom. The clothes on the floor and the piles of stuff on the dresser are all his. ^_^ If I had turned around from here and taken another picture, you would have seen the world's smallest shower stall. Ironically, the shower head is high enough for Chris to stand under it, but the stall isn't big enough for him to actually moves his limbs enough to wash himself. ^_^

Lastly, here is the kitchen. I have pointed out the things about it that make me happy. ^_^ We desperately need garbage cans/bins, though...

And that's all. Well, except for Chris' room, but whatever. ^_^

Real Update

2008-10-14T09:15:00.002-06:00

Ok, so here's an update that doesn't centre around my internet woes. I hope you all find it entertaining and enlightening.

The buskers in the tube stations are pretty good, for the most part. The weirdest I've come across so far was a banjo player singing in a language I'm 99% certain wasn't English. The two best so far have been a girl playing the guitar and singing a very pretty song with a very pretty voice, and this guy playing jazz on a steel-string guitar in a very evocative manner. I wanted to stand around and listen.

Public transportation for me costs 110 pounds per month. That's for the monthly pass, which is considerably cheaper than doing it any other way. I want my next place to be closer to downtown so that I only have to get a pass for zones 1 and 2, rather than 1-3 like I have now. I don't think we'll be in this place for more than 8 or 9 months. I don't think we'll keep the flat over the summer. I don't know what Chris will do, but I don't think he wants to stay where we are, so a change of location may be in order. Hell, I'm still hoping that Peter and I can get student housing next year. Yay, cheaper and better location! And no ginormous security deposit! ^_^

The internet connection on my phone doesn't tend to work at home because the signal is too weak. I guess that's ok, though, since, generally, I want to use it when I don't have normal access to the internet, which I will at home by Monday (knock on wood). So, unfortunately, I can only access my e-mail once a day, still. =(

That episode of Heroes I torrented? Yeah, it was password-protected. Grr. Anybody have a copy they can send/upload for me? *hopeful smile*

I miss my dog. Dogs are allowed on the tube, here, and I was watching some guy pet his bulldog-looking pet today, and I missed Farley very much. I saw a pigeon yesterday, and my brain did something weird and I smiled at it and nearly called it "puppy." *sniffle*

My bedroom back home is being transformed into the guest room, and my car has been sold. I guess I can't go home now. ^_^ I'm actually feeling pretty good about being here, though, so it's all right. Now that my foot is feeling better (the pain is almost completely gone), it's easier to walk around and go do stuff, so I've been going out by myself while Peter's at school. It's been good. =)

I think that's about it for now. Hope you guys are all doing well. =)

Update... Or Not

2008-10-12T07:47:00.002-06:00

I'm on my laptop at an internet cafe, attempting to torrent last Monday's episode of Heroes. It's not going well. It's been about an hour, and it's only 23% done. This is frustrating. Despite the fact that the wifi is free here, I don't really want to be sitting here for terribly long. After all, I have to make soup tonight~! ^_^

So, yeah, internet cafe still. We should have internet at the flat a week from tomorrow. The runaround we've been given when trying to get an ISP has been crazy. From the beginning:

We did some "research" involving a free newspaper and decided to go with Virgin.

Virgin told us we need a land line to get DSL. We called BT to get a land line and ask them about their internet packages. Virgin was half the price because did didn't come with things like a PVR, which BT's package did.

The land line takes 48 hours to become active, and Virgin won't talk to us until then.
After 48 hours, we went back to Virgin, and they told us that it'll take another 48 hours to become fully active, and to come back then.

Chris buys his iPhone and discovers that customers who have mobile with his carrier get a deal on broadband. And, unlike with Virgin or BT, you can pick up the equipment at the store, rather than having it mailed to you (which takes 5-14 working days).

We go talk to this carrier (O2), and buy a modem/router. We're given instructions on what to do when our land line becomes completely active. All's good. Right?

Wrong. Once our land line is supposed to be fully active, the O2 stuff isn't working. We call BT--the land line is in fact fully active. We call O2--turns out, the area in which we live is oversaturated, and, until they get new equipment installed, they can't take any more customers here. WTF?! There goes our 10 pounds/month deal for 16 meg DSL...

Back to Virgin, who will charge 18 pounds/month for up to 8 megs. Now, however, they want three years' worth of UK credit history, which none of us have. WTF?! There goes that...

Back to BT, who will charge 25 pounds/month for up to 8 megs with unlimited downloads (a must). This also gets us a bunch of stuff we don't need, like a PVR box for the television we don't own.

We go and return the modem/router we bought from O2, and, just to double-check, we pop into a Virgin store. They're confused by the three years' credit history requirement, and call customer service themselves. The same customer service line that told us we don't qualify told the Virgin sales rep that the credit history is not in fact required, and we're good to go.

We sign up for Virgin, and we're told that it should kick in by next Monday. The equipment will be mailed to us in 5-14 working days. So, providing that nothing else goes wrong, we'll have internet at home next Monday at the earliest.

Did that exhaust you as much as it exhausted me?

Ok, so I'm tired of typing (between this, e-mail and MSN, I have been typing for the past hour and a half straight), so I'm going to forego the rest of the update and just go home. The Heroes torrent can keep going tomorrow.

Post 404

2008-10-08T09:23:00.002-06:00

Owowowow! My foot hurts! Did I mention that I hurt my foot on Friday? Well, it hasn't gotten any better, despite staying at home all day yesterday so that I could rest it. Walking downtown is far less pleasant than it should be. I'm starting to get vaguely worried.

So setting up a new house from more or less nothing is time-consuming and difficult. We bought a toaster on Monday for £6, so I can now have toast. We still need garbage cans. And food that isn't starch or seasonings. Our land line kicks in tomorrow morning, at which point we will be able to sign up for internet service. For some reason, Virgin is about half the price of BT. Peter wants to buy a TV, which is nice in theory, but it's money I'm wary of spending. We've gotten the power and water switched to our names (no gas), and the lease agreement is all signed and everybody has keys and such. I'm resisting unpacking because that means laundry will seem less avoidable (twisted logic is twisted). >.<

I bought a phone today. It's an LG KS 360. It was available in pink from the carrier I went with (Orange), but they didn't have any in stock, so I went with blue so that I could at least finally have my own phone. It's a smart phone, so I'll be able to check my e-mail and facebook and such with it. It's not charged yet, and I don't feel like digging out my number just yet, but I'll post it on facebook once it's all up and running. =)

I miss my dog and my friends and my family, but that stuff happens. As long as I have exposure to the outside world every day, I should be all right. Staying home yesterday to rest my foot was unpleasant, no matter how many DVDs I watched. And it didn't even freaking help. Grrr...

I'll stop rambling now. I hope everyone is doing well. I'll be posting regular updates and such, so stay tuned. =p

London So Far

2008-10-05T10:35:00.002-06:00

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm alive and in London. I don't have crazy amounts of time here, so I'll just give a quick rundown of stuff. =)

The flat
Gorgeous flat, vaguely unpleasant neighborhood. Very pretty hardwood floors and lots of space. A dishwasher (!!) and a washer/dryer combo machine. A small shower and a large tub. We're in the East end, which is largely South Asian and kind of run-down. Lots of Halal fried chicken fast food places. I think I'd be willing to get a worse place in a better location. 7 minutes walk to the nearest train (DLR) station, which I worry will feel longer during the winter.

The city
I love the central/downtown area. It's interesting and bustling. I plan on visiting many museums in the near future (yay free admission!). There's a flagship Gap store in Picadilly Circus that I'm considering applying for a job at (though I'm not sure if I'm going to start work just yet).

The practical details
We finally have dishes, cookware, cutlery and bedding. Apparently, someone is going to be bringing over a coffee table (yay, but vaguely odd). I think the place is entirely furnished in Ikea stuff, including the series of asian-ish paintings on the wall. We do not have the internet yet, but I am getting a smartphone tomorrow with a data plan, so I will have access to my e-mail (glory hallelujah!). Currently, I'm at the LSE library using Peter's internet access.

I'm more homesick than I expected to be, and I miss everyone muchly. I hope you're all doing well. Updates should be coming more regularly in the near future once we get internet at the flat. Hugs to all!

Random Thoughts While I Watch TV

2008-09-27T21:19:00.003-06:00

Chimes are a glorious instrument, and they make me want to listen to and/or play Of Sailors and Whales again.

Microphone feedback, when properly controlled and at a reasonable volume, can also make for good music. Yes, I drank the Kool-Aid.

The arms of my glasses are long enough that, when I lie down, they press against the surface I'm lying on, making the lenses move and the world skew.

There's a Lego Batman video game?! With a Light Side/Dark Side option, too?! Hilarity!!

They dubbed the Multigrain Cheerios commercial with the British actors? Why?? It was a great commercial, and now it sounds... crooked. And rushed.

We have beer and regular Pepsi in the fridge in preparation for tea tomorrow. Well, actually, it's in preparation for the steak dinner that may follow the tea. My father's idea. Oh, well.

I've taken a great deal of Advil tonight, and it's making me kind of sleepy, despite my neck still being sore.

I should be ripping CDs while I do this, but I don't feel like going and sifting through mine to find the ones I don't yet have on my iPod.

Our shredder is loud and makes a very unpleasant noise. I dislike it immensely.

The girl staying with us needs directions to give a cab driver to get back to our place. She's getting the directions wrong. Like, she gave the wrong location of our house. I'm confused.

I'm going to miss having access to American/Canadian television. Having to download shows will be an annoyance.

My mom made me toast earlier. I feel ridiculously spoiled. ^_^

It's a crab! It's a lobster! It's a scorpion!

I'm vaguely worried that I'll forget my watch when I leave because I never wear it. I lost it for nearly a month and didn't really miss it, though it did bother me to not know where it was. But I don't think being watchless is that great of an idea.

The world needs more post-apocolyptic books. Not movies, because those wind up being too much about the special effects. And they don't have to be dystopian. That is possible.

Tepid tepid scald. Steam, Wet and warm.

My degree status for my BMus is back to "Applied for degree," which means that something Donna did worked. Now here's hoping that the next change is to "Degree awarded," or else I may have to send the Faculty of Arts a nice little letter bomb. Although anthrax would be cheaper to ship.

Dude, they're introducing V8 soups and attaching the name Campbell's?! That makes no sense. They don't need the brand recognition, but they do seem to be marketing these soups as more gourmet, so equating them with Campbell's makes no sense.

I'm convinced the car security tape bit in the season premier of Heroes is an homage to Quentin Tarrantino. And it rules. ^_^

I discovered yesterday that my hair is now long enough to all fit into a pnay tail. This is very useful.

I think it's time for bed now.

Post 401

2008-09-26T15:12:00.003-06:00

Wow, I've made a lot of posts to this blog. Then again, I've had it for... what? Three or four years--I can't remember which. *huggles blog*

I'm feeling better than I was a couple of days ago. Things are going along swimmingly. I got my laptop back from repairs a mere few days after sending it off. I had been told that it would take 8-10 days, so that was a pleasant surprise. The downside is that I'm still getting the error message that my AC adaptor is invalid, even though they replaced that. They also ran standard tests and cleaned it up (and replaced a piece of broken plastic--yay!), and they say there's nothing else wrong with it. Personally, I can live with a little error message every time I boot up my computer. I'll keep the software updated and hopefully everything will be ok. Oh, and another bonus is that the new AC adaptor they gave me has a 2-pronged plug, rather than a grounded one, so it fits into the power adaptors I bought without me having to break off the grounding prong. :-)

I'm currently ripping CDs Peter asked me to copy. I figure I should do his first, seeing as how I'm not sure that I'm going to get through all of my own. I only have a little over half of my CD collection on my computer, and I was hoping to have them all ripped by the time I leave, but I highly doubt that's going to happen. I have CDs that I've never even opened. Now, granted, most of those are CDs I know and I've just never bothered to listen to my own copies, but, still, I feel bad about that. ^_^ And then there are the CDs that I got for school and want to forget forever. There are only so many Haydn string quartets one person can take. o.O

I've been attempting to juggle my medication so that I can take as much with me to England as possible. I have three months' worth waiting to be picked up at the pharmacy and another three weeks' worth at home, so I should be good so long as I don't lose any. Blue Cross will only pay for three months at a time and won't allow refills until you're two thirds of the way through the last amount you got filled (so two months through for three months' worth), so that's the most I can get before I leave. If my doctor had written me two perscriptions instead of one with a refill, things would be different, but, honestly, I thought my Blue Cross coverage expired in July, so I'm happy as a clam with the deal I'm getting. :-D Yay for pshychopharmaceuticals! ^_^

I organized make-up and toiletries today. I have less make-up than it seems when you look at my tiny drawer of it. The drawer looks cramped, but all of the stuff I'm taking only fills up about half of a Ziploc freezer bag. That's more than the bare minimum, but I don't feel as bad about bringing make-up as I was expecting to, and I'm glad to be able to do things like bring five lipsticks instead of restricting myself to three or something. Occasionally, I am such a girl. ^_^

Speaking of being a girl and having lots of certain things, I have a huge pile of clean clothes on my bedroom floor. Somewhere beneath them is the laundry basket that housed the first load of laundry I did a few days ago. I have one more full load to do, but I've been procrastinating. ^_^ I then need to fold it all and decide what exactly I'm taking. With clothes, I will definitely have to impose some limits on myself. Peter owns very little clothing, and I'm sure that he's going to balk at how much I bring, no matter what. I estimate I'll wind up taking 60 pieces of clothing, plus underwear/socks/etc. That doesn't sound too bad, I guess...

There's a girl from James' Ottawa office staying with us for a little while. And, by "us," I mean "me," because my parents are currently in Banff for a judges' conference. I've barely seen her because she's been spending her days at the constituency office and her evenings at the campaign office. Tomorrow's Saturday, though, so hopefully she'll get a day off. She hasn't had one since the campaign started, apparently. o.O I think I'll lend her my car so that she can go to the mall or something. :-)

Currently importing Strong Bad Sings. Peter didn't ask me to import this one, but I found it on his bookshelf and I really wanted to. ^_^

And I think that's as much rambling about pointless things as I'm allowed for today.

A List of Things That are Annoying Me Today

2008-09-24T14:26:00.003-06:00

(Yes, yes, I realize that it has been a month since I blogged, and that I should be giving an update as to what's going on in my life, but right now I feel like making a list of grumpiness.)

1. I just sneezed and blood came out of my mouth. Ew and wtf?

2. I realized this morning that my doctor's appointment, rather than being tomorrow, was on Monday, meaning I missed it. I hate when I do that. I got a spot tomorrow, though.

3. The inhaler my family doctor gave me for my cough isn't doing anything. I doubled the dose after a week like she told me to, but there's still no change. This means my cough is less likely to be caused by asthma, which means that there's some other diagnosis, which I don't want to deal with at this point.

4. The stuff I still had over at Peter's place got moved around. Nothing missing or damaged or anything, but I'm crazy-protective of my privacy. I just kind of assumed that the stuff in the dresser could stay there for a couple of weeks, but I guess not.

5. My parents left for Banff today, leaving me to play hostess to one of James' Ottawa staff, a girl named Erin who's staying with us. She's perfectly nice, but I have to do things like drive her to work in the morning, and I'm worried that my lack of morning sunshine will get us both killed.

6. I sent my computer off for repairs today. The shipping box arrived two weeks late, though (I had to call them and ask where the hell it was, and they wound up just sending me a new one), so I won't get my computer back before I leave. My parents will ship it to me, but, still, that's annoying.

7. I have a lot of laundry to do today. I hate laundry.

That is all I can think of right now. Maybe tomorrow I'll come back and write a list of things that I'm glad about, because there are a few, but, for today, the annoyance is winning out.

I Worry Too Much

2008-08-16T23:51:00.003-06:00

It is way too hot. Actually, it's not that hot outside, but it gets really hot on the second floor of Peter's dad's place, and that's where I am right now. We've got the windows open and the fan going, but that does remarkably little. I have been drinking water all evening in an attempt to not melt. So far I have been semi-successful.

Peter's doing arenas in WoW right now, and it's always kind of depressing to hear him discuss strategy with his partner after they've lost a match. Hell, even when they win, they talk about what went wrong. It's like an exercise in telling yourself you suck. They're fairly good at it, but they don't ever seem to congratulate themselves or each other when they do well. Like I said, it's kind of depressing to listen to.

I'm hoping that everybody will RSVP to our going away party soon. Without hearing from everybody, it's just becoming something else for me to worry about. >.< It's not actually that big of a deal, but my brain is all like "An unknown variable!!!! Ahhhhhh!!!!!" I really need to stop with that. As another example: I got my plane tickets booked, and I got on the same flight home as Peter. I booked my seat, which Peter has yet to do, and I suggested that he do the same. His dad booked the ticket and Peter has no idea how to go about reserving his seat. His dad's also out of town until Wednesday. Waiting that long is making me anxious. *facepalm*

Speaking of Peter's dad and travelling, the lot of us are going to Jasper next weekend. Dave, Sheryl, Andy, Simone, Peter, and I, to be precise. I really don't know why we're going. Apparently we're under no obligation to do anything in particular with anyone else. *shrug* I'm not exactly a fan of Jasper (mountains bad), but it seems like it'll be a nice little trip.

I slept a lot today, so despite it being midnight, I'm not the least bit tired. I woke up at about 11 this morning, and then I had a headache and slept for a couple of hours this afternoon. I suspect that may not have been the best idea. Apparently Peter also slept a bit this afternoon, but that's because he hardly slept at all last night, having to work at 6-something this morning. Blah. In any case, we're both awake and were having trouble figuring out what to do. I'm staying the night over here because we haven't done that in a while, but the lack of tiredness has kind of left us just chilling in each other's vicinity.

Maybe I'll go chill downstairs, where there's actually the possibility of being, well, chill-er, as opposed to being at risk of heat stroke. At the very least, I need more water. Otherwise... *death*

"Productivity"

2008-08-13T22:35:00.002-06:00

I had my box of computer stuff out so that I could find a LAN cable (more on that later), and it occured to me that I hadn't backed up my files in a while, so I just did that. I went through and cleaned it all up first, too, so now I feel all productive and whatnot. It may be something small and stupid, but I was feeling kind of antsy earlier, not really sure what to do, and this has made me happy. ^_^

I was looking for the LAN cable so that I could try accessing the internet over at Peter's house. A while back, his dad installed this Network Magic thing when he got a new router. It's one of those programs that's designed to stop people who don't know what they're doing from borking their network--an annoyance, but not really harmful. Except that Andy then forgot the password. So, yeah... I tried. And I got frustrated. And I tried some more. And I got pissed off. And then I decided to just bring a damn cable over. It worked, too! I had to more or less swear undying loyalty to the network, which meant I had to futz around to get my computer to recognize my home network later, but it's not that big of a deal considering that I'm now able to access the internet at Peter's place! *cheers*

I went to Best Buy today to get season 4 of House and discovered that it comes out next week. Thanks a lot, misleading Amazon.ca e-mail. I was quite looking forward to watching it tonight, too. I looked around the story a little since I was there. They don't carry the brand of headphones I use, which was kind of annoying because the earpieces on mine are more than a little beat up and I would like to replace them. I also poked at their digital cameras, since mine seems to have given up the ghost. I may spend a couple hundred dollars and get myself one--it feels like I should have one for England. I also looked at their software to see how much Photoshop Elements costs--$130! I downloaded a free one-month trial of CS3 Extended, and it's remarkably addictive. *twitch* I certainly can't afford it, though, so, if I still love it when my trial runs out, I may have to torrent it.

My dog got a haircut today. I asked for the fur on his ears to be cut short, and it really was. I was thinking about an inch, but I got less than a quarter of an inch. Farley looks kind of weird right now. He was also fidgety, I was told, which is unusual for him. The groomer nicked the edge of his ear while she was giving him a trim. I don't quite know what was wrong. We took him to the vet on Monday for some blood tests, so maybe that was a little fresh in his mind? Speaking of which, we should have the results for those by tomorrow. Hopefully we can get Farley started on some meds soon--the haircut made it obvious that he's gotten bigger around the belly, which is apparently another of the more noticeable symptoms of Cushings. *sigh*

Wow, that killed my productivity high.

Stressed

2008-08-10T16:07:00.002-06:00

I should really check to see if Blogger has some sort of comment notification function. I never know when somebody's commented on one of my posts--I have to actually look at my blog to see, and I don't do that very often (especially since I don't get many comments). Although, I must admit, it was highly amusing to get randomly flamed once and not notice until the person who did it posted another comment on my latest post to tell me to go look at it. ^_^

The skin on my shoulders and chest where I got sunburnt is starting to peel now. It's very distracting to play with. It doesn't hurt anymore, though, which is a relief. See, this is why you don't go to the beach--all you get is a sunburn, dried-out hair and a lot of sand in your clothes.

I was looking at flights earlier today. Expensive. I'm insisting on flying out of Edmonton, though, even if I can save money by flying out of Calgary. Taking the bus is just too much of a hassle. Tomorrow, I will get in touch with my travel agent aunt, and hopefully she will be able to get me something decent. Also, I'm apparently coming home for Christmas. Peter is, anyway, and it's cheaper to get a round-trip ticket than a one-way ticket (wtf?), so I figure what the hell. My parents should be happy. I should tell them...

I think House season four comes out on DVD on Tuesday. I will be buying that, and I will be getting Peter to watch the stuff he missed. Silly raiding, getting in the way of watching television. Heroes season two comes out a couple of weeks later, I believe. *checks calendar* Yep, two weeks later. I will also buy that. Silly writers' strike, messing up the schedule so that there was only half a season. Oh, well. There will be a full season this year. I'll have to find a reliable source for downloading episodes of series that don't air as soon in the UK as they do in the US/Canada. Anybody know of one? Searching through sites like mininova gets a little tiresome, especially when it's not specified that an episode is dubbed or something.

The new Ikea catalogue came with the paper today. I was surprised, since I went there yesterday and asked about the catalogue and was told that it wouldn't be coming out until after the September long weekend. It was a pleasant surprise, though. It got me thinking about furniture and such, though, and I should double-check to make sure Peter gets a furnished place when we move. At least he's not against studio apartments like I had thought he was. The whole finding a place to live thing is stressing me out, though, so I'm going to shut up about it now and hope it goes away for a while.

I heard back from my advisor only a few hours after I'd e-mailed her, which was nice. Unfortunately, she told me I had to talk to Donna. *sigh* Fine. I'll e-mail her on Monday. She's rather scary, though, and I'm half worried that she'll do something like withold my degree out of spite. This is the woman that called me in to yell at me for not filling out the paperwork to take a reduced course load and then realized that she'd lost it, though, so I'm hoping this is indeed just a matter of some sort of bureaucratic glitch. Bah, more stress. >.<

Short Update

2008-08-08T12:35:00.002-06:00

My mom wanted to go to the beach, so on Sunday we left for an impromptu vacation to Winnipeg. I got sunburnt and the skin on my nose started to peel today. *rubs nose*

My visa arrived yesterday, so I have my passport back and I know for certain that my visa kicks in on October 1st. I don't think I'll go over in September, since I can't start working until October, but I still have to finalize that with Peter.

I got up at 8am today, and I feel like I've had a productive morning. I made an appointment with my GP to get my cough checked out (finally) and I e-mailed my advisor about what is likely a paperwork glitch concerning my BMus. Well, fine, that's not that productive, but I'm about to go make muffins because we have a craptonne of blueberries and I like blueberry muffins. =)

That's about all I have to say right now... Man, my life is boring.

Friday Was Good

2008-07-28T02:13:00.002-06:00

It's about quarter past two in the morning, but my sleeping patterns lately have been such that I am not tired right now. In fact, I'm rather bored. I am looking forward to tomorrow, when I have the house to myself for a large part of the day, and can therefore get things done. For some reason I have it in my head that it's supposed to rain tomorrow, and that makes me want to spend some time playing the piano, perhaps in between loads of laundry.

Friday was as excellent a day as I had hoped. I loved the X-Files movie. I can see how some people might be annoyed at the fact that it wasn't epic, but I'm glad that they focused more on the characters and their relationship and their future. It was kind of a way of fixing what the last two seasons of the show did. They didn't bring anybody back to life or kill off anybody who had been in the series. In fact, they didn't really retcon anything. Obviously, things happened between the last scene of the series and the start of the movie (most notably that Mulder and Scully allowed the world to know they weren't dead), but nothing actually changed. I still haven't forgiven Chris Carter for killing off the Lone Gunmen, though.

Seeing people Friday night was most enjoyable. It made me think that Peter and I really need to get working on planning our going-away party. I'm thinking that Saturday, September 6 would be a good day for it. Peter and I also have to look at flights. And I'm going to stop thinking about this now because it's stressing me out.

We stole an idea from Dave and Sheryl and did a beer tasting on Friday night. The idea was to see which beers we actually liked in a blind taste test. The winner was a Dutch beer I'd never heard of. Stella came in second. They were all lagers, apparently, and I'm not a huge fan of lighter beers to start with, so I was kind of meh about most of them. It kind of bugged me that we were tasting beers I'd never heard of, rather than tasting more common beers to test our possible prejudices. A lot of the beer choices were dictated by what was available in singles, apparently, as well as keeping all the beers similar so that we couldn't guess which was which. To me, it kind of missed the point. It was still fun though.

Sean mentioned on Friday night that he wanted to try making beef wellington before going back to the states (because this way his parents could pay for it), and so on Tuesday he, Peter, Jeremy and possibly Eric and John are going to go to Sean's house and make beef wellington, puff pastry from scratch and all. I think they're crazy, but whatever makes them happy. As my mom pointed out, they could be going hunting instead.

In other news, my dog has Cushing's disease. I'm not entirely sure what all of the implications of that are, but my mom has decided that, despite not going for the surgery, Farley should start taking meds for it. I agree. He is currently asleep over by my bookcase, unaware of the odd name of the ailment that we had originally called "old age." And now he's barking in his sleep. ^_^

Tonight vs. Tomorrow

2008-07-24T21:12:00.003-06:00

The packing continues. Yesterday, I managed to get all of my DVDs into a CD binder that I asked Peter to buy me for my birthday. Amazingly enough, they all fit in, including all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls and all nine seasons of X-Files. There's even a fair amount of space left. This makes bringing my DVDs much easier, since the binder isn't much bigger than a shoe box. The cases are still in piles on my floor, though. ^_^

Speaking of X-Files, the second movie comes out tomrrow and I just bought two tickets to the 1:10 showing at South Common. Please allow a brief moment for me to be excited: *squee!* I don't know who's going with me, though I suspect the answer is Peter because he's not working, whereas Joyce is and Jenilee is out of town. All three of them have said that they'll come with me, but the 1:10 show is the only one I can go to without having to rush to dinner immediately after.

There is Thai food tomorrow night. Jeremy will be in attendance, as will Eric and Jo, hopefully. I haven't seen Eric and Jeremy in a long time. The usual suspects will also be in attendance, which is good, since I still have Pri's coat from when she left it at Peter's place on Canada Day.

All in all, tomorrow is looking to be a very good day. Right now, however, I am bored. I'm avoiding playing WoW because I just sent this guy I play with an e-mail, and I'm waiting for him to discover it. He makes lots of (amusing) "inappropriate" remarks, and at one point I emoted that I was imitating the fake orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally. He'd never heard of it. I explained, and he decided that I should make a video of myself imitating this scene. I told him I would, and so I sent him an e-mail with a link to the clip from the movie on YouTube, but claiming in the e-mail that it's my own video. This way he gets the initial shock of "She actually did it?!" but then it's a fake-out. With Jenilee out of town, this guy has said that I now have the job of entertaining him until Sunday. *facepalm*

Actually, I'm in the mood to watch a movie, but they're all in the binder, and I don't want to disturb the harmony of the newly stored discs. Feel free to think I'm crazy and/or give the computer screen a weird look.

Summer Afternoon

2008-07-17T15:49:00.002-06:00

It is a warm and sunny day. It is also my mother's birthday. My aunt and Kathy are over. They're currently talking about chairs. And how chairs aren't big enough. I'm not participating in the conversation. Earlier, they were trying to figure out what to do during retirement. Gardening was dismissed as being too much work. Ladies' clubs were endorsed. Golf was deemed good, of course, but not really any more beneficial the more you add to the amount you play when working. Or something. The birthday cake is very tasty.

Tea is being made, and Kathy has just left. I like tea. I am bored. Well, actually, I am sleepy. We had lunch (Subway) out on the balcony, and my seat wasn't in the shade and there was wine. It's been a couple of hours since then, but they have been uneventful hours. *yawn*

Now we're discussing my cousin who has cut herself off from the family. This is making me sad. Bed is sounding better and better.

Blah?

2008-07-13T22:33:00.005-06:00

I am very bored. So very bored that I was searching random words on Urban Dictionary. I searched the word "blah," and, between the third and fourth definitions, there was an ad. It was an ad that, to my immensely bored brain, was highly amusing. I mean, really, why would you put this advertisement on a page containing glib, sardonic definitions of the word "blah?"

Behold:

This makes me laugh. :-) Yet, sadly, I am still bored. :-(

My Life in Piles, Boxes and Envelopes

2008-07-08T01:38:00.004-06:00

I just did some organizing/tidying, and now there are little piles of things all over my floor. Over by the stand-up mirror is a pile of things to be thrown out. A little ways away from that is my IPT/APT stuff. On the other side of the bed is a series of little piles of books; these are the books I have decided to take with me to England. I now need to figure out what to do with them until I leave. The reason I started this organizing/tidying spree in the first place is that my bookshelf was overstocked, so now it looks pretty good. I also tried to clear off some of the clutter that lives on top of my dresser, but I don't know if it's possible to actually get rid of all of it. It's one of those clutter piles that reproduces when you're not looking. It may also have roots down into my dresser. Actually, thinking about it, I suspect it eats my socks. Bad clutter.

Anyway, there's also a pile of storage boxes next to the piles of books. I'd put those away, but they live on top of the storage box I was putting stuff into, and I'm not sure that I'm done that just yet. I love my storage boxes. They are white and snazzy and very handy for avoiding putting things into piles. I also love my manila envelopes. They keep everything in order, are easy to label, and stuff doesn't fall out of them so easily like with file folders.

I'm debating which, if any, of my DVDs to take to England with me. They'll play on my computer, so I'll still be able to watch them. I'm not taking any of my CDs with me, of course, but I don't have any of my DVDs on my computer. It's such a pain in the ass converting the files that I'm not going to bother. I don't even have the software on this computer, come to think of it--when my old computer died, I didn't bother replacing it. I may wind up taking just the discs of some of my DVDs to save space. The problem, then, is deciding which to take. I asked for the Gilmore Girls complete series on DVD for my birthday, and that's a lot of DVDs, but I'd feel bad leaving them all here without getting a chance to watch them. Then again, there's no guarantee I'll get that as a gift, so... *shrug*

Also, in my organizing/tidying today, I realized that I have no papers pertaining to my employment at A&B Sound. I know I got a pay stub every two weeks, but I can't remember what the hell I did with them. I have all of my pay stubs from Old Navy. Hell, I even have them from when I worked at IGA in high school. No A&B, though. (No Motherhood, either, but they only ever paid me through special direct deposit, so I expected that.)

Wow. I just realized that I have only had six paying jobs in my life. That doesn't count various music-related gigs, but it does count tutoring Math in junior high school. And the campground. And the longest I was at any of them was... eight or nine months? Granted, I've been going to school and living at home, but it seems like I should have more than that under my belt.
My current job search has yet to be fruitful, but I'm certain I'll get something eventually.

I have a scrape on my elbow that was bleeding earlier this evening and is now sore. I actually would have quite liked to watch the fall that gave it to me from somebody else's perspective. I was wearing slippers and got the piping around the toe caught on the top stair at Peter's place and tripped. The reason I landed on my elbow and not my hands is that I was carrying two lattes at the time. This was the day after Canada Day, when Peter was hung over. I was bringing him coffee, and I wound up with a large portion of it all over my arms and the floor. It took me a while to notice that I was bleeding because I thought my elbow was just sticky from the coffee. Neither of the glasses broke or fell over, though. Small victories.

I should go to sleep now. I stayed up to finish organizing/tidying because the maids come tomorrow, and they can't vaccuum a floor covered in stuff, and while I still have that problem, it's much better now, so I'm going to get some rest and move the rest of the stuff out of the way once it's not 2am and I can actually make a bit of noise without waking my parents up. (If I can hear them snore while I'm in my bedroom, they can most likely hear me moving stuff around.)

Stupidly enough, I seem to have misplaced my pyjamas...

Boast, Coast, Ghost, Host, Most, Post, Roast, Toast

2008-07-06T00:49:00.004-06:00

My aunt and uncle are in town before heading off for a European cruise tomorrow, and they've come over for dinner. They're currently playing cards with my parents and my brother. I played a game, but six people around that table is crowded and I didn't feel like being quick-witted enough to deal with my family's penchant for insulting jokes.

I don't remember why, but as I was clearing the table after dinner, Peter brought up the second law of thermodynamics and mentioned that it was one of the most difficult things for him to conceptualize about physics that it isn't a *law*, but, rather, it's statistical. I asked him to explain, and after much bickering, I still don't think I get how the signs on vectors can be inverted (practically, not on paper). I don't get what factors are relevant/irrelevant and why. I told Peter there must be something missing from his explanation because, to me, moving a pop can back and forth across the counter (the example he kept using) isn't the same as unexploding a bomb and having things unburn.

Thinking about it, this discussion may have started out being about the croutons my dad had made for the caesar salad. I could be wrong, though.

Anyway, once Peter and I had nominally given up the topic, he mentioned that it perturbed him that I thought that the reason I didn't understand the concept was that the explanation was lacking. For some reason, he thought that it was highly unlikely that a perfect explanation of a concept like this would result in understanding the first time it was encountered. This seems weird to me. If it's understandable by someone of roughtly my level of intelligence (like Peter), then why wouldn't a perfect explanation allow me to understand it? It's not like I have to pay physics dues or something in order to understand it.

For some reason, Peter does not seem to be able to teach me things/I do not seem to be able to learn things from him. Considering that we both accel in similar subjects, it's remarkable how differently we think. Neither of us is at fault for our difficulties in discussing things like the statiscal nature of the second law of thermodynamics, but it is frustrating. And now I'm sleepy, so I'm going to go forget about this whole thing and go to bed.

Blog

2008-07-03T23:52:00.002-06:00

So it's been about a month an a half since I've updated my blog. At first I didn't really have anything interesting to say (my Spanish class is boring, etc.), and then I didn't feel like relaying everything that had happened since my last update (Peter got me a stuffed Puppy from the Bilbao Googenheim, Vegas was great, etc.). At this point, however, I'm just blogging to unwind before I go to sleep. It's kind of nice.

I went to the dentist today. All's well, though the hygenist bumped my gum with the polisher while it was spinning and it hurt for most of the evening. There was also a small mix-up with my chart because I went to another of their locations for my last check-up/cleaning. These are the exciting things that happen at the dentist.

I also submitted my resume to a temp agency today. Hopefully I'll hear back soon. I can't imagine that I'm not at least qualified enough for them to interview. Well, I can, but I don't like to because it makes me nervous. The English/French bilingual thing always helps me look good on paper, and two undergraduate degrees can't hurt. Education is all about the paperwork, after all. ^_^

After seeing the dentist, I stopped next door and booked an appointment with the optometrist because, now that I'm no longer a student, my Blue Cross coverage under my parents' plan runs out on my brithday (which is 9 days from now). It's actually the third doctor-type appointment I have next week. I have one on Monday, one on Tuesday, and now the optometrist on Wednesday. I need new lenses in my glasses because every time my perscription has changed just a little bit I haven't bothered to change my glasses because I wear them so rarely. But now that my coverage is about to run out and I'm leaving the country soon, I figure I should get the lenses updated. Maybe I'll see if my mom will spring for new frames. I like the ones I have, but they're overwhelming on my face, and I've kind of outgrown my taste in that. Plus, they're three or four years old, so it's not like I haven't put them to good use (every morning and evening ^_^).

Peter and I were talking today about when to leave for London. We're not entirely in agreement about how necessary it is to have a place lined up before we get there. Also, he wants to leave about two weeks earlier than I'd thought, which means less time for earning money for me. It turns out that he has to be there on the 25th of September for registration, which is stupid because the earliest you can move into student housing for the term is the 28th, but that's looking like a moot point since they apparently make most offers of student housing in June and we have yet to get one. Can't win 'em all, I guess. Still, it is slightly frustrating that the PhD student they want badly enough to give a free ride and then some isn't guaranteed housing. The school does help students find private housing, Peter says, but when I talked to him earlier this evening he hadn't looked into what that help entails, exactly, so I'm still not entirely un-nervous.

Also, I have found out that the Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme visa comes into effect in November, which is too late for me. My brother was saying that he'd heard that it would allow employment for all 24 months of the visa's term, rather than just 12, but neither he nor I have found anything to back that up, so it's not looking like there's any disadvantage to just going on the old Working Holidaymaker's visa.

I haven't kept a journal in the past year, which is the first time since the age of 11 that that's been true. Writing this entry, it feels kind of nice to organize my thoughts and whatnot.

Random Stuff

2008-05-23T15:27:00.002-06:00

My first Spanish class is over! Only one more course left in my entire University (of Alberta) career! I'm pretty sure I did rather well. Both of my profs, independant of each other, asked if I studied linguistics. ^_^ Is is possible to know what a gerund and a past participle are without studying linguistics, you know. I was amused.

Peter comes home today, but I don't know at what time. This is somewhat annoying, as I would rather like to solidify what I'm doing this evening. Oh, well. I don't have anything I *have* to do for the rest of the day. And I am very much looking forward to seeing him.

Tomorrow I am going to see Indiana Jones 4, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or whatever it's called. I honestly have never seen any of the other movies before (that I can remember, anyway), but I am looking forward to this one. It should be fun. =)

I want a new desktop wallpaper/background. I don't really mind the one that I have, which came with Vista, but I'd like something else. I want something generic, and I'm not entirely sure where to look for that. I suppose, though, that I should just suck it up and go google it.

Could I Be Any More of a House?

2008-05-16T15:45:00.003-06:00

I just had lunch, and my mother is going back and forth between her sewing room and the computer desk and it's making me nervous. My dog is uncertain who to beg for food, but seems convinced that there must be someone to ask, what with all this busyness. I have no plans for the long weekend, but the forecast says it's going to be gorgeous, so I've busted out the self-tanner; I haven't busted out the sunscreen because I have no intention of spending any significant quantity of time outdoors. The air conditioning got fixed yesterday, so now there's a constant pulsing thrum of cool air being circulated. I'm wearing my slippers to stay warm. I miss Gilmore Girls, and I find myself oddly comforted by the fact that the job Rory got at the end of the series would still be happening, so I "know where she is and what she's up to." And I must give a laugh and a wha? to the fact that the head of the organization Concerned Women for America is a guy. His name is Matt. Teehee.

Sleep Patterns

2008-05-12T15:22:00.002-06:00

It's very odd how having a class that starts at 8:30 in the morning is so much worse than having a class that starts at 9:00. I thought for a few days that I could still wake up at 7:00 and all would be well, since traffic isn't as bad during Spring term, but I soon realized the flaw in that logic; I had plenty of trouble getting to class at nine when I woke up at seven, so letting myself sleep longer because of lighter traffic just means I have trouble getting to class at 8:30. Waking up at 6:30 has helped with that once so far.

There's something about the notion that I have less than six hours during which to sleep that makes it harder to get to sleep, it seems, so when I go to bed at one (not unreasonable, in my opinion), I get to sleep at 2:30. This annoys both my dog and I greatly.

I am blogging to keep myself awake. I'm meeting Joyce in about an hour and a half, and if I fall asleep now, I'll likely be out for three hours or so. I'd make myself a coffee or something, but I'm meeting Joyce at Starbucks. And as I typed Starbucks, I wondered why there was no apostrophe denoting the possessive s, but I coudln't remember the word apostrophe. I had to ask my dad. Maybe two coffees wouldn't really hurt me. ^_^

Speaking of my dad, he was home when I got home from class today, and he was on the computer. Again. I have never seen my dad spend so much time on the computer as he has been lately. He's doing research for the trip to Italy that my parents are planning for next Spring. They're going to spend ten days in London to visit me, too, but my dad hasn't been researching anything for that. It seems weird that they're planning a vacation to come see me before I have my papers to go live there.

Now I'm thinking about all the stuff I have to do concerning that, and it's bringing me down. Stupid bureaucracy. I think I'll go poke around online some more so that I don't just worry uselessly all day. Though that would keep me awake, too.

Keyboard Woes

2008-05-09T20:41:00.004-06:00

I was futzing with my Regional and Language Settings for my keyboard today so that I could type Spanish accents more easily. I couldn't get it to work the way it said it should. I think that has something to do with the fact that the instructions were for Windows XP and not Vista. Anyway, despite setting it back to what it was before, my keyboard is glitching. The ", ^ and ~ symbols all require me to hit another key before the symbol appears. This is rather annoying. Can someone tell me how to fix this? Please? Bueller?

ETA: I seem to have fixed the problem. I had to reprioritize the keyboard layouts because, despite setting it back to the right setting, the wrong setting was still my "preferred" one, and so every time the computer came out of hibernate or was turned on, it would default back to the wrong setting. So I say ", ^ and ~ to you all! ^_^

All

2008-05-08T20:14:00.002-06:00

So, for some reason, for the past 24 hours or so, I've been smelling something burnt. I've tried showering, putting on clean clothes and changing locations, but it's not going away. I have no freaking idea why. I had Italian-style pizza for dinner last night, and part of the crust was a little burnt, and I keep wondering if there's a bit that I... I dunno, inhaled or something, but, after 24 hours, that seems less and less possible. Or maybe it's my dog. That would be weird, though.

I miss people who are on vacation. Jenilee should be back this weekend, so that's good, but Peter's gone for over two weeks, still. I'vew gotten a couple of e-mails from him, and he's having fun. Lots of good food, apparently. I asked him to please not eat until he fell over dead, as he said he would. ^_^

I was all set to be good and productive today, but then I decided to check the forums for my World of Warcraft guild and discovered that bad stuff had happened. Since Peter's the guild leader and, being in Spain, doesn't have time to read the forums and can't log on to the game, I went to find out what exactly happened so that I could give him a run-down. It's all a very silly thing, and nothing really should have come of it, but it resulted in one of our core guild members (guild leader before Peter) quitting. That made me sad. And then I had to write Peter about it, and my productive mood was kind of squashed.

For some reason, it's very warm in the basement. It's usually cool in here, even during the summer. I'm may have to buy summer slippers. ^_^ I went shopping for summer pajamas the other day, but, much to my surprise, Old Navy didn't ahve any jersey pajama pants. They almost always do. Ok, they actually did, but they were ugly striped ones in the clearance section. I was sad. I did, however, switch to my lighter quilt, since I had been using my down one and was getting very warm during the night. My dog has taken to sleeping on the down one, since I just kind of put it on the floor for the time being, not having any place else to put it.

I'm going to Vegas, but not for the Lownj on the Strip, sadly. My mom wants to go (has been wanting to go for a while), and decided that we should take a 4-day weekend as a family, since my brother's never been there. There may be a Bette Midler show and/or a Beatles tribute show, and my mom and I have a date to go to the "fashion mall." We're staying at the Bellagio. I wish to play some slot machines, as I have never done so, since the VLTs around Edmonton are... kind of scary, really... There will also be some tasty food, though my dad hasn't gone looking for what places he wants to go, exactly. Peter, sadly, is not invited, but, as I said, he's having a foodie good time in Spain (and Italy) just now, so I don't feel too bad for him. ^_^

I am so very looking forward to the weekend. It means that one third of my first Spanish class will be over! Yay! That class is exhausting, what with it being at 8:30 and going until 1:15. It would be better if I didn't have this horrible habit of staying up ridiculously late. I always feel like I can't get anything done until my parents go to bed (or before they get home from work), and so I wind up getting to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning. Thinking of it, I'm not even really doing anything--just putzing around on the computer, mostly--so I have no idea why I'd need to wait for them to leave in order to start that. *sigh* My brain doesn't work properly...

That is all for now.

Ranting and Complaining

2008-05-06T18:26:00.002-06:00

Bah! I am very glad I will soon be done with school, because the administration makes me want to smash my head against the wall until I am no longer capable of doing so.

My advisor for the past couple of years has been a woman I've never met. This happened when I switched into the Education faculty. She deals with all secondary education undergraduates with last names starting with A to... G, I think. Previously, when I was still in the Faculty of Arts, my advisor was the head of the Music department, a man I was on a first-name basis with and who advised only students in the BMus/BEd program. I hate the Ed faculty, by the way. It's deserved.

I had already applied for convocation when I withdrew from my French course. Withdrawing from the course meant I no longer fulfilled my degree requirements and had to postpone my convocation until I had finished them. The problem was that I couldn't register in the classes I needed until my convocation was cancelled. I went to talk to the Ed Inquiries office and they told me to contact my advisor. I sent her an e-mail. She didn't get back to me, and I was starting to wonder if I should try again after a couple of weeks, but she called me. This was mostly good, though she called me to tell me I had to reregister in my French class and I was like "Hell, no. I need to postpone my convocation." So she said she'd cancel my convocation so that I could register in my Spring classes. A few days later, I went to do so and all was well.

I got an e-mail from her a few days ago reminding me to apply for convocation. I was confused as to why I'd have to do that, since there are only two rounds of convocation every year, and the next one wasn't until November. I checked it out and was pleasantly surprised to find that you can in fact convocate at the end of Spring or Summer term, you just don't get a ceremoney until November. I got to apply for convocation and... My BEd convocation date is still Winter 2008. My BMus convocation had been cacelled, so I applied to convocate with it in Spring 2008, but it wouldn't let me change my BEd.

So I e-mail my advisor, explaining that I need her to cancel my second convocation so that I can reapply for it at a later date. She writes back that, as far as the Faculty of Education records show, I *am* convocating in Spring 2008. I assume this is because I successfully applied for convocation with my BMus for then. I wrote her back saying that I wanted to make sure I was being perfectly clear, that I'm getting *two* degrees, and is she certain that both have a Spring 2008 completion date? I don't want to unsuccessfully convocate in Winter 2008 because I didn't finish my language credits and not find out that I didn't get my degree until I try to get documentation that I did get it for a job application or something. Her reply? Our records show that you're convocating in Spring 2008. If you're having more problems, contact the BearTracks online people. Not one mention of the question I asked. BOTH DEGREES!!! I ASKED IF YOU HAD RECORDS FOR BOTH DEGREES!!!

Now, this might make sense if it was my BMus that still had a Winter 2008 convocation date, since it might then be a matter of the Ed faculty not being able to change anything pertaining to my Faculty of Arts degree. But it's my Ed degree that's the problem, so I have no reason to believe that they would not be able to change that but would be able to change my BMus.

I'm going to call her tomorrow and get her to answer my question directly. I yelled at my laptop when I got the last e-mail from her, and I my mom came tearing down the hall and asked if I was ok. I woke her up. ^_^

ARGH!!!

My Absence Has Been Requested

2008-04-30T16:18:00.002-06:00

There will be a "girls' night" potluck dinner here this evening. People will start showing up in a little less than two hours. My mom is upstairs fluffing the sofa cushions. There's a reed diffuser loaded with something that smells like Christmas without the cloves. Everything has been cleaned.

I think my mother is crazy.

While I was watching this all out of rhe corner of my eye, I was reading the May issue of Real Simple magazine. There's an "article" in there of eight women's accounts of what they learned from their mothers. As is always the case with things like this, I found myself flabbergasted at some people's ideas of good parenting.

If you would, allow me an anecdote.

Some years ago, my mom tore a page out of some magazine. I'm not sure if it was an advertisement or not. At the top of the page, it said "I am..." and the rest of the page was covered in positive adjectives, like "dynamic" and "authentic," all written in different colours and fonts that looked hand-painted. I came across this page and my mom was enthusiastic. I was confused, and so she clarified by giving a thumbs-ups/fist pumping motion and shouting "Yeah!" I didn't know what to say. The notion that somebody--a grown woman--would feel good about herself because a magazine gave her a pretty list of very select adjectives that she should have known applied in any case was bizarre. How could somebody realize that they're an alive person and not realize that there are many, many adjectives that describe them?

I don't mean to sound like some new age hippy or some condescending holier-than-thou type. It's just that... that magazine page might as well have said "You have a liver, so your body can neutralize toxins you ingest!" Yay for being able to drink alcohol and whatnot, but duh...

I wonder if self-concept has anything to do with why my mom feels it's necessary to clean and fluff stuff in preparation for a casual girls' night. Maybe she's only tidy if her kitchen tells her so.

Random Things

2008-04-29T23:07:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, I had stuff planned of the productive variety, but then I accidentally brushed against another car in a parking lot, causing minimal damage in scratched paint and more paperwork than you can shake a stick at. I also felt horrible.

Last week, I bought a mood ring because they're fun and it cost $3.50. It is actually turning my finger green. What chemical does that, anyway?

LSE couples' student housing with access to a kitchen is not as cheap as I'd hoped--cheapest is about 140 pounds per week. Still cheaper than anything else in London proper, though. It's a random draw for who gets in, though.

Peter leaves for three weeks in Spain and Italy on Friday. I will miss him, but, while he's gone, I will complete nearly an entire Spanish course. I look forward to buying my Arriba! textbook. ^_^

Everything smelled like summer yesterday, and today it rained. On my way home this evening, when I stepped outside, I said "It is raining," and I was wearing rainbow flipflops.

Technology Stuff

2008-04-27T13:07:00.002-06:00

My dad is upstairs trying to choose a ring tone for his new phone. My dog, who is sitting beside me, is somewhat confused by the noises. ^_^

He got a Razr, which he chose because it has big screens for easy visibility and big buttons for easy dialing. When he got home with it a couple of days ago, he yelled at me because he didn't know what the memory card was for.

I am somewhat worried that my dad will blow the phone up. See, my father suffers from the unfortunate combination of being both technologically inept and a button pusher. He doesn't know what anything on the phone does, so, to find out, he pushes every button until something happens. He often doesn't know what that something is, or how to reverse it (or if he should). That said, it also took him several hours (literally) and a lot of complaining about the uselessness of the instruction booklet in order for him to figure out that you push the button in the middle to access the main menu. He didn't actually say that that's what he was having trouble with, though--why would he do that?

Actually, now that I think about it, it took my mother well over a year to figure out the same thing about her phone, but she at least was able to access most parts of the menu by pressing the directional buttons, so she didn't really need to access the main menu. I think it was when I told her that her phone should have a calculator and she was like "Where?" that I showed her and she was surprised that a main menu (and many other functions) existed on her phone.

My parents are such baby boomers...

My new computer is spiffy. I still have a couple of things I need to tweak, but, for the most part, it is more or less perfect. This will mean nothing to most everybody who reads this blog, but, on this computer, when playing World of Warcraft, I can wander around Shattrath at 60fps. 60fps!!!! I set my sepll detail to high. ^_^

I remember, when I was looking at buying my last computer, my brother told me that 1GB of RAM was probably much more than I needed. For three years, I cursed him for that advice. This computer has 4GB of RAM. That probably *is* much more than I need, but upgrading to max RAM was remarkably cheap, so I decided to err on the side of too much. I doubt I will regret that choice.

One thing, though: The pictures/slideshow "gadget" on the Windows Vista sidebar thing is vaguely horrifying. I told each gadget that it wasn't allowed to do anything before closing all of them and then closing the sidebar. Shoo!

White Earth, Murder

2008-04-22T11:15:00.003-06:00

So I was reading the paper this morning and I discovered that the guy charged with that random stabbing last week is a guy I went to elementary and junior high school with. Bloody hell. It's bad enough that people tend to die; I really don't want anyone going around and killing others.

In happier news, my new computer has shipped. It should be here within a week or two. I'm annoyed that I lost some of my files that were on my old computer, but I had most backed up, so it's not worth having the hard drive extracted to get the five or so files off of it. Though not having my mp3s backed up is vaguely annoying--at least I can just take those off of my iPod.

It's Earth Day. If the foot of snow the three Western-most provinces got over the weekend isn't indication of climate change, then I don't know what is. I know it's still only April, but the wind chill out there is nearly -30! *cold* I had a discussion with my mom about the Kyoto accord the other day. I was unsure who exactly came up with it (was it some governing body, for instance?), and my mom replied that she thought it was a bunch of people who got together on a Sunday morning after drinking too much the night before. Ignoring the obvious derogatory sense in which she meant that, it reminded me of the story my mom loves to tell about how, when my dad was acting on behalf of the city or the province in making some kind of deal, he would go out and get drunk the night before so that he'd be hungover and pissed off during the negotiations and would get what he wanted more easily.

In other news, school is over and everything is handed in for the term, though I did have to rewrite my Statement of Reflections for my Directing class, since my computer ate it when it died. My Spanish class starts on the fifth of May. I need to pay tuition for that, come to think of it. I also need to pay my second parking ticket in a month. *annoyance* Nearly six years at that school, much time spent parking in places I wasn't supposed to, and I only got one parking ticket. Then, in the last month of classes, I get two. Stupid Parking Services people, suddenly being vigilant...

Four More Days

2008-04-09T11:53:00.003-06:00

Hello, fine people! I have coffee, and, even though I've just started drinking it, so the caffeine hasn't kicked in, it makes me happy. It's warm, sweet and comforting. *love*

It is the third last day of classes, though I don't actually have class today. My Directing class was canceled this morning because there were no performances scheduled for today, so our prof is giving us the time off because we need either the extra sleep or the extra time to work (or both). I do have rehearsal today at three, though, so I do have to go into school. Rehearsals are going well, though, yesterday, one of my actors had to bail, and it was the last rehearsal we had in the performance space with the set pieces we'll actually be using. I worked with my other actor to choreograph how she was going to get out of bed, since I'd brought a quilt with me. It took 20 minutes and then I went home. ^_^

My Bartok paper is due tomorrow. I'm still waiting to have an epiphany about the piece. I've taken to writing out the note letter names bar by bar. I'm actually starting to get a bit worried. Overall point, show thyself!

So, yeah, today I work on my paper, go to rehearsal, then work on my paper some more. Tomorrow, I finish my paper, hand it in, bullshit my way through the listening exam, take a nap, and go to rehearsal. Friday, I go watch two performances, transfer everything from my draft script to the good copy of my script, and then go to rehearsal. Saturday, I watch 10 performances, then mine goes up, then there's one more, then I go drink with my class. Sunday, I sleep.

My coffee mug is empty. I think that's my cue to go fill it up again.

LOL and Other Acronyms

2008-04-01T13:46:00.004-06:00

I'm attempting to eat lunch, but it's kind of yucky. I tried to make the Mr. Noodles mac and cheese, but the water boiled off before the noodles cooked (yes, I had the power on medium), so I added more water until the noodles were tender, at which point it tasted like water. I tried to fix it by adding "Taco and Nacho" shredded cheese blend, but I don't know... Then again, I'm hungry, and it's either this, eggs, or canned salmon, and the last two would take more effort. I should go buy bagels. And more cereal. And microwaveable food of the non-yucky variety. And fruit. I should make a list somewhere other than my blog...

So, the GBlog has been announced, eh? I guess they did the gmail thing, so this is kind of the next step. I wonder if the blogs will be by invite only. And how simple will they be? Blogger is the simplest of the major blog services, and I love it for that.

My dog seems to like what was left of the mac and cheese, though he left most of the bits of jalapeno alone. That "jah-lah-pen-oh" woman from the commercial annoys me. I want to grab her nicely done hair and pull off the mask, revealing the toothless Alabama hick beneath. Have I ever mentioned that stupid people bother me? I know, it's not really something I talk about a lot, especially on my blog... What?

In other news, I forgot today was April Fool's Day, and I was all WTF? at the Blizzard website. Conductor!Bard FTW! Emo!Bard FTL!

*ahem*

I blame the Mr. Noodle.

Blah

2008-03-21T20:38:00.002-06:00

Oh, right, I have a blog. I forget that occasionally these days.

For those of you who haven't heard, Peter and I are officially moving to London, England. He got a 25'000 pound scholarship, which is a little over double his tuition. He didn't even apply for it--they just gave it to him. Andy and Simone decided this merited a celebratory dinner at Jack's Grill. They also bought him a card. My mother was floored, and apparently wants me to fail all of my courses from here on out so that I don't convocate and must therefore stay indefinitely.

It is the Easter long weekend. Tomorrow, my parents are doing the roast beef thing. Sunday, Andy is doing... duck? Dinner, in any case. *sigh*

My mom has had the oldies music tv station on all afternoon. The songs are all very short. Recording technology, yada, but, still, I don't get it...

Ok, so it seems that I am perhaps a bit too sleepy to be blogging right now. I don't know why I'm sleepy, but my head feels funny and... yeah.

I Want a Vacation

2008-03-10T12:04:00.003-06:00

I made a reassuring discovery earlier: The director my oral reasearch presentation is on is French, and I never really registered his name at first. I kept thinking "Jacques Cousteau," which made me feel very silly. I was quite glad to look back at my assignment sheet and find out that his name is Jacques Copeau. Three cheers for not being as ditzy as I feel!

On a slightly more "Oh, Nita" note, it's just after noon, but I feel totally Monday-morning'd. Because of daylight savings time, I woke up after 1:00 yesterday, and so I didn't go to sleep until 2:30 last night. I am now very tired. Getting out of bed didn't seem like a priority to me this morning. When I finally did get up, I stood in front of the mirror and looked at my pajama pants as if they were the weirdest thing ever. When I realized what I was doing, I left my bedroom, but, instead of going into the bathroom to put in my contact lenses, I stood outside of it, poking the basebaord-type molding around the doorframe. I even said "poke." I have no idea why this seemed like the thing to do.

Miraculously enough, I was 5 minutes early for class. I laid on the floor on my stomach (acting classroom--no desks or tables), and my prof dropped the presentation schedule on my back. I made a noise and looked up, and he was looking at me funny. But I was there in time to learn about Stanislavski! I still don't get Method acting, though. There must be a reason it's called "Method," but there seems to be only one thing to it, all the ways I've ever heard it described.

My Ligeti paper went well enough, but I could not figure out the pattern for the Piano Etude #9. So I turned that to my advantage and said that the randomness was the main device used to make the piece "ametric," as I termed it. I juxtaposed the random but existing emphases of the etude with the continually unemphasized (and continually emphasized, in the B section) contralpunctal pulse stream of the string quartet. *pats self on head* Even if it's not what the prof wanted me to get at, I think it merits a paper. As I said in my conclusion, if music is sound over time (and people have already asked what the requirements are for the sound), then Ligeti asked what the requirements are for the time.

Watch me fail... But at least I got the concept of the ametricness from the performance notes, so I can't be *that* off.

I'm putting off going to the library to get books on Copeau because I don't think I can stay awake through a day's worth of reading, much of it in French. I think I'll compromise by doing online research today so that I can focus my book readings tomorrow. Thank God this doesn't have to be a scholarly paper, nor must the sources be scholarly. Our bibliography is supposed to include anything we found helpful, and I asked about the scholarly requirements of the sources to be sure. To Wikipedia!

Oh, and lastly, I got my first choice for the female actor for my 383 final scene, but everybody wanted, like, four males (well, two people wanted four males, but that's still 8 males when only about 9 auditioned and 11 other directors also need male actors), so I backed down completely on that front. I wound up e-mailing Nathan to get him to ask Andrew Henry if he'd be interested. Nathan said he'd pass along the message, but I haven't heard back yet. I e-mailed him again this morning to say that I needed to know soon, because I'm starting to worry. The actress I cast has a voice recital three days after the performance of the scene, so the last week can't be intensive rehearsal, which means that we need to get started soon.

I May Still Be in School, but at Least I'm Studying Neat Stuff

2008-03-06T13:55:00.004-07:00

I have the Ligeti pieces for my paper in front of me. The paper is due in 25.5 hours. The String Quartet Number 2, Third Movement, actually looks pretty straightforward. Most of it is hemiolas, rather than phases. (Edit: *kicks self*) The Etude 9: Vertige will be more difficult. They've simplified the notation in the music I have, so that each cascade of notes isn't beamed separately after the four "bars." The in-class paper I wrote was infinitely easier because I had a handwritten copy of the score I was writing about, whereas most of the rest of the class was using a printed version that didn't have any submetrical "bar lines" written in. The Vertige is based on a concept that's easy enough to understand, but I think I'm gonna go see if I can find another version of the score (though that's not likely--people don't like to post sheet music online if it's still under copyright, or if they're trying to sell it).

So that was the first look I've taken at the music, despite earlier insistences that I was about to go work on it. I'm feeling much better about this paper now. All I have to do between now and when the paper is due (except, of course, write the damned thing) is go to rehearsal for an hour and a half tonight, and spend three hours on my Directing class, one negotiating with my classmates about who will cast which actors from the auditions over the past two days, and two hours immediately after actually in class, playing with my ground plan for my scene. I managed to get a script and choose a scene, though not until early yesterday afternoon. *meek look* I'm doing most of Act 2, Scene 4, from Arthur Miller's last play, Broken Glass. I like it. Now, if only the negotiations weren't at 8am tomorrow... I'm not sure how much sleep I'll be getting tonight. ^_^

New contender for creepiest line ever, from a play by Harold Pinter (didn't catch the title):

Interrogator: This is my big finger. This is my little finger. How many times were you raped?
(Prisoner: I don't know.)

The kid in my class who's directing that got almost everybody who came to auditions to do some part of one of the interrogation scenes. I told him we were going to leave scarred.

Monday

2008-03-03T13:38:00.002-07:00

I have had a productive day so far. I woke up in time to eat a proper breakfast *and* stop for coffee on my way to school. In fact, I got to school a tad early, which was slightly awkward, as I had to go make an announcement in a Drama 102 class, and I wound up kind of standing around there waiting for it to be 9:00 so I could do so. The announcement was for the auditions for actors for the final scenes for my Directing class (ooh, four "for"s). The 102 class is the version of play analysis that everyone and their dog can take, so I'm hoping some people sign up for auditions who we might not have considered as potential actors.

Stupid fact: Our final scenes will require us to spend fewer hours in rehearsal than our midterm scenes did. We each had to act in two scenes in addition to directing our own for our midterm, and with 8-minute scenes, that worked out to 24 hours of rehearsal. For the final, though, our scenes have to be 12-16 minutes, so that's only 12-16 hours of rehearsal. We have to make an entire workbook, though, so it'll be as much work, but not all of it will have to be with other people at scheduled times (thank God).

I haven't decided what scene I'm doing, but I have to have it chosen by the auditions tomorrow evening. I'm thinking of doing a scene from Arthur Miller's "The Creation of the World and Other Business," or whatever the exact title is. It depends on which scripts I can get ahold of. If worse comes to worst, I'll do something from Death of a Salesman, or maybe Pinter's The Lover. I know at least one other person is doing a scene from that play, but I actually have a copy of that script. *ponders*

I dealt with Faculte Saint-Jean. I went to talk to someone last week, and they wrote down what I was concerned about with the marking and said that they'd talk to the prof and for me to come back today. I did, and I was told that, despite the fact that the situation could be considered unfair, it was the prof's perogative to mark assignments as he saw fit. I was thanked for my input, since things like this are considered during staff evaluations. I considered going back and talking to the U of A admin to get my Spring term stuff sorted out, but I had other things to do.

Those other things included buying new shoes, since mine were cracked on the bottom and melting snow was making my socks wet. I found a very comfy pair at The Shoe Company, and I also bought myself a cute pair of Keds because they were on clearance for $15 and they'll go well with jeans. ^_^ Then I went pillow shopping. That's not a fun task. My pillows were starting to get all bunched up and uncomfortable, though, and it's been affecting my sleeping. You can spend a ludicrous amount of money on pillows. I wound up buying pretty basic pillows, but they're "gusseted," so they're more even and not as "pregnant"-shaped. I can't believe I'm discussing pillow types in my blog, and that doing so requires me to use quotation marks...

I'm now off to do some work on my Theory paper that was supposed to be due tomorrow, but everyone in Wind Ensemble begged for an extension because they went to Calgary this weekend, so now it's due on Friday. It's on two Ligeti pieces (he's a kind of weird post-minimalist for those of you who don't know). Essentially, we have to answer the questions "What is it and how does it work?" for each piece, then compare the pieces. I don't anticipate this to be very difficult, especially with this only being a 6-page paper, but I'm reluctant to really do any work on it, since it requires such a fine-tooth comb approach, and right now I'd rather nap. ^_^

Anger!

2008-02-25T12:46:00.002-07:00

So I have a contingency plan. Even if I am successful, I worry that getting the marking system for my Francais course so that it's fair (with the intervention of the administration, as that's what's required) would be a logistical nightmare. The retroactive changes would require that all assignments be recollected and remarked, and some of them have been torn up and thrown out because the unfair grading system turned their 70% assignment into a 0%. I worry that the marks wouldn't be fairly altered across the board. Really, the students aren't obligated to keep their assignments just in case somebody proves that the prof is being a jerk (though he is a perfectly good guy, otherwise--I have no problem with him as a person or as a teacher, just as a marker).

My contingency plan is thus: withdraw from the course; the deadline for doing so with a grade of W is March 14th--I just checked. Then take some other language in the Spring/Summer terms. Not French, because that would require a placement test, and, also, I'm currently bitter. You know, for a place that's desperate for students, Faculte Saint-Jean hasn't been very good to me. I took a course there in first year and hated it so much that I changed my minor. At least I passed that course (though only with a 5 on the stay-9 scale). (*huff* I'm upset right now and am therefore making many typos. Excuse me if I don't catch them all.) And now with this marking insanity that probably has my grade at around a 20%, I am further annoyed with the place.

Maybe I'll take Spanish. It'd be fairly easy for me, plus it would be useful to be able to say something other than "Tengo fria," especially if I wind up living someplace warm come the fall.

The biggest problem, I think, will be convincing my parents. I think they'll be more ok with it when they realize I'll be done school only about two months later than expected, but the paying for two more courses worth of tuition may not go over so well.

I need to calm down. I going to go make some tea, maybe, or do some breathing exercises. I just saw my GP this morning, and she suggested that I get physiotherapy on my neck and shoulders to see if it helps with my migranes. I just can't imagine why I would be tense, though!

*seeths some more*

Thursday Night

2008-02-21T20:46:00.004-07:00

I feel very odd right now. I've had a migrane for a few days, and I feel kind of dizzy and nauseated, and I can hear a sound like shifting sand in my ear. Luckily, I've taken thousands of milligrams of Advil today, and nothing actually hurts. I didn't eat dinner until just now, and I hadn't realized how hungry I was--I feel much better than I did half an hour ago. But, yeah, these things can be remarkably debilitating. I made a doctor's appointment for Monday to get a new kind of medication, since the Cafergot isn't working for me in the least anymore.

It is Reading Week. This makes me happy and well-rested. I have been keeping busy, of course, what with going to my grandfather's funeral this past weekend. Winnipeg was bloody cold, but I guess that goes without saying in February. There were fewer people than at my grandmother's funeral, but it was still well-attended. Everybody cried. I bought Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? at the bookstore in the airport on the way out, and I guess I should finish it. It's a very easy read. I brought my copy of Blink with me to read, originally, but I really wanted fiction. I described Blink to my mom and Kathy (who came to Winnipeg with us), and they both declared that it sounded like something they couldn't ever be interested in. They laughed.

I was using Netscape on my parents' computer earlier today, since nobody's bothered to download Firefox, and it prompted me to download an update. That seemed weird to me--I thought AOL put Netscape to bed?

Joanne will be arriving in Edmonton in a few days. This calls for socializing!

Yummy thing I discovered today: Easy Mac with BBQ sauce. Mmmm...

Reasons Why I Want to go Back to Bed Right Now

2008-02-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

1) I'm tired. I had a busy weekend, then only got 4 hours of sleep on Sunday night. Last night was better, but not enough. Plus, I feel like I should stock up on sleep, since I don't think I'm going to get huge amounts over the rest of the week.

2) The Edmonton Journal has a "Venting" section three times a week. Today, somebody said the following: "You cannot claim there is evidence of climate change without first documenting long-term changes in average temperature. Hotter temperatures in summer and colder temperatures in winter average out to zero over time." There is no typable emoticon for what this makes me feel.

3) I e-mailed that Venting bit to Peter earlier today, and so I pulled up the sent e-mail in IE (not the browser I'm using for Blogger) to copy and paste the quotation so that I wouldn't have to go upstairs and get the newspaper again. After I finished with Hotmail, I signed out and tried to close the browser. It kind of hiccoughed, and when I clicked to try to close it again, I wound up closing both it and the browser with my blog post. Thank God for autosave, but it was like one extra little kick from the world.

4) I got a letter from the ATA telling me that I need to renew my membership, and this only served to remind me that I have no idea what my future in teaching (or in most anything) will be.

5) I got an e-mail from a woman with the Faculty of Arts telling me I sent them my convocation information by mistake and that I need to talk to the Faculty of Education. This was a personalized e-mail. Also? No, *Beartracks* sent you my convocation information because my BMus is through your faculty, even though the Faculty of Education handles most of the processing because it's the faculty I'm currnently enrolled in. Also, yes I talked to them--like Beratracks told me to. *headdesk*

Blah

2008-02-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

So shortly after I wrote my last post, my grandfather died. *sad* The funeral will be in a week and a half--instead of his 93rd birthday party. My mom wrote a eulogy while waiting for the window repair people to show up this morning.

Also, I totally forgot about my tech rehearsal with my Directing prof today at noon. I feel horrible, and have been self-medicating with sedatives, chocolate and Diet Coke with Lime. I fully expect to get an earful tomorrow morning during class, every bit of which I quite deserve.

Marilyn just stopped by to talk to me. Among other things, she showed me a book titled "How to Listen to Modern Music (Without Earplugs)." She turned to an excerpt of Xenakis' writing on linear polyphony, which was under the heading "Not a Clue [What This is Talkin About]." This made me laugh. Or, well, it made me kind of want to laugh. Marilyn seems to me to be one of those people who descend upon the world and get absorbed into the gushy outer layer and stay there. Did I mention the sedatives? It's time for Concert Band...

Post #368

2008-02-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

So I'm uploading my "profile pic" again because it seems to have disappeared, and I need a place from which to link it. So it gets to be shown off again.

It is Tuesday, and I feel quite chill, but I'm teetering precariously, liable to fall into boredom. Luckily for me, I have class in about an hour and 20 minutes, so I'll be leaving in about 50 minutes--much less time to fill than I could be facing. Then I'll get to drive through conditions less snowy and cold than the previous week, on my way to 455, where I expect I'll spend a fair amount of time looking at Bashaw like I don't quite know what he's asking us. I quite like the course, but being guided through analyses is a rather mind-bending process, with things seeming far too simple to be so complex. Or far too complex to be so simple--either way.

Life lately has been good. My weekend went all right, although I did get a message from my mom on Saturday night saying that my grandfather had taken a turn for the worse and she was flying out to Winnipeg Sunday morning. She got back last night, and said that my grandfather improved quite a bit while she and her sisters were there, but she doesn't expect that to last in their absence. The whole deal gave her an excima breakout, and, no, I don't feel like looking up how to spell that right now. We thought my grandfather was going to die last summer, and he's been doing badly for a while now, so this is hardly a surprise, but it's still very much in the category of not good.

I'm going to the birthday party of an old friend on Saturday. I don't know how many of you have heard about Natalie, but I knew her in junior high school before she started homeschooling. Well, I knew her after that, too, but by halfway through high school we'd mostly lost touch. However, we have gotten back in touch with each other through the magic of Facebook, and I'm actually quite looking forward to seeing her again. She seems very different than she was as a teenager. I suppose most of us are in many ways, but Natalie was always shy and not so fond of being around a lot of people, and that especially seems to have changed. I hope she doesn't still think of me as a blunt, opinionated 14-year-old. ^_^ Being blunt and opinionated isn't really good when you're also quite young and know very little about how the world works. ^_^

I wish my Theory course was one where I could take my computer so that I could have a distraction during the awkward silences when nobody answers Bashaw's questions. None of my classes are condusive to bringing computers, since I don't think any of them have more than 15 students in them, with the exception of Concert Band. It's hard to play solitaire or surf the web in such a small class, especially when there's *still* no wireless in FAB. Grrr...

Late Long

2008-02-01T00:08:00.000-07:00

It is just past midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning. Tomorrow/today/Friday will be a long day. Today has been moderate. There were three unpleasant parts to today, a great deal of stuff about which I am apathetic, and one instance of laughing so hard I cried. I should go to bed. I want to finish my Ginger Ale first, though. Tasty. You know, I am uncertain what to think of some people. Today, I witnessed a kind of mini-rebellion. It was unpleasant incident number three. The headache I had during unpleasant incident number one seems to be making a comeback. I had a different headache during unpleasant incident number two, oddly enough. And now I must sneeze. Or not. Why, nose? Why? I found myself confused by the phrase "He never used to" today. I was certain that "used" was the wrong word. It seemed odd that that "yuzed" and "yoos'd" would actually be the same word. What exactly was being "yuzed" in the phrase "He never 'yoos'd' to?" See, this is why I should get more sleep. The muscles around my xyphoid are twitching. I don't know if those are considered abdominal muscles or intercostal muscles. Are all of the intercostal muscles skeletal? Shut up, 'Nita.

Brrr!

2008-01-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not entirely sure it was worth getting up this morning. It's bloody cold outside, and I guess it has also been snowing and windy, too, because there are snow drifts like mad. I had to walk through snow almost up to my knees to get to my car this morning. My mom was all agitated and being fatalistic that my car wouldn't start because it wasn't plugged in. I think the fact that I was annoyed at her was the only reason I went to school this morning. Btw, my car started on the first try. Also, I was supposed to perform in my directing class, but another group went instead. I suspect that has something to do with the fact that it took me an hour and a half to get to school, making me 40 minutes late for the class. I apologized to the prof, and, while he understood, he still wasn't happy, and I felt horrible. Like hell am I going to French class this afternoon, though. My mom's office has declared a snow day. According to various sources, Edmonton Public has never declared a board-wide school closure because of weather, though I do remember calling in "sick" for myself in the sixth grade when it was about as nasty out as today and my parents weren't home.

For today, though, I have cranked the thermostat to 72 and put on slippers. I hope my doctor's appointment isn't cancelled again this evening. Also, hot chocolate may be in order. That does sound most appealing. ^_^

(Low tonight of -39C *without* the windchill~! Christ, almighty...)

Hello, Saturday

2008-01-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

I just applied for convocation. I'm trying not to be nervous or scared. I'm not sure if I'm succeeding. I also have the bizarre urge to paint my finger nails. I don't think I have any polish that isn't clear or black, though, neither of which I want. As well, I have run out of Starbucks gift card. A latte most days, plus a few scones, really adds up. I feel oddly forlorn. My dad's making ribs for supper tonight, though, which should be tasty. I should call Peter to make sure he can come join us. Oh, and yay, Sean! You rule the saxophone world! (Sorry, cousin Sean... But, hey, you can rule the lawyer world if you want! ^_^)

Musician and Actor: Unglamourous

2008-01-25T12:26:00.001-07:00

So this weekend will be dedicated to learning my lines for my 383 scenes. The one we've been working on since Wednesday is mostly all right, but I'll have to spend some quality time with the ones for the mid-term project, because those have to be outright memorized. I only have one scripot so far, and I hope that the other guy in my group has his chosen for this afternoon, and that he'll let me borrow the book he has so that I can photocopy my scene. There were no more copies of the play in Rutherford, and the Edmonton Public Library doesn't have any at all. *glare*

I've spent most of this week feeling like crap. I've missed both of my French classes and both of my Theory classes so far, and I didn't get to rehearsal on Tuesday. When I went to rehearsal last night, we were playing this Huckleberry Finn Suite, and Wendy gave me and this other trumpet play a compliment on the duet we played at the beginning of the last movement, and it took me a minute to realize she was talking to me, even after she said my name. I really wanted to be in bed at that point, as at this point. ^_^ I'm making myself go to my French class this afternoon, though, since I really shouldn't miss a whole week's worth (there are marked assignments every class), and it's only an hour today. Plus, I have the script read-through later this afternoon that I *have* to be at, so there's really no point in skipping to sleep and then having to get up and go back to school.

You know, I bet that if I actually bothered to put labels/tags/whatever on my posts, most of my posts would have the same ones: school, work, tired, friends, dog, rant, and maybe a few with an announcement tag.

In other news, writing in a whole slew of grace notes to give music a country twang makes it really annoying to read. Also, A# grace notes before each of a series of repeated B natural eighth notes at a fairly brisk tempo is not possible on the trumpet or any other standard 3-valve instrument. Lastly, trombones are loud. Some of these kids were my students last year. Did I ever mention them here? There were many instances of "You're great, but shut up!" or similar. ^_^

I did two loads of laundry yesterday! Thus, I am wearing clean jeans and the bright pink sweater I got for Christmas, and I feel put-together. =D Three cheers for low bars!

Duh...

2008-01-22T00:42:00.000-07:00

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Musician Doo doo de doo waaaa doo de doo! (<-- That's you playing something.) Everyone appreciates the band/orchestra geeks and the pretty voices. Whether you sing in the choir, participate in a school/local band, or sit at home writing music, you contribute a joy to society that everyone can agree on. Yay! Welcome to actually doing something for poor, pathetic human souls. (Just kidding.)
Drama Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Literature Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Social Nerd
Anime Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Read This

2008-01-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

Good day, fine people! I am currently eating a "lunch" of BBQ-flavoured "Crispy Minis" (essentially rice cake potato chips) and diet A&W root beer. This makes me malnourished and happy. ^_^

I have a weakness for things that are "BBQ"-flavoured. ^_^

This morning, there was an odd and amusing coincidence. It was 8am, and the phone rang. I picked it up and gave an annoyed "hello?" It turned out to be the contractor who had overseen the building of the development we live in, and who is now overseeing repairs of the deficiencies. I go upstairs, give the phone to my mom, she talks to him, they hang up. I take the phone back down to my room, and, just as I'm entering, my cell phone starts to ring. Remember, it was 8am. I had been out of bed for a whole 15 minutes at this point, and I didn't get up willingly. I thought for a minute that I must have been experiencing some sort of auditory hallucination. Seriously. It turned out that it was my doctor's office calling to cancel my appointment this afternoon because my doctor is sick. Silly doctor. It occurs to me that I'm saying that very similarly to how I used to say "Silly logistic manager" when I worked at A&B Sound. I find that kind of amusing. ^_^

And then, at the start of class today, my prof scolded me for not helping put chairs into a circle, even though only one third of the class was there on time, and I say those who weren't should have been around to move their own freaking chairs. I felt guilty. :-( We then proceeded to discuss the midterm project and our current project for the next 100 minutes straight. I had a great deal of trouble staying awake at certain points. You know, I was just about to complain about the people in the class who talk too much and interrupt the flow of things to insert their own semi-random points, but then it occurred to me that there are in fact reasonably few of those people in this class. Of the 15 of us, 5 people talk a lot, but only 2 of them say semi-random things and interrupt what's going on--the other three say very relevant, insightful things. I should give them hugs. ^_^

We got an Eddie Bauer catalogue in the mail last week. It has their spring collection, things like tank tops and bathing suits and summer dresses. I actually went outside this morning to warm my car up before I left. It has been really freaking cold outside over the past few days. Even my dog didn't want to go for a walk yesterday. I therefore find it cruel to be recieving catalogues featuring swimwear and tank tops. I want it to be tank top weather... :-(

*looks around* My life is small... Maybe I should start making things up to put in blog posts. Then you guys (hello?) could try to guess which things are real and which aren't. It could be a game! *clapclapclap*

My Life, as it is Right Now

2008-01-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

While I might normally be home at this time on a Friday, I've stayed at school to do my French homework. I did most of it, but I still have a 50-word "resume" of a paragraph to do. It should take me all of five minutes. Had I realized that the homework was the minimal, I would have gone home for a nap and free food. I suppose I could still go home for the tfree food (my class isn't for another two hours yet), but I might be pushing it with the nap. At least the class is only an hour today.

Tonight, I have a 4-hour cash shift, and then I'm saying goodbye to Old Navy. The extra sleep will be greatly appreciated. I'm ridiculously tired right now. I think I need to rethink my caffeination technique, so that, rather than having one very strong latte in the morning, I have multiple weaker ones throughout the day. You people must get very sick of reading about this. This is the way the logistics of my life work, though. Isn't that depressing?

In other news, I have re-entered the world of form and formal analysis in theatre over the past couple of days. I have been reconsidering my notion of plot, redirecting it through central dramatic action and spoken text. This is a basic approach for theatre, but I've been more involved in plain old prose fiction as of late, and I've begun to think of action as movement, and movement as an expression of subtext. I need to be more clear than that--I worry that my own endeavours are too obtuse, and having things actually happen, rather than just be implied, should help with that.

I will exemplify this endeavour by now going to get lunch, rather than simply stating that I'm hungry, ending the post, and leaving you to infer that I'm going to get lunch. ^_^

Blog-worthy

2008-01-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

1) I handed in my letter of resignation at work yesterday. My last shift is Friday. I'm probably more sad than happy about this, because I like my job, actually, but the happy parts are much more important. This way I can do things like sleep *and* get schoolwork done. ^_^

2) I passed 282!! I'm giddy. I just found out here in the lab at school, and I nearly hugged the poor unsuspecting girl next to me. ^_^ There was real worry here--I actually failed at first. It was a really freaking close fail, though (59%), so I went and begged my prof to bump me up, and I guess Dr. Ratzlaff let her. Thank God, because otherwise I would have had to wait until next Fall Term in order to take it again which would put a rather large roadblock in the way of my life plan.

3) Speaking of my life plan, I have begun having reccurring dreams about preparing for a big trip. I find this quite annoying. I used to have reccurring dreams all the time, to the extent where it was unusual for me to have a new dream (and remember it, though I remember many of my dreams), and I hated it then, too. *sigh*

4) Donna was nice to me today when I went and asked her to register me in 455 because Beartracks wouldn't let me. This was unprecedented, as far as I've ever heard...

5) I declare a celebration to be in order! I'm going to go get a cookie! ^_^

Character and a French Exam

2008-01-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

I'm at home for my long-ass break between classes. I got a car wash on the way home, and it didn't get my windshield clean. It did, however, leak through my roof. I didn't particularly care enough to complain, though. All I really wanted was to clean my headlights and generally be able to tell that my car is green, not brown.

My Directing course is focusing strongly on composition, things like blocking and angles and lighting. It's interesting, in the sense that I've never really bothered to learn about these things before, and it's neat to have the vocabulary to discuss what most people understand but can't articulate. My prof says he wants to make us realize that directing is only partly about working with actors. Lately I've been defending my opinion that characters aren't complete people, and that having an actor play them, no matter how well or complexly they do so, doesn't make them complete. Reasonable extrapolations, induction, or even occasionally deduction, can be made to fill out a character, but there's still not an entire lifetime's worth of experiences there, a discrete sentience. This could be considered a vaguely classicist, old-school type of interpretation. I have no problem with fleshing out characters--everything from bone structures to gargoyles to missing moments is fine with me--but directors (and others) who ignore the rest in favour of "completing" a character make me disheartened. The relationship between character and everything else is kind of like the relationship in Minesweeper between the numbers and the bombs--there will not always be the maximum, nor minimum, number of bombs possible with the number arrangement, nor always somewhere in between, but the bombs do create the numbers, just as character is created by plot and context and the like.

Huh. I'm developping a bruise on my arm, and I have no idea what I did to it.

I almost made it through the entire first week of classes with no absences. On Friday, I went to Peter's house during my break to do work there on my computer, and when I went to leave for my French course at Fac, I realized that I had forgotten my course pack in my locker. I didn't have time to go get it without being, like, fifteen minutes late, and I knew that all we were doing was going through the course pack and finishing the "final exam" that I had finished the class before, so since the class was only an hour, instead of two like on Mondays and Wednesdays, I called Joyce up and got her to meet me at Tim Horton's for lunch. ^_^ It was a classic of my days skipping in high school. I even treated myself to a fruit explosion muffin like I used to. ^_^ We rounded the excursion off with a trip to Southgate, where I discovered that the Gilmore Girls complete series DVD boxset is now available in Canada. I want it. ^_^ HMV was charging $250, which isn't that bad for seven seasons, but I think I'll check to see if Best Buy has it for cheaper.

But, yeah, that "final exam" thing. We wrote a version of the final exam in my French class. It wasn't for marks, but instead to compare the results from the beginning of term to the results at the end of term. I think I did reasonably well except for one thing: there was a parts of speech section where we were given sentences and asked to underline and label various parts of speech. The only problem was that the names of all of these were abbreviated, and I didn't know all of the abbreviations. I couldn't remember for the life of me what a "CC" was, for instance. If they hadn't been abbreviated, then I probably would have done much better. Oh, and I couldn't remember the Passe Simple of Etre. I feel remarkably stupid about that one, actually...

But now, I think, it is time for lunch. =)

Post 358

2008-01-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

Ugh... It's not quite 11 am on Thursday, and I am sitting at home in my pajamas, hoping my latte will help get rid of my headache. Stupid being out of Advil... I am inexplicably exhausted. I slept for over 8 hours last night, and I've been sleeping fine for the past while, but, right now, I think I could give one defeated exhale and fall asleep exactly where I am. *rubs forehead*

Today I have my second 455 class with Bashaw. Apparently, since the time when I took 256, like, four years ago, the Theory program has been revamped. Whereas my 256 class was half Schenkarian analysis and half modal species counterpoint (!!), the new 256 is analytical systems for music of the first half of the 20th century. 455, therefore, is analytical systems for music of the second half of the 20th century. I'm quite looking forward to the course because I'm weird like that. We spent last class coming up with definitions for rhythm, pulse and beat. It was refreshingly challenging. :-)

Speaking of beats, I finally bought a copy of the (play analysis) book Backwards and Forwards. I'm thinking I should buy another so that I can have the catharsis of destroying it, but still have a copy to use. ^_^

We're playing W Francis McBeth's "Masque" in Concert Band. I have demanded that I keep my first part when the parts are redistributed this weekend. ^_^

Now, however, I must go in search of *some* kind of pain killer, because my latte has failed me. How could you, latte? Maybe my mom has some Advil...

Winter Term

2008-01-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

It's the frist day of classes for the new term, and I am so tired that I can't remember my locker combination. Seriously. My friend Lester said that I'm the third person who's told him that today~! I was 10 minutes late for my first class this morning, Drama 383, INtro to Directing, in part because there was something very odd going on at the intersetion of 111th st and 90th ave, at the four-way stop by the entrance to the N&U parking lot. And then I got into FAB and realized I didn't know where my class was, so I had to come to the lab to look that up on Beartracks. ^_^ I am currently sipping on a large coffee from Cookies by George and hoping that I'm more coherent for my Francais class this afternoon.

My Directing class was quite interesting, especially considering that it was the first class and all we did wsa go over the syllabus. Every time I get back to Drama, I am reminded of why it's so wonderful and why I love it, and I feel bad for not being able to dedicate more time to it. It's more or less the same thing as music theory--you have source material, either script or sheet music, and you have to interpret it. Different historical conventions can apply, and each word or note, sentence or phrase, means something. It's like reading something in code, like a spy. ;-p I expect that my apres-class blogging will occasionally contain musings/rants/questions concerning the material covered.

I have two hours until my Francais course starts. It's at Faculte Saint-Jean, and I'm not sure if I want to stick around campus and catch the shuttle, or if I want to go home for a while and then drive to FSJ. I guess that, if I take the shuttle, I only have an hour and a half to kill. I'm not entirely sure how I would do that with no books, no computer and no access to my locker, though... Maybe I'll go try my hand at opening that thing again. I've downed almost half the coffee at this point. ^_^

Sleepy

2007-12-30T22:41:00.000-07:00

Why does Netscape hate Blogger? I wish it didn't; the Firefox spell check is a colloquialism Nazi.

It's December 30th and I've been tired since about 6pm. It's now quarter to eleven, and I'm wondering why I haven't gone to bed yet. I think it's because, earlier, I felt like I should have been alert enough to do something, so I'm staying up until that becomes the case. There's a flaw in that logic somewhere...

Not much has been going on. Work. So exciting. I don't have to go back until Friday, though. Three cheers for having most of this week off. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, though. Tomorrow is MorPRi's party, and the next day may be spent returning to normal, but, beyond that, I have no plans. I'm bound to get into some kind of trouble.

*Yawn*

Jenilee and I tried to go shopping when I got off work today, but Southgate closed at five, just after we got there. So we went to Earls for supper. Tasty. Sadly, this meant that I did not get new work shoes, and Jenilee did not get new jeans. Boo.

This post is in danger of degenerating into nonsensical drivel. For instance, this is a thought process that just went through my head: "I should sing a song. *begins to sing Teddy Bear's Picnic* No, I should sing a seasonally-appropriate song. *begins to sing Auld Lang Syne* I wonder what the original lyrics to that song were. Old Scottish was probably an odd language. I should learn Yiddish." For some reason, I then thought it would be appropriate to only include the last sentence of that in this post. Time for bed.

The 27th

2007-12-27T15:27:00.001-07:00

It's the day after Boxing Day, which is also my parents' wedding anniversary. My dad is hoping to go out somewhere nice for dinner tonight. I have declined to join, if only because overeating is significantly unappealing in the post-Christmas bloat.

Christmas was quite wonderful, except for one thing. I had a stubborn migraine that started on the afternoon of the 23rd and didn't go away until last night. It didn't hurt, but it did make me feel nauseated and out of whack. I actually had to call in sick to work yesterday, and I've spent most of the past few days taking many naps, since I felt better for a couple of hours after sleeping. Luckily, by last night I was feeling better, and I seem to be doing just fine today, so my 9-hour shift at work tomorrow should be entirely doable.

As for the actual Christmas part of Christmas, it was most excellent. I got a lot of clothes from my parents. Peter gave me Season 3 of Boston Legal. I think I'll have him keep it--I can't bring myself to collect more than two series at once, and I don't own seasons 1 or 2. The gifts from Andy and Simone were very unexpected. Peter and I were given a down comforter and cover. I have no idea why. Peter always insists on having his own blanket so that he can wrap himself all up in it, and an uber-warm blanket isn't really something you think of buying in preparation for moving to California. It's a very nice comforter, but I don't get it. ^_^ Also, Sheryl and I each got a sterling sliver necklace from Birks. I think that was Simone's idea. I unwrapped the gift and saw a Birks box, and thought "Oh, hey, they used an old box for wrapping." Then I opened the box and saw a Birks display box inside. I was floored. It's a very pretty necklace with two kind of warped hoops as a pendant. Sheryl's is a kind of slip-chain, which she joked that Dave can use whenever she gets out of line. ^_^ It's very weird being given nicer jewelry by your boyfriend's father than your boyfriend has ever given you...

Food was good. Christmas pudding with Creme Anglaise was delicious. Simone made more cranberry sauce than you can shake a stick at. Andy did a similar thing with vegetables. We barely put a dent in the 25-pound turkey, and I imagine that leftovers will be sitting in the fridge for some time to come. ^_^

Peter, Dave, Sheryl and Wendy (Peter's mom) headed down to Calgary yesterday morning to see their uncle, aunt and cousins on their mom's side. I was left to recover at Andy's. Waking up at 7 am to call in sick to work is not pleasant when you're nauseated and disoriented. I then proceeded to sleep until after 11, though, which helped. =) Peter et al. should be back this evening, but what with the snow and such, I'm wondering if they might not just stay down there an extra day. I don't think Dave and Sheryl have to be at work tomorrow. It was snowing pretty heavily this morning, and Wendy is a pretty cautious driver. It may still be snowing--I can't tell with everything outside being a solid wash of white.

My only complaint about this Christmas, other than the migraine, is that it did not include my mom's stuffing. It is, in fact, the best. ^_^

Christmas-y-ness

2007-12-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

It is the night before the night before Christmas, and I am now done my Christmas shopping. Yay, me! Well, technically, I have to exchange the size on a pair of pants I bought for my mom to give me (she couldn't think of what to get me, so she told me to charge my gifts to her credit card ^_^). Silly pants. They're from work, and I own two pairs of the exact same thing (which is why I didn't try them on), so I'm thinking that this pair was just incorrectly sized or something. It does happen occasionally. *glower face*

Speaking of work, that's more or less all I've been up to the past few days. Seven-hour shifts suck, because they're the longest shift you can have with only a half-hour unpaid break. Any longer, and you get two paid fifteen-minute breaks and an unpaid hour-long break. I would much rather have a 9-hour shift than a 7-hour one. Oh, well. I'm earning considerably more money than usual, so I'm not really complaining. Yay, money!

I am greatly looking forward to Christmas, as well as Christmas dinner at Andy's place. I just wish I didn't have to work at 7:45 am on Boxing Day. Another seven-hour shift... Oh, well. I anticipate that it will be crazy enough that time will pass rather quickly. I get to be a cashier. There are a handful of people who have planned to not show up because their availability agreements say they can't work Wednesdays, but they've been scheduled anyway. Anybody who did not specifically book Boxing Day off was given a shift, regardless of their availability, and I guess that getting the extra people who can work despite their availability saying otherwise make it worth having ten or so people not show. My availability says that I can work, and I have no problem with doing so, so I figure I'm all good. Christmas dinner is planned for about 5:00, so I don't think I'll even be terribly hung-over on Boxing Day. ^_^

Ok, no more talking about work for the rest of this post. I promise.

It's kind of exciting, not having asked for much of anything for Christmas. It increases the surprise factor quite a bit. One of the the things I *did* ask for, though, was a wall clock (not digital) that doesn't tick. My mom has been saying that she can only find ones with cords, and, despite having insisted that battery-operated ones do exist, I can't remember any that I've seen that I was certain were battery-operated. I don't particularly mind the idea of a cord, though. Really, I just want a clock above my television that Peter won't insist on putting in the bathroom every time he stays over. The poor boy is very sensitive to small noises when he's trying to sleep. ^_^

But, yeah, other than a clock, the pants (and scarf) I bought myself, and (presumably) a new set of pajamas (like every year), I don't know what I might be getting. Gift cards, maybe. ^_^ I haven't even bothered to go check the presents under the tree to see if any of them are for me. I should go shake them. ^_^

I've rambled for long enough, so I'll end this post by wondering "aloud" whether we should bring Farley with us to Peter's on Christmas day: I wonder whether we should bring Farley with us to Peter's on Christmas day...

Balance

2007-12-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

Bad news: To borrow an expression for Calvin Loewen, my 282 exam this morning raped me.
Good news: My Ed Psych exam yesterday went rather well.

Bad news: I got shampoo in my eye in the shower today, and it hurt.
Good news: My new conditioner is very nice.

Bad news: My mom says she can't think of anything to buy me for Christmas.
Good news: She has therefore given me permission to buy my own gifts with her credit card.

Bad news: It seems that, no matter where I wind up, there will be seafood on Christmas Eve.
Good news: There will be many people around on Christmas day, and we will eat Christmas pudding.

Bad news: I am very tired.
Good news: I can sleep until Friday afternoon if I want, since my exams are done and I don't work for the next couple of days.

Bad news: There are only two Ferrero Rochers left.
Good news: Nobody else is here, so I can eat them both. ^_^

Bloggish

2007-12-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

*hugs blog* I haven't updated since classes ended, but I wish to express my love of my blog and Blogger. It is simplicity, and I am so glad of that.

It's Sunday night, and not much is going on. I have my last two exams tomorrow (Ed Psych) and Tuesday (282). I am vaguely worried. I mean, really, who *likes* writing finals. Wait, don't answer that. I don't feel like being baffled and angry right now. ^_^

My Ed Psych course has done something that I think is key in becoming an adult--made me scared of adolescence. ^_^ I'm mostly kidding, but, really, there was a time during this course when I wondered how I'd made it out of my teens alive. Ironically, I've had more troubles since leaving my teens than I had during them. I see traits of adolescence in people I know, probably because I'm now aware that they exist. It's distressing, because, for some reason, I have gotten the impression that these are negative traits. I'm not entirely sure why that is. I should maybe look into that...

My dad is on the desktop computer behind me, and it took him less than four minutes to get ticked off at something "not working." Now he wants me to fix it. Use another goddamn browser! And stop clicking everywhere over and over in frustration; it just gets things jammed up. *sullen*

Wow, that really brought my mood down. Let's see, good news to blog about... I'm getting more hours at work over the holidays, which means more money. Yay, money! It was _very_ busy today, but that's to be expected on a Sunday with less than two weeks before Christmas. Firefox's spell checker is telling me that "Yay" is not a word. It suggests say, nay, ray, lay and cay as alternatives. I'm not even sure what cay means. Dock? Bay? Beach? Something completely different? I should go fold laundry. Or sleep. I will probably do neither, though. At least not for the next few hours.

Killing Time

2007-12-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

It is the last day of classes, and I have Choral Tech in half an hour. My completed concert program assignment is sitting next to me. Bob's letting me hand it in without penalty today, since he hasn't had time to mark them yet, anyway. That makes me wonder why they weren't due today in the first place. Oh, well. Join the Dance, the trio of Lewis Carroll poems set to music, is on my list. That makes me happy. ^_^

I have to work tonight and for some reason I really don't want to. It's only a 4 hour shift, and I could definitely use the money, but the notion of showing up to work after it gets dark is just so unappealing to me. It's like I should be tucked away for the evening or something. Stupid brain, thinking weird things like that.

This is not killing as much time as I hoped. Usually, I'm surprised by how long it takes me to write a blog post (not that they tend to be all that short), but this has only taken five minutes so far, which means I have another 15 minutes to kill before heading upstairs. My Mini Gloria conducting on Monday went well. I missed two cues, I believe, and I almost made a backwards conducting pattern, but, other than that, all good, as far as I could tell. I forgot to look nice for the occasion, so I doubt I exuded the authority I needed to. Kind of like on Saturday when I went to the dress rehearsal wearing pyjama pants and a t-shirt. I talked to one of my students from student teaching last year, asking him why a trumpet player who'd graduated wasn't in Concert Band (it was because she'd gone to Grant Mac), and he didn't realize it was me. Apparantly, he'd gotten me mixed up with someone else. Later, he asked what my first name was. I thought it was kind of funny that I was very aware of my old students being around, but one of my best didn't even realize who I was. This is what happens when you wear pyjama pants and a t-shirt instead of work clothes. ^_^

I think I'm going to lay off the caffeine over Christmas break in the hopes that my tolerance of it will diminish and I will require less to stay awake and alert. I'm beginning to suspect that coffee actually makes me sleepy, what with the still being sleepy after a triple grande latte in the morning. I went to high school with a guy who claimed that coffee made him sleepy. He thought it was a cool fact about himself. I liked him, but I cringed every time that came up. He never drank regular coffee--he always drank Starbucks. The steamed milk probably had more of an effect than the espresso, what with his system being used to pop and the like. I remember hearing once that he was falling asleep while driving because he'd had coffee. Apparantly his friends were a little worried. Especially after taking this Adolescent Development Ed Psych course, I've become very aware of teenagers' desires to be the exception to a rule. Between egocentrism and the Personal Fable and whatnot, I'm surprised more people don't demand to be special. Maybe backpacking through Europe and living in a college dorm feels special enough, though...

Ok, now it's time to go to class.

Mondayness

2007-12-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Three more days. Only three more days...

I'm currently skipping 282 (again) with the notion of giving myself extra time to practice for my Mini Gloria conducting final in an hour and a half. Blogging counts as practicing, right? I'm not worried about the conducting, but I am worried about the concert programming assignment. I have no information on it, which is weird because I'm almost always at Choral Tech, and I go through the old handouts when I haven't been there. The syllabus doesn't say anything about it other than what percentage of our grade it's worth. I'm fairly certain it's due today, though. I have ten songs picked out for a secular spring concert, but I have no idea if there was a theme we were supposed to follow. Even if there wasn't, I'm pretty sure I'm missing information like catalogue numbers for the pieces. Handing it in late won't be as bad as asking Bob to let me back into the room with the filing cabinets to get the rest of the information.f *feels like a disappointment*

Other than that, though, things are more or less alright. Ed Psych only has the final left, and 282 only has that and the mini-papers portfolio (I assume--I could be missing a listening quiz for all I know) and the portfolio isn't due until the 11th (I just had a mini panic attack and checked that ^_^). The Orchestration brass quintet is due Friday, and... yes, that's everything. Still, nervous about the pragramming assignment.

I haven't been sleeping well, either. I keep waking up at indecent o'clock and worrying for two hours. This morning I woke up at 5. I fell back asleep just in time to ignore my alarm for half an hour. This isn't insomnia, technically--it's called early morning waking, the most ridiculously over-specific name that could apply to this. I wish I still had some of my Imovane stash.

Let's talk about good things. Since neither of my siblings will be around this Christmas, my parents and I are all going to Peter's for Christmas dinner. There should be 8 of us there, maybe 10. This makes me very happy. I always hated not having people around at Christmas. Andy seems keen on making a Christmas pudding, and I'm not entirely sure what that is. ^_^ I expect my mom will want to bring some jellied salad. ^_^

Also, Peter and I's four-year anniversary is on Wednesday. We're celebrating on Thursday, though, because Peter has a mini-conference and I have to work on Wednesday. I am happy about this anniversary. ^_^

Blah

2007-11-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

Today has been less than wonderful, and I am getting a tension headache. First, I was stuck in traffic for freaking ever this morning. And when I was *almost* out of Riverbend, I remembered that I forgot my music for my open score reading assignment. So I went back home and wound up getting to school just as my first class was ending. I missed the course evaluation. This made me sad, as it means I missed my chance to tell the department how crazy-full 282 is in terms of content. When Beethoven gets half a class, you know you're moving quickly.

So I practiced my score reading and Mini Gloria conducting. The Mini Gloria conducting is getting rather good, actually. I think I'll use a baton. I much prefer conducting with a baton. I was late getting to Choral Tech, though, so the sign-up list for practice conducting was already full by the time I got there, and I therefore could not practice conduct the class. After class was my open score reading "performance." I got in there and was promptly told that I learned it wrong, having learned it with the tenor line an octave higher and in the right hand. Bob made me play it in the left hand, which was about as familiar as reading Hebrew to me. I got the marks for it, but I was annoyed and ashamed.

That's really all that's happened today. Well, I guess the guys came this morning just before I left to deal with the carpet in the basement. On of our pipes had a slight dip in it, and got clogged and backed up, causing unpleasant water and black stuff to leak in the basement. My mom pulled up some of the carpet a couple days ago because it smelled, and she was about to cut it out, but my dad yelled at her. The insurance company was eventually contacted, and they're paying for everything. When I went home to get my music this morning, the wet carpet had been cut away by the contractor-company guys, and there is now a large section of concrete at the bottom of the stairs to the basement. The carpet in the whole of the basement, except my room, is going to be replaced, because the carpet company can't get us carpet that matches the dye lot of the stuff we have. Despite the fact that the whole deal was messy and gross, I don't think anything smelled bad. The only time I noticed a bad smell was when my mom busted out the bleach to wipe everything down. The air freshener she left in my bathroom to get rid of the bleach smell also reeked. I moved it out into the main room where it has more room to diffuse. My nose may have been bleeding a fair amount lately, but my sense of smell is still working fine. I have no idea what drove my mom crazy enough to pull up the carpet and go ask my dad for a knife.

Various Things About School

2007-11-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

Monday morning. In Ed building on my laptop. Was in HUB, but Business wireless was sucking.

I desire input from people. I am having a mental debate as to the merits of various blog-type web services, namely livejournal. Blogger is small-time compared to livejournal, and I'm pining for its community networking abilities. I won't give up this blog, but I'm wondering if anybody with experience with livejournal can give me a clue as to how easy/hard/scary/boring the whole scene is.

So Peter's Convocation was on Thursday, and he actually went for the sake of his parents. ^_^ His dad gave him a really cool kind of wooden map of South America, with each country made out of a different kind of wood. I had class/rehearsal, so I couldn't go to the actual Convocation ceremony, but I was able to go out for dinner afterwards. We went to Shogun, which Peter has been going to since he was a teeny-tiny little person of the unable-to-walk-yet variety. It's a tepanyaki restaurant, and the chef who prepared the food recognized us and waxed nostalgic a bit about how long he'd known Peter. It was kind of neat. And much food was eaten. That place serves a freaking huge dinner.

In related news, Andy has invited my parents and I for Christmas. We had them over a couple of years ago, and Andy says that now it's his "turn." (Last year, Peter was in Calgary with his mom, so there was no turn to be taken.) It sounds rather nice to me, since neither of my siblings will be able to make it for Christmas (I assume--I don't actually know about Lindsay and Treleana), and I prefer to have people around for holidays. Man, I should start thinking about Christmas gifts. My Visa card is probably a little bored from lack of use lately, so it's time to rack up more debt. ^_^

Nothing else in my life is terribly interesting right now. School is in the crunch time phase. It sucks, but I'm alive and not actively contemplating being otherwise. ^_^ I have to do an arrangement of a chorale for woodwind quintet tonight/tomorrow morning. I hate stuff like that. I don't particularly care about adding the artistic aspects of arranging to my skill set, so it becomes essentially a demonstration that I understand the theory, which disappoints my somewhat idealistic prof. I really like my prof, but I don't think he realizes that this course can be applied to degree programs other than Theory and Composition, so he talks a lot about the artistic merit of arranging. I feel kind of bad stating that as a bad thing, because I really do think he's a great prof, but my world is too busy for sensitive, artistic arranging right now.

Course evaluations for the Music Department are this week. I look forward to those way too much. To quote Jane from the British version of the TV show Coupling: "I love giving opinions--I've got thousands of them!" ^_^ But I should stop rambling and go do something productive now.

Friday Reading

2007-11-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Angela. Any griping about how stupid/useless these things are should be sent directly to her. :-p

1. Would you live on another planet if it were possible? Sure.
2. Favorite country? Canada
3. What's your favorite song? I don't think I currently have a favourite. Maybe You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon. Fun. :-)
4. What is/was your favorite subject in school? Band
5. Are you good at impersonations? No. I don't even bother to try.
6. Drums or guitar? Oh, that's actually a tough one... drums, I'd say.
7. Have you ever been surfing? No. I'm waiting for a waterproof iPod so that I can listen to the Beach Boys as I fall off my board. ^_^
8. Movie at home or in a theatre? In the theatre for watching it, but having a movie on at home while doing something like folding laundry is really nice.
9. Have you ever been on a roller coaster? Yes. They're just rollercoasters.
10. Have you met anyone in real life after meeting them online? I don't think so...
11. Do you like arcades? Not particularly.
12. Have you ever had your heart broken? Not romantically.
13. Last hug? Last night, from Peter.
14. Do you have a job? What is it? I'm a denim monkey at Old Navy. It's about that exciting.
15. Explain what you think about abortion. Your body, your choice.
16. Coke or Pepsi? *shrug* Either.
17. Do you like the band Radiohead? What I've heard is good.
18. Have you ever gone to a mall? No, I've been living under a rock my whole life. WTF?
19. Are all the pigs lined up? ...? Possibly, but I doubt it.
20. Who is your newest friend? Uh... Stephanie, a girl in many of my classes that I talk to?
21. Best April Fool's joke ever? I liked hearing about the one CHED did when the weather was first measured in Celcius, and they claimed that we had also moved to metric time. ^_^
22. Lonely or lovesick? As in which would I rather be? Lovesick, because at least then there would be somebody around. Preferrably neither, though.
23. Do you know anyone who has never left their home state? I don't think so...
24. Have you ever been beat up? No.
25. Would you sell your soul to the Devil? Whih devil? Hades? The Christian devil? I don't believe in any of them, really, though, so no, I don't think so.
26. Last time you saw your mom? This morning.
27. Have you ever gone rock climbing? I've gone indoor rock climbing.
28. What is your favorite sport to watch? Uh... golf? *golf clap*
29. Have you ever peed your pants after age 8? I'm pretty sure the answer is no.
30. Do you hate someone? I used to. I don't know if I have the time/energy for it now. I don't see the people I used to hate anymore. I'll say no.
31. What do you call those little plastic things on the ends of shoelaces? I know they have a real name, something like "tags" or whatnot, but I can't remember exactly what it is...
32. Croutons or bacon bits? Mmm... croutons.
33. Burial or cremation? Probably cremation.
34. Do you have a girlfriend? I have platonic girl friends, but being female and not a lesbian, I don't have *that* kind of girlfriend.
35. Cars or planes? Cars, I guess, because a plane would be expensive to operate.
36. Why do you admire people? Lots of reasons: skill, intelligence, charisma, accomplishments...
37. Do you own a car? Yes. It is old and the roof leaks.
38. Do you use email, IM, MySpace, or phone the most? I... don't know. Facebook and e-mail? How about in person?
39. Can you whistle? Yep.
40. For a guy: short or long hair? I don't have a problem with either, but different haircuts look good on different guys.
41. Abercrombie or Hollister? *shurg* Either?
42. New York or California? New York, probably.
43. Have you ever been on TV? When I was 8, for a news story on summer camps.
44. What is your favorite number? Either 16 or 9.
45. Have you ever gone a week without showering? Probably, when I was really sick.
46. Do you believe that animals have souls? Insofar as I believe in the existence of a soul, yes.
47. How much do you weigh? I honestly don't know. I haven't weighed myself in ages.
48. Rebel or goodie-two-shoes? More the latter. What do I have to rebel against?
49. Are you good at imitating accents? Again with the no.
50. Do you wear glasses? I require corrective lenses, and I usually wear contacts.
51. Collar popped or normal? Normal.
52. Gym or music? I don't understand h0w those are dichotomous. Music, though.
53. Have you ever thrown up on a dentist? Uh, no.
54. Have you ever been drunk? Yes.
55. Have you ever been to a different country? A few.
56. What is your least favorite emoticon? There are way too many for me to choose a least favourite.
57. What name brand do you wear the most? Uh, Old Navy? American Eagle? Are those name brands?
58. Do you drink soda? Yes, but I call it "pop."
59. Would you eat sushi? Would and do. Tasty fish.
60. What is your favorite flavor in general? Cinnamon, maybe caramel.
61. Would you go skinny dipping? I'm sure there are circumstances in which I would.
62. Favorite food? Yogurt.
63. Who do you want to meet? Oh, I don't know... I'm sure there's a whole list of people, but I can't really think of one to write right now.
64. Name one person you hate, and why: N/A
65. Who do you trust? Uh, Peter... and my dog...
66. Sneakers or flip-flops? Sneakers, for the most part.
67. Do you wear deoderant? Yes.
68. Do you like taking surveys? Sure.
69. Who is your oldest friend? How long have you known them? Jenilee, whom I've known as long as we both have been alive.
70. Would you flip off the pope? HAHAHA!!! That would be so amusing. Probably not, though. Despite not being a Christian, the Pope would probably be an interesting enough guy to talk to that I wouldn't want to preclude the possibility of that happening.
71. Do you consider yourself religious? No.
72. Do you send chain letters very often? More or less never.
73. Would you die for your family? No offense, family, but probably not.
74. Do you hold grudges? Not really.
75. Hug or kiss? I enjoy both, but get more of the former.
76. Do you like cows? They go "moo." What's not to like?
77. Flip-flops or slippers? I am all about the slippers.
78. Have you ever been to college? If by college you mean "University," then yes.
79. Logic or art? Oooh, both?
80. What's the best concert you've seen? Uh, I don't know, really. Some concerts you can't really compare...
81. Have you ever cried yourself to sleep? Oh, yeah.
82. Do you like the taste of blood? ...No.
83. Who do you NOT want to meet? I don't know if there is a person I wouldn't like to meet. Lots of interesting things can be learned from meeting people.
84. Would you run from the police? I'm sure there are circumstances under which I would.
85. Do you know any foreign languages? I speak English and French. It's up to you to do decide if either of those count as "foreign."
86. Fridays or Ruby Tuesdays? What *is* a Ruby Tuesday, exactly? Don't look at me like that.
87. Do you believe in magic? I suppose not.
88. Have you ever moshed? No.
89. Where did you go to school? Edmonton?
90. What is the longest you have gone without sleeping? About 36 hours, I'd say.
91. Do you get motion sickness? Occasionally, usually in the form of a headache.
92. Would you be my friend? ...Possibly.
93. What is the last thing you said to someone? "In the Downloads folder right about there."
94. Do you have a cell phone? Yes.

And now that I've taken a "break" to go to class and drive home, I resume!

95. Hot or beautiful? Hot.
96. Have you ever been on the radio? No.
97. How do you usually dress? Casually, I guess.
98. Have you ever gotten your tongue frozen to something? An ice cube. Seriously! They melt quickly, though, so it wasn't a problem.
99. Do you want a boyfriend or girlfriend? I have a boyfriend, so I'm quite happy in that department, thanks.
100. Have you ever seen Switchfoot in concert? No. Are they the scary ones? No, wait, that's Slipknot. Who are Switchfoot?
101. Have you gone on a date? ...Yes.
102. Have you ever gone to a private school? Nope.
103. Do you like working with people? I like working in the presence of other people, but not with other people. Working with people makes me want to end a life.
104. Favorite type of sock? Uh, black?
105. Do you have any piercings? Just in my ears.
106. Do you like dogs? Very much so.
107. Do you get along with other people's parents? I suppose. I'm not exactly friends with any of them, though.
108. Would you eat human flesh for money? If everything was clean and fully-cooked, and the person was dead anyway, and it was enough money to be worth the attention, then, yeah, what the hell.
109. Have you ever seen Nine Inch Nails in concert? No, but at least I know who they are.
110. Who of your friends can tell anything to you? Uh, Peter, maybe?
111. Pancakes or waffles? Mmm... waffles.
112. Do you want to talk to anyone right now? Not particularly.
113. Would you have sex before marriage? Why or why not? Would and have. Some people don't like that, but I don't particularly care.
114. What is your dream job? That's a really good question. If I ever figure it out, I'll let you know.
115. Do you wear perfume? Hardly ever.
116. Who is the fattest person you know? Uh... there's a Drama student who was rather large...
117. How are you feeling right now? Ansty, and a little cold.
118. Do you brush and floss? Yes, but generally not together. I only floss when I have stuff stuck in my teeth.
119. Do you believe in aliens? Do I believe that life exists somewhere else in the universe? Yes. Do I believe that there are little green men abducting people and giving them anal probes? No.
120. What is your hair color? Blonde.
121. What's the most common name you know? Alex, probably.
122. What's the longest car ride/road trip you've been on? Probably driving to and from Vancouver in one day each.
123. When do you go to bed? When I manage to make myself. I'm no good at going to bed.
124. Who do you talk to most on the phone? Uh... I don't know. Joyce?
125. Do you believe in love? Sure.
126. What is your biggest weakness? Caffeine. And sugar.
127. Who is the stupidest person you know? I could nominate a few people for the category of "not that bright," but I don't know anybody really stupid, I don't think...
128. Who do you have a crush on now? Nobody. My boyfriend?
129. Do you sleep naked? No. It's not comfortable to me.
130. Love or like? As in, which do I prefer? It kind of depends on the person... Like, I guess?
131. Have you ever cut off a limb? Only of a gingerbread man.
132. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing
you thought? I hate my bangs.
133. What size shoe do you wear? Women's size 10.
134. What's your favorite car? I don't know... I'd like a Civic hybrid for my next car, if I could, though.
135. Have you ever had a crush on the same sex? No.
136. Have you ever been dumped? Kind of.
137. Best body type? On a guy? Uh, is sleek a body type?
138. Have you ever skipped school? Hell yes.
139. Would you do drugs? Sure.
140. What is your favorite male name? Uh... I don't know at this point.
141. Have you ever had a crush on more than one person at the same time? No.
142. Would you have plastic surgery? If I ever wound up with a severed finger, hell yes I'd want plastic surgery to have it put back on. I don't think I'd ever have cosmetic surgery, though.
143. Have you ever been on a boat? Yes.
144. Who is the most boring person you know? No idea.
145. What is your most missed memory? As in a memory I no longer have? Couldn't tell you.
146. Have you ever cried in public? Yep.
147. Favorite athlete? Uh... Jenilee?
148. Are you ghetto? *snerk* No.
149. Six pack or sweet? Sweet.
150. Do you believe in God? No.
151. Are you rude? I can be if I want to. I don't usually want to, though.
152. Do you think Snoop Dogg sucks? I know next to nothing about him.
153. You or your love? I don't understand this question.
154. Would you date someone you met online? Sure. I mean, I wouldn't agree to come over to their house alone without having met them in person a few times, but there's nothing about the internet that has to mean somebody is a creep.
155. Have you ever gone streaking? No.
156. Do you believe in soul mates? In a manner of speaking, yes.
157. Say something annoying. Pleeeeeaaasee???? (Well, I'd find it annoying.)
158. What is your favorite type of ice cream? Probably cookies 'n' cream.
159. What is your screen name? Uh, I use various forms of etoile_du_nord, I suppose, such as my e-mail address.
160. Would you date someone older than you? Would and am.
161. Do you memorize random facts? Yes. It's kind of annoying to me on occasion.
162. What is one bet you've won? I can't remember. Nothing big, that's for sure.
163. What kind of music do you hate? Not a big hip-hop fan, but I wouldn't say I hate it.
164. Have you ever been on a road trip? Yep.
165. Worst April Fool's joke ever? I'm sure if I remembered some from elementary school, they would be horrible, but I can't. Sorry.
166. How do you align yourself politically? I'd rather not, really, but probably more to the liberal end of things.
167. Last time you spent $100, and what for? A couple of weeks ago, when I bought a new power cord for my laptop. I didn't think it'd be that expensive.
168. Have you ever been to a concert? Oh, yeah.
169. One rumor that's been spread about you: Uh... I think in the seventh grade there was a rumour that I was dating a friend of mine. He was short, so people thought it was funny...
170. Mom or Dad? What? Uh, mom?
171. Can you cook? Yep.
172. What do you think about homosexual marriage? All for it. I'm sure that my sister and her wife love eachother very much, and I hope they're successful in conceiving a child.
173. Do you believe in life after love? Yes, but not in Cher.
174. Dogs or cats? I'm certainly more of a dog person.
175. Do you wear cologne? No.
176. Group or single dates? If you want it to be a special date, then single dates, but group dates can be fun.
177. How often do you visit your myspace/xanga/etc profile? Daily, usually, maybe twice a day.
178. Where did you get your last email from? Facebook.
179. Chocolate or vanilla? Probably vanilla.
180. Do you like the band The Shins? I am aware that they exist, but that is all...
181. Have you ever bought a car? No.
182. Have you ever been high... on life? Yeah.
183. Where did you last go on vacation? Vancouver, I guess.
184. How many ex boyfriends/girlfriends do you have? One. I am such a wild child.
185. What's your favorite album/CD? I don't know right now...
186. What is your favorite word? Spiffy is a definite contender.
187. Have you ever left the house naked? No, not even by accident.
188. One best friend or many good friends? Many good friends would be my choice, but, luckily, I don't have to choose.
189. Have you ever been asked for an autograph? Only when sales clerks use that term instead of signature for a credit card receipt. That's kind of weird, I think.
190. TV or movie? TV.
191. When you wake up, what is the first thing you think? Usually some version of "What time is it?"
192. What's your favorite movie? Hmmm... I don't know that one right now, either...
193. Who is the skinniest person you know? Kripa.
194. Do you get annoyed easily? Probably.
195. Have you ever been to a beach? Yep.
196. What was the last compliment you GAVE? I think I told my mom I liked her shirt.
197. Do you like celebrities? Uh, they're people? I guess I like some of them, but not because they're celebrities.
198. Have you ever performed on stage? Oh, yeah.
199. Who can you tell anything to? Uh, Peter, I guess?
200. Where is your favorite place to go on vacation? I really want to go to Greece.

Units of Failure

2007-11-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, so my Ed Psych paper was due four minutes ago. Or, rather, four minutes ago was the last time it would be accepted without having marks docked. Have I been to school since Monday morning? Yeah, no. I'm currently at home screaming at the results charts in the research articles I'm using. None of these damned tables use units of measurement. The result for vandalism done by African-Americans between the ages of 14-16 is 2.6. Well, ok, I made that up, but that's what all the results look like. 2.6 what, exactly? I have spent the past three days trying to figure shit like this out. Right now, it's very tempting to just abandon the course and take an EDEL course with Bob next term for my last Ed credits. I won't, though. Instead, I'll just hand in this paper whenever I can get it done--it'll be accepted until Monday. I got above average on the midterm, so if I do as well on my final, I can get a crappy grade on the paper and still pass the course. See, this is why I can't do grad school. ^_^

Anyway, I must get some food and then return to work. Oh, and wish Jenilee a happy birthday. Happy birthday, Jenilee! =)

Squeaky and Broke, Among Others

2007-11-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

It is Friday morning. I handed in my Orchestration assignment yesterday (though I later realized I forgot to add the Scherzando marking... oops), and now I must start in on my EDPY 404 paper. I am 95% certain that I'm writing it on externalizing disorders, like substance abuse, but if I run into serious problems while researching, that may change. We were given a list of topics to choose from, and while we could present our own topic for consideration if we wanted, that was supposed to have been done by the end of September, which it, uh, is not... ^_^ So, yeah, externalizing disorders. I'm not about to touch the adolescent sexuality topic with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole. It's just not worth getting that annoyed to write a term paper.

The backspace key on this computer squeaks. Like, "squeak"-squeaks. It would be kind of funny if it wasn't so loud. I'm in the Ed computer lab right now because the authentication programs in the FAB lab are borked. It was kind of weird walking in there and seeing nobody there, but almost all of the computers turned on at 9am. It had kind of a horror movie vibe to it. ^_^

I am annoyed at how long it takes for my paycheques to clear. I am broke until my last one clears, I think on Tuesday of next week. *sigh* I signed up for automatic deposits when I started working at Old Navy, but it never kicked in. Maybe I should re-apply. The whole being broke thing is rather problematic with my caffeine addiction. If anybody is stuck on what to get me for Christmas, Starbucks gift cards will be loved, cherished and used frequently. ^_^

Ok, now I'm procrastinating. (Best graphical representation of procrastination I've ever seen: A pocketwatch sitting in an armchair. There was also the sound of ticking. Ah, old Sierra games. ^_^) Time to get to work.

On My Second Cup of Coffee

2007-11-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

I'm at school, though I'm not really sure why I bothered. I slept through my first class, showed up to skip my second class, and have no intention of going to my third class. The only reason I'm here is because I don't feel like writing out my string orchestra score by hand. I had enough of hand-writing scores in Band Techniques class. And since I've never bothered to finagle myself a copy of Finale, school is the only place I can do this assignment not by hand.

My nose must have been bleeding recently, because I just rubbed it and got dried blood all over my fingers. Oh, and it's bleeding again. From both nostrils. Stupid winter. There are far too many extra things to think about during winter when it comes to overall health. I did copious amounts of laundry yesterday, and broke out the dryer sheets. Those, combined with keeping my skin moisturized and using a really good conditioner, are the only way to stop my hair from going ridiculouslly static-y for five months of the year. It felt really good to get the laundry done, though. I actually have a wardrobe to select from now. ^_^

I found out something sad and confusing this morning. I ran into Sara, a fellow trumpet player, in the elevator. I asked her how she was doing, since I hadn't really seen her in a while. She sighed and said that she really wanted to be done with lessons. Apparently, she's been really angry with Russ lately. I told her that Russ is usually pretty good about hashing that kind of stuff out, and suggested she tell him. She informed me that she had told him, and it had lead to screaming matches. That seems so... un-Russ. I mean, I've heard him talk about yelling at his kids, but I've never heard of him yelling at his students. I have no idea what he and Sara have been fighting about, nor do I know who started it or who's at fault, but it's all very disheartening. Russ taught me many useful things, and while I wasn't a star pupil, I never claimed to deserve more than what he gave me, marks-wise (I got a B+ in 425), and I think I did pretty well considering the complete upheaval my life endured while I was taking lessons. Russ may have been disappointed by the shift in priorities said upheaval caused, but he never seemed to resent it, nor did he ever insist I give more than I felt I could. I feel like I'm eulogizing some version of him here. It is sad.

Time to move on to my string orchestra assignment. First, though, I must go wash my hands. Stupid bloody nose...

Friday

2007-11-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

I'm in the Education building because three seperate computers in FAB had problems with the Authentication program, and I gave up in disgust. *sigh*

The TA gave today's lecture in 282. It was on Stravinsky. We were talking about Rite of Spring (of course), and he mentioned the importance of rhythm. He asked a kind of throw-away question about whether we thought that rhythm was the most important, fundamental element of music. A few people nodded. This one girl who's about 27, I'd say, and who eats a bagel noisily every class and insists on using a thermos for her coffee instead of a mug, and therefore opens and closes it (noisily) every few minutes, said that even the most primitive forms of music, where neanderthals hit a rock, has rhythm. A couple other comments were made, and I raised my hand. I said that I disagree because you can't have music that is just rhythm, since rhythm is not audiar. There needs to be sound in order for it to be music. The keener in the back who talks too much and reminds me of a less intelligent Adam Burgess didn't get it and argued with me about the large role of rhythm in hitting rocks together.

*hates self*

Now, my argument may not hold water, because as much as there can't be music without sound, sound cannot exist outside of time, as far as I know. Time (more commonly referred to as rhythm) and sound (more commonly referred to as pitch) are both necessary for the existence of music, as far as I can tell. It's like thinking of a staff as a graph. I still wouldn't call rhythm the most important element of music, though. I'd probably attempt to come up with a term that includes both rhythm and pitch, like how space-time is one dimention. Pitch-rhythm.

If Stravinsky was gay, why did he have a mistress?

There's still no chai in the Ed cafeteria. This makes me sad. I've been drinking Red Rose tea lately instead. The tea is good, and I've been adding honey to it, but it's just not spicy like chai. :-(

Four-day weekend coming up!! I am soooo looking forward to actually getting stuff done. Usually my weekends go as such: Spend Saturday catching up on sleep and generally relaxing, which is required for me to survive, then spend Sunday at work. I'll still do all that this weekend, but then I'll have Monday and Tuesday to do things like organize my bank records that have been piling up in my drawer.

Concert Band rehearsal yesterday was in Con Hall because the percussion equipment had all been moved there for an upcoming Wind Ensemble concert, and on my way back to FAB afterwards, I saw an advertisement for the play What the Butler Saw, less than an hour later at Timms. I called Peter to see if he wanted to go, but he had schoolwork to do, so I decided to get dinner instead of go to the play by myself. I was hoping to go tonight, but tonight is the Wind Ensemble concert. I am so jealous of how often they're performing. Not that I'd want to perform that often with Concert Band. But I'm bored. And I sit next to the 3rd euphonium player, who I would like to nominate for having the worst sense of time in the band. And the echo-y sound in Con Hall made Symphonic Songs for Band go even more out of time than usual. I have not been enjoying rehearsal lately. So I'm going to go to the Wind Ensemble concert tonight, and hopefully the play tomorrow night. :-)

Standard Blog Post

2007-11-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, Facebook is starting to tick me off. This morning is the third time I've logged in and not been able to do stuff. Twice, I was at school, and once I was at home, and it's frustrating. Harrumph.

The stuff that I had considered writing about currently seems very boring and self-indulgent. I spent a large portion of 282 this morning contemplating the nature of innovation, and I was going to regale you wiht my thoughts on the matter, but I dn't think that would make many people terribly happy. Or awake. That class never makes me think about dates and form and stuff like that, but instead about things only tangentally related to music history, and then I stop learning the stuff that's on the test. Stupid brain.

I suppose I could follow one of the more time-honoured traditions of blogs/journals/whatever and complain about something. I don't really have anything to complain about, though. I had a bad day yesterday because I had a series of nightmares the night before and I just felt funky all day. In the nightmares, my brother died, Peter's mom died, and Peter's dad's house burned down, among other things I can't really remember. So, yeah, bad day, but not really anything to complain about. PRi sent me chocolate on Facebook. It was tasty. :-)

Let's see... another classic of blogs/journals/whatever is angst. Angst is the Dutch word for fear. I thought that was kind of cool when I found that out from my old "penpal" Marco. I miss Marco. I still have most of the angsty crap I wrote when I was younger, both in the form of my private journal and various endeavours into fiction. Ah, memories of high school writing club. ^_^ Not feeling particularly angsty today, though. I suppose I could start fretting about next year again, bu I don't particularly want to. It is, after all, rather unpleasant.

Una mas! Love. Lurve. More agnst, often. Hehehe. I suppose I could talk about this. I do in fact love my boyfriend. I was teasing him last night about how we share the same "crushes" on fictitious characters. ^_^ First the character of Alan Shore from Boston Legal (I saw the end of the new episode last night and nearly killed myself laughing at the "Sleepover?" line), and now Peter's developped this amusing preoccupation with Heroes, and, more specifically, the character of Sylar. I laughed at him. ^_^ Yeah, the whole love front is doing just fine. :-)

And I think I've just run out of standard topics. *sings the Mini Gloria* I should really go to Ed Psych today. I haven't gone except for the midterm in about three weeks, maybe more. It's long and soporific and just the prof relaying what the textbook says in between trying to force us to have group discussions about stuff. In any case, I should stop writing because Mark is here prepping for 245, and I need to go get my Choral Tech stuff. *bobs head along to Mini Gloria*

Coldness

2007-11-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

Facebook is being fritzy, so it's on to Blogger for now.

It's cold. I wore my long puffer coat today, and had to scrape down my car. The window was still frozen shut, though, and I didn't realize this until I was trying to order at the Starbucks drive-through. I had to open my door. At 1:30 this morning I gave up trying to warm myself up up with two quilts and went and dug out my big heavy down one. Oh, that was so much better.

Can anybody explain to me the dynamic between the heavy emphasis on programmatic music in the 20th century and the novelty of new sound? It seems weird that new sound would be neither used as its own end (listen to the shit I can do!) nor incorporated into previous conventions (like faux-new-sound pentatonic scales in symphonic poems). Is it that there's such a strong emphasis on programmatic music in the 20th century that we just apply everything to that practice, kind of like a man with a hammer? See, this is why I shouldn't be in a 9am 282 class--I'm not awake enough to realize that some of this crap just doesn't matter, and I get myself into wonderings like these. I hope there's just some big point that I've missed that will make me go "Oh, well, alright then," and leave it at that.

God, what the hell does my body DO with the large amounts of caffeine I feed it in the morning? Store it away for a rainy day? I feel more exhausted now than I did at 7:30 this morning...

Oh, btw, if anybody wants a Friends and Family 20% discount card for Old Navy, pipe up and I'll get you one. It even rips in half so that you can give a card to another person, so that people I don't even know exist can get a discount on my behalf. ^_^ It's good from November 26th to December 2nd, so there's no real rush. I may use this as an excuse to get together with people. :-)

Lastly, I give you a tale of my misfortune for your amusement: It was cold yesterday, too, and everything was icy from the freezing rain the previous night. My mom was very nice and moved my car into the garage so that it could melt before I went to work. However, the leak along the top of my windshield where the metal has rusted has bested the bathroom caulking we put on it, and it freaking rained in my car as everything melted. ^_^ The was a puddle on the driver's seat, and every time I made a turn, droplets would fall sideways. I tried to press on the upholstery on the roof of my car to get some of the water to wring out and it just got my arm wet. Luckily I had a sweater dress-type thing to wear at work that covered the various wet spots on my clothing. ^_^

w00t w00t!

2007-11-03T13:27:00.003-06:00

It's Saturday afternoon, which means that I do have other things I should be doing (like laundry and getting my hair cut), but I am feeling the need to blog/geek about something: Yay new X-Files movie!!! It now has a release date for July 25th of next year, and I am doing a little happy dance. A toast happy dance, if you've checked my Facebook. ^_^ Hell, I'm thisclose to letting out a "squee!" ^_^ But I won't, both because I'm above that (*nervous giggle*) and because my father is sitting behind me, playing cards on the main computer, and he would probably look at me funny if I made such a noise. ^_^

There's a Girl here Wearing Devil Horns and Signs with a Tritone on Them... ^_^

2007-10-31T10:15:00.000-06:00

I have just finished my 282 midterm and all I can say is thank God for the essay question being worth the most ponits. It was on an excerpt from Tristan und Isolde, and asked about Wagner's innovations in opera. Considering that I think I did fine, but not spectacular on the definitions, and that I'm pretty sure I bombed the listening (worth the least marks, thank God), I should pass, but thanks mostly to the essay.

Elsewise, it is Hallowe'en! Jackie and Amy are dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2. They bought part of their costumes at Old Navy on Sunday. ^_^ Their wigs rock. Everybody at Starbucks this morning was dressed up, and despite hearing talk about how today was Hallowe'en on the radio when I woke up, I was taken by surprise at the Starbucks people. One of them looked far too tired to be dressed as Tigger, though. ^_^ I am dressed as... a music student who had a midterm this morning. I'm wearing my U of A Music t-shirt and fleece pants. Very comfy, but not all that unusual or spooky. ^_^ I don't even know if I have a costume kicking around any more. Oh, well. They won't kick me out if I don't dress up for the party tonight. Hell, I'm not even sure if I'm going, though it does sound like much fun. :-)

Today is the first official day of the Mini Gloria in Choral Tech. We sightread it last class, and I was sitting next to a vocalist and I wanted her to pipe down and stop singing so brightly so that I could hear myself, so I'm already embittered towards the piece. ^_^ We get a list of cues today, though, which will be nice, and it's also always nice to know that I'm not the most inexperienced conductor in the class, so I won't seem quite so foolish when I accidentally panic and do something that more closely resembles flailing than conducting. ^_^ It's also nice that I'm not scared by mixed meter. Bring it on. :-D

Cookie Hangover

2007-10-29T09:29:00.000-06:00

On a whim, I got a London Fog this morning instead of a latte. I am now regretting that decision as I try to not fall asleep on the keyboard and post a long string of gibberish along the lines of "7 g ei bfwwo9ifpohwepifhahf aoehf ewafoh230..."

Reality is currently of the vaguely unpleasant variety. The job at St. John's Music was full-time only, so I couldn't take it. That was disappointing. They're keeping my resume on file for if they ever need part-time help, though. My second 282 midterm is on Wednesday, the 31st, when the first one was on the 5th, and there's even more pages of music to learn for this one. I currently begrudge Romantics their excess. I'm not too worried about my Orchestration midterm tomorrow, though, as long as I remember to bring a ruler. And my Choral Tech midterm went well on Friday, though I accidentally made a mistake on the IPA spelling of beauty, writing [buti], rather than [biuti]. Meh. Like I said, *vaguely* unpleasant. ^_^

Last night, Joyce and I made Hallowe'en sugar cookies. Some of them puffed up a little bit, so there were a couple of witches on brooms that weren't recognizable as such, but most of them turned out well. That was fun. I took my half to Peter's place, where people were gathered for Sunday dinner, and they got eaten. ^_^

Other than that, not much is up. I think I will go fall asleep studying for 282. ^_^

A List of Good News Items

2007-10-26T10:08:00.000-06:00

1. I am feeling very confidant about my Choral Tech midterm in 50 minutes. Once I've finished here, I'll go do some last-minute revision, but I'm quite certain I'll be more than fine. Especially since we can take our English diction handbook and Latin diction sheet into the exam with us.

2. I found my computer cables. Or, well, most of them. I still can't find the wall charger for my iPod. Oh, well. My cell phone is now alive again, as is my iPod (thanks to computer charging), I can now use my portable harddrive, and I have a real mouse for my laptop. They were in the corner of my room, in a big knot, between my desk and my floor lamp. I have no idea how they got there.

3. I have been offered a job by St. John's Music. They left a message for me yesterday afternoon. It's a full-time position, so I might not be able to take it, but I'm hoping they'll be ok with me working part-time. It would bear the hell out of Old Navy, in any case. ^_^ I shall call them back after my midterm.

4. I have calmed down about next year, for at least the time being. Once I fund myself looking at MFA entrance requirement at UCLA, I panicked and wondered why the hell I felt I had to do that/wanted to do that. Then I had a 282 mini-paper to write and two midterms to prep for (the other one is Orchestration on Tuesday), and the fact that there still exists a real world in the here and now coalesced around me. Having a life to live reduces the worry of what to do with your life. ^_^

5. I got above the class average on my EDPY 404 midterm. I got a 77% with a class average of 73%. Not a stellar mark on its own, but the curve is to my advantage in this case, especially with the median grade for 400-level courses being a B+. :-) Now to write a 10-page paper on externalizing disorders... ^_^

6. I am completely certain that I meet my degree requirements. Oddly enough, though, I would need another year of lessons to convocate with them seperately. Also, depending on whether I wanted a General major or a School Music major for my BMus, I'd need either another year of ensemble or a senior-level choral conducting class, respectively. But I don't care about that, because at the end of April, I am so out of here. ^_^

Metriculative

2007-10-24T10:14:00.000-06:00

I'm at school! And I went to my first class! This shouldn't feel like an accomplishment, but over the past two days, I went to one class. I even missed rehearsal last night. Blah...

It seems that I am rekindling my blog love, or at least my love of rambling. I apologize if anybody finds this horribly boring or stupid or anything. I'd tell you not to read it if you don't like it, but that would make me feel lonely. ^_^ Peter doesn't even read my blog anymore. He says that its because it actually requires reading... So I tell him things in person. :-D

I was going to fold clothes last night, but instead I slept, so I feel reasonably good today. As you may have guessed by the fact that I've been missing class, I haven't been feeling that great lately. In addition to that, I also seem to be having a quarter-life crisis. I'm getting really scared about what I'll do next year. I'm worried about how healthy it would be for me to just head out and teach just because that's what I'm trained to do; I'm not sure that jumping in to a new place with a sudden, very demanding full-time job would be the best idea. I keep thinking about my brother saying that he was sick of taking baby steps, which is why he moved to London, but I don't think that moving to California is that much of a baby step, even if I just work retail or something. I think, ideally, I'd want a 0.7 teaching placement. Tom says there's no such thing as a part-time music teacher, and I agree totally, but less actual teaching would make it easier to set up, revitalize, or maintain a program. I could clean the room and find all the missing percussion mallets. ^_^

Part of me is whispering to go back to school in California, either as a graduate student or an undergrad. Expand on my Drama education. I have decided that I wouldn't make the best Drama teacher to a lot of students. I got a pretty average bunch in my student teaching, and I found that I had little idea of where to start with people who didn't want to be there. An oversight by somebody who doesn't have that problem. ^_^ Having finished all of my Drama requirements and then some, I feel both like I don't know nearly enough and that I haven't found a proper niche. Not that changing either of those things would necessarily give me any more direction in life than getting a BMus or a BEd. Life is stupid that way. Maybe I should go review my Ed Psych text on the formation of identity. ^_^

For now, though, I have lost nearly all of my computer/electronics cables. I can't find anything with which to charge my iPod or my cellphone, and I've misplaced my mouse and the cord for my portable hard drive. Thus, large DivX files are clogging my laptop, my cellphone is dead and I can't play WoW on my machine. I have no idea what happened to any of these things. They went missing gradually. I've done multiple searches of my room, and I am stumped. If you really need to get ahold of me, call my house or e-mail me.

The Soul, as Seen Through One's iPod

2007-10-23T15:44:00.000-06:00

I found a meme while blog surfing where you write down the first 25 songs your iPod (or whatever you have) comes up with when you set it to shuffle. I contemplated maybe restricting my list to within my "Contemporary" playlist, at least, but using the whole library got interesting enough results. I'm surprised at the under-representation of classical music on here, as well as the over-representation of music that's been sitting in my library ever since I leant my mom my iPod years ago. Enjoy my editorial comments. ^_^

1. Chained to You – Savage Garden (Their first CD was so much better. This one's all about his divorce. And it's all pop-influenced, like they're trying to be a boy band. Blech.)

2. Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio (You know you loved it.)

3. White Houses – Vanessa Carlton (This didnt' do well as a radio single, and the whole album got dropped from promotion. That makes me sad.)

4. Chameleon – Martin/Waters (I know some of you may want to disown me for this, but I don't know this song. It's from one of the Jazz History CDs, and I don't think I listened to it beyond my need to pass that course.)

5. Every Other Time – Some Manufactured Boy Band (I can't remember the name of the group, but it's a hilarious song about a dysfunctional teenage relationship.)

6. Take a Picture – Filter (A One-Hit Wonder. Kind of too bad.)

7. You Don’t Mess Around with Jim – Jim Croce (One of my mom's. She got upset when I remarked on how similar some of his songs were, once. *sigh*)

8. Curbside Prophet – Jason Mraz (Another one whose commercial success stalled when I didn't want it to. :-( ...)

9. Heatnoise – Bruno Deazio (From a sampler CD of electroacoustic pieces Paul Stienhuissen gave my class the year he had to teach the introductory Music Technology course. I think I've listened to this song onece.)

10. Girl with the Flaxen Hair – Jens Lindemann (Debussy, of course. The opening track on Jens' first solo album. So pretty. And the double high Cs are in tune~!)

11. Before You – Chantal Kreviaszuk (I liked this song at one point. I'm kind of over it now.)

12. Can’t Buy Me Love – The Beatles (Another one of my mom's, but I don't mind having it on my iPod.)

13. Criss-Cross – Thelonious Monk (Ok, so maybe people don't have to *completely* disown me. I know this one.)

14. Heart of the House – Alanis Morissette (A quaint one from her second album, which, for some reason, people think of as being quaint on the whole. People can be stupid.)

15. Show Biz Kids – Steely Dan (From a greatest hits CD, a song I don't know all that well.)

16. Duncan – Paul Simon (Don't remember ever listening to this one, though I may have, what with Peter's love of Paul's music.)

17. Trumpet Concerto no 1 in Eb – Adagio – performed by Hakan Hardenberger (I don't feel like rummaging around to find something that will tell me *which* trumpet concerto this is--it's from a CD of a bunch of them, and, yes, I've listened to it several times.)

18. The Passportal – Team Sleep (from The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack, which I bought for the Chateau track. I've never listened to this song before.)

19. What a Scene – Goo Goo Dolls (Would've been a single from Gutterflower if the album's popularity had lasted enough. Not as carefully-crafted lyrics as the songs in Dizzy Up the Girl, but very recognizably a Goo Goo Dolls CD.)

20. Track 05 (A trumpet etude of some kind. I don't recognize it off the top of my head. I thought the only etudes I had on my iPod were Small etudes and Arbans, but I don't think this is either.)

21. Sex and Candy – Marcy Playground (A guilty pleasure. :-D)

22. Moody Blues – Elvis Presley (Another of my mom's. Again, I don't mind so much.)

23. Cecilia – Simon and Garfunkle (I remember dancing with the babysitter to this song years ago. Good times.)

24. Are You Still Mad – Alanis Morissette (Also from her second album. About being the bad guy in a relationship. I'd say, overall, that this album feels guilty.)

25. Good Mother – Jann Arden (I think I originally owned this on casette. Considering that I never bothered to buy any of her other albums, I'm surprised I bought this one on CD.)

I encourage you all to play along! :-)

Musings

2007-10-22T08:52:00.000-06:00

I went to Starbucks this morning, and instead of giving me a latte with an extra shot of espresso, they gave me a latte with artificial sweetener in it. I don't usually mind the stuff, but today it's left a funny taste in my mouth...

Also, I have a tooth ache. Calamity!

I've been playing a lot of solitaire recently. It's actually quite amusing with my tablet pc and stylus. My parents play a lot of card games on the computer. I refuse to play Freecell because of my father's addiction to it, and the way it made him... unpleasant. My mom said that playing cards was something for him to do while he smoked. This was back when he still smoked, so maybe the unpleasant wasn't so much to do with the cards. In any case, I'd say that I play solitaire for something to do while I think. It's very soothing. And, every now and then, when I get the urge to smack something because of the thoughts going through my head, I can just be extra vigourous with the stylus. ^_^

I'm watching people around me leave the lab for 282. Yeah, there's a listening quiz that I don't feel like embarassing myself horribly on. I'm quite certain I'd get exactly no marks on it. I completely forgot about it. I was too busy thinking about the next paper due on Friday and the second mid-term next week. God, I hate that class.

As happens whenever I'm away from Drama for an extended period of time, I am currently missing acting. Not that I every really focused on acting--it's just the most, uh, active activity in Drama that I can't do on my own. Some of you may remember me expressing a similar sentiment last December while I was student teaching. I'm not even taking a Drama class, so I don't even know when 383/483 (the directing courses) auditions are. I'm taking 383 next term, though, so I imagine I'll be painfully aware of them then, as I scramble to find actors who are at least the correct gender for the characters in my scripts. I did a 383 scene about a year and a half ago where I played a guy. Poor director person I was working for, being late with choosing her actors and getting stuck with whomever was available. Then again, she was a designer, so I really shouldn't feel that bad for her. ^_^ I kid, I kid...

Somebody's practicing the timpani next door. I think I'll go take a nap.

Tragedy, Feminism, Cubase and Bob

2007-10-19T09:57:00.000-06:00

I just got out of 282, and I'm busy thinking about Tristan und Isolde. I'm not completely familiar with the story, so I'm not sure what all is said about the nature of their love, what with the (current) implication that love potion causes fake love. Thinking through it, though, it seems that the point is more the sameness of love and death. Falling in love, for the two characters, is the same thing as dying, just a slightly more protracted method. How Romantic. You know, I can't think of a real tragic love story, where it's tragedy because it's love. I have a kind of essay thing on my computer about how the Queen Mab speech from Romeo and Juliette is used to point out that love is Romeo's tragic flaw, or excess. It points this out by comparing it to more obvious tragic flaws, like lawyers who become greedy and soldiers who develop bloodlust. Yes, I wrote this for my own enjoyment. Shut up. In any case, though, this one feeble insistance is not really sufficient to bring the first half of the play into the realm of tragedy when it prefers to live in the realm of comedy. The idea of tragedy is predicated on an excess of something (for the context), and I've never seen that with love. Romeo and Juliette stops being a comedy when Mercutio dies because Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt, but there's nothing really tragic about it. With Tristan und Isolde, the notion that love and death are the same thing makes their deaths more pathetic (literally, not colloquially) than tragic, since the death isn't caused by the love if they're the same thing--the death is caused by the potion. I'll shut up about this now.

In other news, there's a masterclass tomorrow with Manon Lafrance, a new trumpet player with the Canadian Brass. I am greatly looking forward to it. Lafrance is a woman, too, which is something I don't really care about, but is still likely relevant to her situation, since I don't think she's *that* young. I can only think of three professional musicians who are female trumpet players that I've met and didn't go to school with. One was a teacher one year at MusiCamerose, one is Angela and the other is Wendy. Neither Angela nore Wendy make their living as trumpet performers. I remember Doug saying, once, when he was still at the U of A, that music is often thought of as a feminine pursuit in this day and age, what with the expressiveness and emotion and such. It's all so odd to me. I tend to think of myself as somewhat of an end product of feminism. You've convinced me that gender roles are not binding, and that I can enjoy being girly or not as I wish, and I am capable of whatever I want within the laws of physics. In most ways, this is a good position to hold. In other ways, it makes me want to yell at people "You got it done, now shut up!" I appreciate that many people overcame adversity, and, largely, they're better for it, but this isn't an adversity that every woman has to overcome, especially if they don't care about it. Now talk about playing the trumpet, or whatever it is you're good at.

(There's a guy sitting in the row in front of me in the lab working with Cubase. That was the only portion of my Music Technology class that I did poorly on. I got a 64% on the MIDI assignment and an A- in the course. Cubase did *not* like me.)

Lastly, Bob DeFreece handed in his resignation/retirement letter on Wednesday. Despite the fact that this is my last year, that kind of saddens me...

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