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.
5/12/2008
5/09/2008
Keyboard Woes
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! ^_^
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! ^_^
5/08/2008
All
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.
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.
5/06/2008
Ranting and Complaining
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 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!!!
4/30/2008
My Absence Has Been Requested
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.
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.
4/29/2008
Random Things
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.
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.
4/27/2008
Technology Stuff
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!
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!
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