Loads of little nothings means ME time!

I guess I've been thoroughly loving having my time to myself for the first time in months, cause I have done so many little things that amount to nothing big.

First, an update for anyone who cares on the school front:

Ethnography of Politics = A-
Social Policy Analysis = A-
International Health = A
Gender Relations and Social Issues = B+

GPA = A- or 3.67

I'm sort of shellshocked by these grades, cause I've never had such a successful semester. The fact that I got a B+ in Manhating, and an A- in Social Policy, which I was expecting somewhere in the B neighbourhood is bloody amazing! But there is a downside to this good news, and that is I've been labelled a Keener :( Which is not true! I swear! The reason I know it's not true is because it came from the Laziest Git in the class :p

I got the new glasses, and with the exception of buying a pair that come with a magnetic sunglass attachment, they look damn near the same as the ones I just got out of. We're going to pick up Rod's new glasses tonight. So that's cool. I guess the next move is to buy myself some pilates passes so I'm good to go for Beach season. Or not...we'll see how lazy I am. *smirk*

On Monday mum came over and made me do lots of housecleaning...she loves spring cleaning, and since I'm less than keen on it, she knew the only way to get it down was to be here doing it with me. So we did everything but what Rod's supposed to do, which amounts to the floors, washing te bedding and worst of all possible worst bits, cleaning his workspace. Stay tuned for that saga folks, cause every year it's a battle...no, actually, it's a bloody war.

I've entirely caught up on the first season of Big Love on DVD, so I'm good to go for June when it starts up again, and I'm super anxious to see what the fallout from the season finale is, cause when it first happened, I thought something entirely different from what I think now, so I'm dying to see what happens. I could give two hoots about The Sopranos ending, cause I never got into that show, and I've been blindly casting about for something to fill the Sex and the City void, though the constant reruns on TV are sustaining me.

I read 'Shopaholic and Baby' while laying about in my jammies, and been deliciously happy that it's neither a school book, nor anything that teaches me anything other than the name of trendy designers :) I've listened to more Queen songs than I've heard all year. I've watched 'The Pirate Movie' which is possibly the greatest bad little movie ever. I've just basically had a chance to be as intellectually unstimulating/unstimulated as is humanly possible.

And finally, Rod's been proposed to on my behalf, sort of, through my sister. :) I was teasing Karyne on facebook that she wasn't going to get to plan my wedding (she's got teh wedding planner fever) because I was getting Rod drunk and flying him to Vegas in September. The idea was either he's there, or if he's passed out, Holly would put on the wig and lifts, and we'd pretend she was him and get married, a la Young and the Restless :D Well, Karyne retaliated with a threat of never seeing my nephews again (as if! Those kids love me and would seek me out!), and I in turn mocked her retaliation with an invitation to Vegas if she wants. Well...then she said, if you're really doing it, I'll go...umm...hunny?

Rod? My sister wants to know if you'll marry me. LOL.

And the reason I'm not cracking heads like back in 2001 is because...He didn't say no. I know! Before you faint and start shopping for the perfect blender (good luck guys, Rod's been 'searching' for the perfect blender for 5 years now...so picky!) and getting those baby blue tuxes out of storage, he didn't say yes either. But, the huge step in the progressive direction is that he didn't say no. He didn't say anything. How do you respond to a proposal like that? "Fancy, Tell your sister____" just doesn't seem the most romantic response :)

On the bonus side, Rod's mother has generously agreed to donate money to me for a shotgun, to get this party rolling in Vegas :D

Moon River

As you know, I've got a super-intense relationship with music, and I don't play favourites when it comes to songs because music changes everything. So tonight, watching Breakfast at Tiffany's, which always makes me feel fondly melancholy, as always, the stirring, nay, achingly wistful melody of Moon River set my mind to thinking of life's lost moments.

Moon River by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer

Moon River, wider than a mile,
I'm crossing you in style some day.
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,
wherever you're going I'm going your way.
Two drifters off to see the world.
There's such a lot of world to see.
We're after the same rainbow's end--
waiting 'round the bend,
my huckleberry friend,
Moon River and me.

Moon River, you know what you are. You know what you mean to me. Together for years on end, drifting along wherever the elements takes us...Someday, my friend.

Momentous Day!

Okay people...I hope you have your party hats and noisemakers on hand, cause it's a big day!

First of all, welcome to Post #200! w00t! If I was a sitcom, that would mean I've been on the air for about 10 years, but since this is teh interweb, that only means I've been talking to myself in cyberspace for two and a half years. There will be no tribute show with teh stars (me) or a big clips show looking back with fondness...not even an hour long show featuring a big plot twist.

Moving on to the even more boring news, it was a big day for school news. I wrote my Final exam for social policy today, and I'm feeling good about it, and I'M FREE!! A whole 17 days of freedom! Oh heavenly delight! Also, I earned myself an A in International Health, an A- in Ethnography of Politics, and I can expect about a B in manhating...uh...Gender Issues and Social Issues, cause I got my final exam today and go an 85% on it. So we just sit back and wait for the B-ish grade in Social Policy :) Good job me :) Seriously, my most successful semester ever.

I survived my very first bomb threat yesterday too. I was at school studying with some people in my class when it came in, obviously false, and obviously phoned in by some yobbo who was hoping to get out of a final exam or something equally retarded. Of course I'm critical of the way it was handled. Three of us girls were just sitting there chatting while the boys took off for a food break, and a couple of campus security guards walk by and stop and check the recyling and garbage cans with flashlights. I was all, 'weird...looking for a bomb?' and went about my chatting. A few minutes later, the guys came back and told us about a bomb threat being broadcast on the closed-circuit announcement TVs around campus. And that's how we find out? Geez! Anyways, I go about my day, and note, that I checked my SFU email account a couple of time last night for facebook notifications (I'm so sad...*sigh*). Well, I did the exam thing this morning, but when I got home, I checked my account, and there was an email announcing the bomb threat and they would keep us posted...time stamped for 6:34pm last night, and received between 10:30 pm last night and 12 noon today. Nice.

Let's see...what else...blah blah blah, got good grades...blah blah blah stupid idiots and their bomb threats...blah blah blah...200 posts...fuck, you know...my life is really boring!

Oh! Yes, I forgot in all the excitment. So at the dentist on Tuesday, I got a big thumbs up for no cavities and "excellent gums" (better than Rod's "good gums" SUCK IT CHUDYK!), but ooooh, a big thumbs down for an impacting wisdom tooth! Bad! No food for you! So I guess I'll have wisdom tooth extraction surgery in the very near future. The eye exam on Wednesday? Uh, yeah...raise your hands if you didn't know I had an astigmatism in my right eye *raises hand* Yeah...apparently I've had it for a while, I even have a perscription lens in my glasses for it, and didn't have a fucking clue. So suddenly the cost of glasses and contacts goes up, cause the stupid astigmatism is bad enough to need a Toric lens. Note to self: stop going to assembly line optometrists who don't tell you things like that. Geez. The glasses alone run me $412, so I got clip-on sunglasses to go with them...cheat me out of my money, I don't think so! The contacts will be about $850-$950 a year. I'm going to need a job just to pay for that :( Time to seriously consider laser eye surgery.

How uncool of me to attack me in such stealthy ways...impacting teeth, espensive eyes...what's next? Nose job? Lose an ear? bah.

In further news, I've paid off a CIBC Alberta student loan, and come to the sad realization that for someone who HATES shoes, I own over 30 pairs. Vancouver is a super image-conscious place, and I've got to spend a lot of money to keep up. I'm so sad.

So. What's new with you?

Booked my Face

Wow, sorry about yesterday there folks. I was going for a "Hey, I'm still alive" post, but sort of got sidetracked by my failing communication/cognitive thinking skills.

So the deal was this: I had a term paper due yesterday at 2:30 pm, and I've been trying to write the damn thing for about a week. I'd managed to work my way up to some where short of 2/3 done by 2 am yesterday, and then went to bed. And then got up and tried to write some more. This paper just was so hard to focus on, and of course the news blaring in the background about Virginia Tech wasn't helping me stay on task. But sometihng more insidious was keeping me from realizing my potential: Evil Facebook.

On Sunday, I woke up to an invite from Jeevan, who told me that most of the NMUN people were on there. I should have turned away! I should have stayed strong! I should have said 'NO'! But I didn't. I signed up, curious to see who all was there. And interestingly enough, another NMUNer was actually passing through town, so Jeevan set it up for me and him to meet up with Saarah for a visit. It was a really great visit! We chatted, laughed, needled for Jeevan to within an inch of crying (which he does not do), and since I had Talulah with me, we each spent time on our Facebook accounts, tracking people down. Then we drove downtown because Jeevan really wanted a picture of the Olympic Countdown clock. I drove them around a little, showing off the downtown a bit, and then rushed Saarah back to her Aunt's so she could catch her red eye back to Toronto.

And then spent the next two days glued to Facebook. I am so weak :|

But on the flipside, I've found several people I've fallen out of touch with, and that's awesome. But yeah, I have a final on Friday morning, and appointments galore between now and then. And I can't stop myself! I threw off my groove! I am a weak, weak little person.

incoherence

i've used up all the words, and my brain is blasted to bits. days melding. friday?

disconnected in the head. need sleep.

Cor, that ain't on, innit?

I suppose I could be forgiven for being absent because it's the end of the semester, and it's hairy-carey time, but wow, some strange happenings going on in addition to the end of term madness.

First off, I'll take care of some housekeeping. To follow up on the mysterious assignment post, there was a resolution of sorts.

My class was asked to view a film about the story of Jane Doe, the fifth victim of the Toronto 'Balcony Rapist' Paul Callow. She was essentially left as bait for him, as the Police did not let the women of the neighbourhood know about this danger, and so she successfully sued the Toronto Police Board for negligence, based on the grounds that her constitutional right to protection was violated.

Based on this film, and our studies of sexual assault, we were asked to write a 2 page response to three questions, which I won't share here, because then I'd have to go into a long explanation about permission. One question dealt with harmful stereotypes of rape victims (no problem with this one); one dealt with problems Jane Doe and other victims have had in pursuing justice (Problem); and finally, one asked me to explain why rape was a gendered and feminist issue (HUGE problem).

If there is anything I've learned in this class, it is that I am, and I cannot emphasize this enough, NOT a Feminist. I took offense to the questions because they were so clearly one-sided, and I have objected in every class to the obvious bias of the class towards feminist. It's a course on Gender Relations and Social Issues...and the only time we discuss the other gender (men) is in the context of evil, criminal, dominating sons of bitches. But there's more to this. I've never made any secret of the fact that I was sexually assaulted when I was 17. I went to the police, I went to court, and I went to counselling. I just cannot morally argue that the justice system is this big horrible monster out to devour women, nor can I argue that rape is a gendered issue. It happens to men too, and not only that, I cannot in good conscience argue that a woman's assault does not affect the men around her.

I was so upset every time I tried to look at the assignment, I'd get nauseous and dizzy. I was having a panic attack. Krist, I never, ever thought I'd need to be dosed with Ativan in order to do a simple 6-pg paper. What a mind job! Well, I emailed the prof with my problem and a couple of suggestion. Apparently neither of them were acceptable, and the only option outside of just doing the paper (yeah, right) was to move the assignment value onto my take home final exam. I opted for that. So now, it's just a matter of waiting for the marks to come in I guess.

In other school news, there was a MAD DASH to finish a term paper for Friday, and the reason for this was because I mistook the deadline for Monday, and WOW! I had written about 1.5 pages of 7 total before Friday, but the damn thing was not coming together. I also had a panel discussion/article summary due in another class the same day, so I was MAD busy. On Friday, I went to school, and completely started to re-write and re-edit what I had done so far. I stopped long enough to go turn in my other assignment and beg off of class, then back at it. I wrote the whole thing in 3.5 hours. We'll just have to see how things shake loose, cause wow...that was just a wild ride.

And if you thought the madness ended there...nah-uh!! I had that now-huge take home final due on Tuesday, and a portfolio for another class, AND Rod's birfday to deal with over the weekend. Crap! It was all just a horrid week of typed torture. I know, you are asking yourself, "If she knows this stuff is coming, why doesn't she get on it faster?" Well. I guess my brain likes to mull things over, so in that respect, I'm well on my way, but most of the time, I can't really write anything, because it's crap (see above, for example). It's like the time ticking away is chipping away at the crap floating in my head, and what evolves is a picture of clarity that just needs some touching up. This is not to be confused with exams and such, where the time limit does not help because you don't go in there knowing what you're going to do.

Now, I have some time, not much, but some little time to breathe. I have a term paper due on the 16th, and a final exam on the 20th. Starting on Monday, it's go time all over again.

Just so you know, there has been some little personal time mixed in there too, but those adventures will have to wait to be spoken of later. I'm going shopping.