The past couple of days have been crazy. Monday, I didn't get to school or to work, due to illness. I'm quite tired of being sick. I'm wondering if the blck mould in my house has anything to do with it. My mom's been sick for a while, too. The guy's supposed to be coming today to remove more drywall; we discovered more mould behind the baseboards, and the Capital Health website says we hadn't done enough to make thigns safe. There's a print-out of a brochure on the desk next to the main computer at home.
The rest of the insanity involved school, mostly. I'm section leader in Concert Band, and supplementary trumpet player in Wind Ensemble, which meant that I had to juggle my work schedule and drop my non-mandatory course so that I can get everything done. I feel pretty good about the way I worked things out. I was ticked at first about the ensemble assignments, but I've missed playing in a band enough that I was willing to take whatever I got. I honestly only know three of the names of the trumpet section in Wind Ensemble this year. I think that has a lot to do with not having been around last year. Stupid not having been around. A couple of the other ensemble assignments were weird, too. Chelsea Mandrusiak was put on thrid trumpet in Concert Band, and that's it. She's been in Wind Ensemble for the last two years, and she played a really good audition (I was in the hall outside 1-23 at the time). She was not impressed. Mind you, this is the girl who auditioned for Julliard right out of high school, so she's not impressed with being at the U of A in any case. ^_^
The class I wound up dropping was my Drama Theory course ("From Aristotle to Artaud"). It would have been insteresting, but a huge amount of work, so when I had to lose either work or a class, dropping that class was a no-brainer. The first Concert Band rehearsal was last night. for some reason, the euphs are to the right of the tuba, not the left, so I'm sitting next to a euphonium player who was a student of mine last year and is in BMus/BEd majoring in clarinet. She's playing clarinet in WE, which finally has a sane number of clarinets, rather than the four that Deebs allowed. Anyway, there I am playing the high Bs in this chorale, and doing so quite well, if I do say so myself, and then kind of quasi-collapsing in quasi-annoyance at having to play this piece over and over again, especially when it's a piece I've played before. I really wish people who think well of me wouldn't come close enough to see otherwise. ^_^
Today, I'm going to go buy myself some new boots. :-)
9/12/2007
9/05/2007
One More Time
At school with nothing to do for about 20 minutes. I don't know where people are, but I can't find any to chat with. It's noon-hour, so I know there aren't any music classes scheduled. Jeez, I've been around long enough that I know shit like that. I feel old. And lonesome. :-( I have an Ed Psych course on Adolescent Development next. It's my last Ed option. In my Choral Tech class this morning, however, Bob was talking about the Kodaly and Orf classes next term, and since I'll only have three courses at the most next term (if I get into 455), I'm considering registering, just in case I wind up kicking myself in a couple of years. My reason for not taking them isn't that I don't think I could use them, or that I don't think they're interesting, I just don't want to steer myself in the direction of EDEL. That way, if I can't do the job, I can register a protest to an assignment in all honesty, so that when the parents come growling, I can tell my admisitrator "I told you so." And that's if I even let myself take a job that involves Elementary Music, which I just don't want to. And, frankly, I'm not spending six years in University to take a job I don't want. Tell me I'm being unrealistic and that I should suck it up. I don't care. ^_^
I'm in the FAB conputer ab right now, and I am being reminded about why I hate these keyboards. If I had a nickle for every typo I've made because of how stil[l this thing is, I'd skip the working part entirely and just move to Fiji.
Lindsay Coulter just came in and we had a discussion about Curriculum Guides. Strangely, that made me happy. I think it was mostly the talking to someone part, because I also told her how horrible the Inclusinve Ed course is. She apparently has that next. I also told her to tell the Practicum Placement people that she doesn't have a car. ^_^ In return, I was informed that there isn't really a place where people congregate to have lunch anymore, despite the gathering of chairs in the area around the third floor elevator. Boo. :-( I therefore declare that I must arrange something social so as to not become an old cat lady by the time I'm 25. :-)
ETA: Ok, so my Ed Psych course ended early, as is common on the first day, and I find myself with an hour to kill and still no people. So I will regale you fine folk with the tales of my triumphs over beaurocracy lately. ^_^
Yesterday was the Music TBA meeting and locker assignments. I was at the front of the line for locker rentals when I was told that they were stopping for the meeting. I pleaded that I wasn't going to the meeting and that I already had a locker, and I just needed to pay for it. One guy said to just mark down which locker it was so that they wouldn't give it away, and I could pay for it later. I said fine and gave them my locker number. The girl with the list (who turned out of be the MSA president--a vocalist, I think in second year, whom I had never met) said that she had all ready given away my locker. I was confused, since I'd had that locker over the summer. The girl, whose name was Eve, told me that I hadn't paid for the summer rental. I told her I'd dealt with Caitlyn Smith, who answered the e-mail I sent to the MSA address last May. Eve had no record of this, and asked if she could give me a locker close by. I was disproportionately pissed off and said no. Eve seemed surprised and unsure what to do. I insisted that I had paid for the locker rental for the summer, and that I wanted to keep that locker. I was not happy that this little girl I'd never met was telling me that I couldn't have the locker I'd paid for to keep reserved, which I'd had for five years. I shouldn't have been that angry, but I was all ready unhappy about not knowing many of the people around, and I really didn't want to have to come back after the meeting, even though that's what we decided to do. I didn't go to the meeting (I stopped going after my second year), but instead went to Varsity in HUB and bought a new lock, which I then put on my locker so that only I could open it. I also put up a note saying that if somebody had been assigned that locker, that it was a mistake and they had to contact the MSA. I would keep that locker by force, if necessary! ^_^ I then went to Peter's house (much easier access to the University than my house) and watched some Heroes DVDs with him in order to kill time and calm down. A muchly excellent show. :-) I went back to Con Hall after the meeting and stood in line like a good girl. When I got to the front of the line, I was recognised and told that the first year who'd gotten my locker would have to be contacted to get another one. I said thank you, and I was sincere. I saying this in order to convince myself that I'm not a stodgy old grump quite yet. ^_^ I then went and partook of the free pizza and pop at the MSA party near Tory. :-)
Today, I managed an especially cunning victory. ^_^ The U-Pass finally got approved, and there are booths around campus where you can pick them up. All they are is a sticker they put on your ONECard. I went down to SUB to get mine. The girl at the booth told me she couldn't give me one because my card was expired. ONECards "expire" after you're *supposed* to have completed your degree. Mine still worked fine, though, and even though I told them that, they refused to even test it. They wanted me to go get a new card. It was free they said, because mine was expired, not lost or anything. I was not about to stand in line to get another freaking ONECard. Also, I didn't *want* another one. Like my locker, I'd had it for five years, and I was quite attatched to it. It actually has a good picture of me on it. ^_^ I agred with the people a bit, and finally left in frustration, saying that I'd scratch the expiration date off the back of my card before coming back. And I did. Well, technically, I used a white erasor, but when I went down to the booth in the Tory Atrium, I told them I was in fourth year, and about five people tried to see the "rubbed off" date (and ID number) on the card before giving up and scanning to see if it worked. It did, and I got my U-Pass sticker. :-D I really don't get why they'd force you to get a new ONECard if your old one still works. The U-Pass sticker has the year on it, so it's not like you can continue to use it next year. And since students don't have to pay to replace expired ONECards, the thousands of them that they'll be issuing for the U-Passes will cost the school a lot of money. Why would they want to do that? Unfortunately, the trick doesn't work with ONECards older than mine, since mine was a new design the year I got it. There's an even newer design now. But since this is my last year, I shall declare myself victorius and cease to care. ^_^
I'm in the FAB conputer ab right now, and I am being reminded about why I hate these keyboards. If I had a nickle for every typo I've made because of how stil[l this thing is, I'd skip the working part entirely and just move to Fiji.
Lindsay Coulter just came in and we had a discussion about Curriculum Guides. Strangely, that made me happy. I think it was mostly the talking to someone part, because I also told her how horrible the Inclusinve Ed course is. She apparently has that next. I also told her to tell the Practicum Placement people that she doesn't have a car. ^_^ In return, I was informed that there isn't really a place where people congregate to have lunch anymore, despite the gathering of chairs in the area around the third floor elevator. Boo. :-( I therefore declare that I must arrange something social so as to not become an old cat lady by the time I'm 25. :-)
ETA: Ok, so my Ed Psych course ended early, as is common on the first day, and I find myself with an hour to kill and still no people. So I will regale you fine folk with the tales of my triumphs over beaurocracy lately. ^_^
Yesterday was the Music TBA meeting and locker assignments. I was at the front of the line for locker rentals when I was told that they were stopping for the meeting. I pleaded that I wasn't going to the meeting and that I already had a locker, and I just needed to pay for it. One guy said to just mark down which locker it was so that they wouldn't give it away, and I could pay for it later. I said fine and gave them my locker number. The girl with the list (who turned out of be the MSA president--a vocalist, I think in second year, whom I had never met) said that she had all ready given away my locker. I was confused, since I'd had that locker over the summer. The girl, whose name was Eve, told me that I hadn't paid for the summer rental. I told her I'd dealt with Caitlyn Smith, who answered the e-mail I sent to the MSA address last May. Eve had no record of this, and asked if she could give me a locker close by. I was disproportionately pissed off and said no. Eve seemed surprised and unsure what to do. I insisted that I had paid for the locker rental for the summer, and that I wanted to keep that locker. I was not happy that this little girl I'd never met was telling me that I couldn't have the locker I'd paid for to keep reserved, which I'd had for five years. I shouldn't have been that angry, but I was all ready unhappy about not knowing many of the people around, and I really didn't want to have to come back after the meeting, even though that's what we decided to do. I didn't go to the meeting (I stopped going after my second year), but instead went to Varsity in HUB and bought a new lock, which I then put on my locker so that only I could open it. I also put up a note saying that if somebody had been assigned that locker, that it was a mistake and they had to contact the MSA. I would keep that locker by force, if necessary! ^_^ I then went to Peter's house (much easier access to the University than my house) and watched some Heroes DVDs with him in order to kill time and calm down. A muchly excellent show. :-) I went back to Con Hall after the meeting and stood in line like a good girl. When I got to the front of the line, I was recognised and told that the first year who'd gotten my locker would have to be contacted to get another one. I said thank you, and I was sincere. I saying this in order to convince myself that I'm not a stodgy old grump quite yet. ^_^ I then went and partook of the free pizza and pop at the MSA party near Tory. :-)
Today, I managed an especially cunning victory. ^_^ The U-Pass finally got approved, and there are booths around campus where you can pick them up. All they are is a sticker they put on your ONECard. I went down to SUB to get mine. The girl at the booth told me she couldn't give me one because my card was expired. ONECards "expire" after you're *supposed* to have completed your degree. Mine still worked fine, though, and even though I told them that, they refused to even test it. They wanted me to go get a new card. It was free they said, because mine was expired, not lost or anything. I was not about to stand in line to get another freaking ONECard. Also, I didn't *want* another one. Like my locker, I'd had it for five years, and I was quite attatched to it. It actually has a good picture of me on it. ^_^ I agred with the people a bit, and finally left in frustration, saying that I'd scratch the expiration date off the back of my card before coming back. And I did. Well, technically, I used a white erasor, but when I went down to the booth in the Tory Atrium, I told them I was in fourth year, and about five people tried to see the "rubbed off" date (and ID number) on the card before giving up and scanning to see if it worked. It did, and I got my U-Pass sticker. :-D I really don't get why they'd force you to get a new ONECard if your old one still works. The U-Pass sticker has the year on it, so it's not like you can continue to use it next year. And since students don't have to pay to replace expired ONECards, the thousands of them that they'll be issuing for the U-Passes will cost the school a lot of money. Why would they want to do that? Unfortunately, the trick doesn't work with ONECards older than mine, since mine was a new design the year I got it. There's an even newer design now. But since this is my last year, I shall declare myself victorius and cease to care. ^_^
8/09/2007
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Beyond!
Ah, a day off. Not that I work a whole lot lately--I cut back to 20 hours a week--but I've been getting little four hour shifts, so I still work most days. Today, however, I do not. :-) I still have a cold, though, which is somewhat bothersome, as it's been a week and a half now. I very much dislike the kind of coughing that makes your lungs feel itchy. :-(
My life lately has been pretty ordinary. My cousin Ted is getting married on Saturday. I work Friday night, though, and Peter has his Thesis defense Friday morning, so we're driving down to Strathmore on Saturday morning. Peter was less than thrilled by the phrase "leave the house by seven." Peter's understandably nervous about his defense, but his advisor seems to think it's all good, and is talking about going out for lunch afterwards and stuff like that, so I don't think Peter's fearing impending doom.
Oh... The writing about the Thesis defense has made me think about what comes next, and that has made me scared... I'm torn between running and hiding and simply curling up into a little ball right where I am...
Also, I am sadly disappointed by Super Paper Mario, but I mention that only because it's a lot easier to feel bad about something inconsequential like that. ^_^
My life lately has been pretty ordinary. My cousin Ted is getting married on Saturday. I work Friday night, though, and Peter has his Thesis defense Friday morning, so we're driving down to Strathmore on Saturday morning. Peter was less than thrilled by the phrase "leave the house by seven." Peter's understandably nervous about his defense, but his advisor seems to think it's all good, and is talking about going out for lunch afterwards and stuff like that, so I don't think Peter's fearing impending doom.
Oh... The writing about the Thesis defense has made me think about what comes next, and that has made me scared... I'm torn between running and hiding and simply curling up into a little ball right where I am...
Also, I am sadly disappointed by Super Paper Mario, but I mention that only because it's a lot easier to feel bad about something inconsequential like that. ^_^
8/02/2007
GoGo Gadget Lawsuit!
There is currently a home-inspector-type guy looking around the house, documenting things that need to be fixed, collecting serial numbers from major appliaces and taking the odd photograph. I'm not sure whether this was my mom's idea or someone else's, but my parents are intent on using the deficiency results (and we know there will be some--black mould, anybody?) to sue Brass III, the builder. *sigh* I understand that this house cost a lot of money, and that things like bad plumbing that causes a mould infestation should neither be expected nor tolerated, but a lawsuit just seems so... much. This is a house. An entire house. This whole place was a dirt farm two years ago, and now we've been living in a really nice house since October. I tend to be a glass-half-full type of person, I guess (figuratively speaking), but I really must say that you'd have to be pretty off your rocker to insist that this house is only half-built (again, figuratively speaking?). Oh well. Better that my father direct his remaining anger tendancies towards an outside victim, especially one without a specific face. (Except Henry. Poor Henry.) He'll probably even win the lawsuit, though I have no idea what the particulars of the case would be. But, really, every house settles and gets a crack or two in the wall. They fixed the problem with the ovens, even if it did leave two holes in the wall. If you're really that angry, I'm sure somebody around would be happy to buy you a tub of Polyfill. Other than that, please make all threats using your inside voice.
7/31/2007
Post #315
You know, I used to be a rather avid journal-keeper. I kept a kind of diary in the sixth grade that I was quite ashamed of, since it was all personal and stuff, but when I started junior high, my English teachers all started requiring that we keep journals as writing exercises. So, from then on, I kept journals that wouldn't cause me to die of embarassement if somebody else found them, even after my teachers stopped requiring them. Ironically, it was the return of teachers requiring me to keep a journal for my Techniques classes that halted my journal-keeping. Stupid Techniques classes. "Today I practiced the flute. I nearly fainted twelve times. Then I really fainted and decided to give up for the day. Total time practiced: 7 minutes." But a short while after that, I got this blog, and not only have I been writing stuff that I wouldn't be embarassed if other people saw, I'm writing stuff _for_ those other people. Vultures! No, wait! Stay! Read! Comment! Validate my existence! ^_^ I must say, though, it seems kind of odd that I would be lessening the personal stuff that I put in my blog/journal/whatever as I get older. I mean, the damage has all ready been done. I have no chance of ever becoming an elected politician, what with the dirt I wrote on myself. When I was at the Capital Ex parade earlier this month, I was sitting by a woman who works for Rahim Jaffer, who was there with her granddaughter, who was about five. The girl was getting bored, and began pulling the cuff of her jeans over her knees so that the legs were kind of folded in half inside-out over themselves. Her grandmother told her to stop, and when the girl didn't want to, her grandmother told her that, what if she wanted to be Prime Miniser some day, and someone got a picture of her like that now? I assume she was kidding, though nothing in the way she spoke indicated as such. That poor girl's going to grow up to be even more paranoid than me. But, you'd think that, with the numerous pictures and written accounts of me doing far worse than than throughout my lifetime, that I would just figure to hell with it and write in my blog more often. Alas, I do not. Sorry, blog. I *hug* you, anyways.
7/26/2007
Stupid Dying
I think this is a record for longest amount of time between posts for me--20 days. I apologize if anybody has been checking back a lot, waiting to see what my next words would be. Not that I believe in the slightest that somebody would do that.
I am feeling bummed. My grandmother had a heart attack on Saturday that ended her near-comatose state of Alzheimer's and replaced it with death. We saw it coming years away, but it's still very sad. The Alzheimer's made her all not there, the heart disease killed her, and the lung cancer was probably annoyed that it didn't grow fast enough to wreak its share of havoc. Also last weekend, my grandfather fell backwards twice when his knee gave out. We figure that the second fall is what caused the bleed in his brain that the doctors found when he was taken to the hospital, because if something else caused the bleed, then the stroke he had yesterday makes very little sense. I don't know how extensive the damage from the stroke is, but I don't think it'll wind up really mattering because my grandfather now has to have a tube down his throat so that he doesn't asperate saliva into his lungs, which I figure is a pretty good indication that his overall health is pretty crappy. My aunt is concerned that he didn't cry about my grandmother's death, but my mom thinks it just gave him permission to give up. Regardless as to pseudo-spiritual beliefs about the forces surrounding death, I am sad.
Today I must do laundry and pack, because there is now travelling to be done.
I am feeling bummed. My grandmother had a heart attack on Saturday that ended her near-comatose state of Alzheimer's and replaced it with death. We saw it coming years away, but it's still very sad. The Alzheimer's made her all not there, the heart disease killed her, and the lung cancer was probably annoyed that it didn't grow fast enough to wreak its share of havoc. Also last weekend, my grandfather fell backwards twice when his knee gave out. We figure that the second fall is what caused the bleed in his brain that the doctors found when he was taken to the hospital, because if something else caused the bleed, then the stroke he had yesterday makes very little sense. I don't know how extensive the damage from the stroke is, but I don't think it'll wind up really mattering because my grandfather now has to have a tube down his throat so that he doesn't asperate saliva into his lungs, which I figure is a pretty good indication that his overall health is pretty crappy. My aunt is concerned that he didn't cry about my grandmother's death, but my mom thinks it just gave him permission to give up. Regardless as to pseudo-spiritual beliefs about the forces surrounding death, I am sad.
Today I must do laundry and pack, because there is now travelling to be done.
7/06/2007
My Life Lately
This is an update, and may be regarded as official word on the status of one Janita Burgess.
I enjoyed immensely the time spent with people I don't see very often. The dinner at Peter's was quite fun, as was the rest of it. Peter got back from bowling/pool the day after the dinner only to find that his dad and Simone had finished cleaning up. Good lord. ^_^ Peter had even brought John over to help out. My dad didn't clean up after I cooked, though. Actually, that's a rather unpleasant story, so let's not go there.
I'm not working this week. Instead, I am experiencing strange sleeping patterns and re-reading the Harry Potter books in anticipation of the last one. I should also take the opportunity to go buy some Raisin Bran, as I am out of breakfast cereal.
My mom is in Calgary for some sort of parade that James is involved with. She'll be back tonight, but, in the mean time, I have been walking my dog and spending a fair amount of time alone. Farley is currently sleeping. I don't blame him. It's very warm out and his thick black fur is counting down the hours until it's cut on Monday.
I saw Ratatouille with Peter last night. It was really good. Peter adored it. ^_^ Then again, he said he was titilated by the sight of an animated poached scallop, so I think that his opinion can safely be considered unusual. ^_^ And apparently I have to brush up on my knife skills.
I think that's more or less all I have to say right now. I feel bad about neglecting my blog in favour of Facebook, but I figure this should hold me over for a while. :-)
I enjoyed immensely the time spent with people I don't see very often. The dinner at Peter's was quite fun, as was the rest of it. Peter got back from bowling/pool the day after the dinner only to find that his dad and Simone had finished cleaning up. Good lord. ^_^ Peter had even brought John over to help out. My dad didn't clean up after I cooked, though. Actually, that's a rather unpleasant story, so let's not go there.
I'm not working this week. Instead, I am experiencing strange sleeping patterns and re-reading the Harry Potter books in anticipation of the last one. I should also take the opportunity to go buy some Raisin Bran, as I am out of breakfast cereal.
My mom is in Calgary for some sort of parade that James is involved with. She'll be back tonight, but, in the mean time, I have been walking my dog and spending a fair amount of time alone. Farley is currently sleeping. I don't blame him. It's very warm out and his thick black fur is counting down the hours until it's cut on Monday.
I saw Ratatouille with Peter last night. It was really good. Peter adored it. ^_^ Then again, he said he was titilated by the sight of an animated poached scallop, so I think that his opinion can safely be considered unusual. ^_^ And apparently I have to brush up on my knife skills.
I think that's more or less all I have to say right now. I feel bad about neglecting my blog in favour of Facebook, but I figure this should hold me over for a while. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)