Four Strong Winds

They blew me back to Alberta, eh? Prepare for a long blah blah blah about all the things I did, for it was truly a great little reading week. What kind of reading? None, really. I managed to get to the U of A law library for a day or so (Laura, it really is awesome! So peaceful...). Other than that, it was pure fun. A few days of snowboarding at Sunshine and Lake Louise with the family was a great mini-vacation. We didn't get ourselves moving very quickly in the mornings, but it was most lovely to be on the hill again. I crashed into approximately 1 043 trees but didn't hit anyone. Mum and Dad took a lesson and raved about it afterwards -- their instructor, a Scottish "nice young man" named Tom, apparently really knew what he was doing and helped greatly. We did some of my favourite slopes at Sunshine, as well as some new ones. Our day at Lake Louise was not quite as fabulous, on account of the icier slopes and lack of fresh snow, but still fun. Mum and Dad are antsy for Elise to pick skiing or snowboarding so she can buy equipment and we can stop messing around with rentals. I don't know which she wants to do, but it's probably a difficult choice because it locks you into one or the other. Anyway, we were in the mountains from Saturday to Tuesday. We had some good meals, we tired ourselves out skiing, and we watched movies on TV because we were way too zonked after a day on the slopes to do anything else.

Then it was back to the Park for several days of mild debauchery. Wednesday night I slept over at Tawnie's, which was le fabulous. We watched several episodes of Oz and were immature. We almost got run over as we wandered the streets in search of candy, and Tawnie mocked me for shrieking. Feh to you, Miss Toonie! Feh! You would totally have shrieked if... you had... shrieked. Yes.

The next day, Thursday, I went to the University to make Mum drive me home (she did, because she loves me and wanted to go home early anyway). We got a haircut -- really, a haircut because mine looks exactly like hers, only with bangs. Then I went to the mall to drop off resumes and visit with Tom, who is still "working" at the hobby shop. When I got there he was playing Risk with his boss and the boss's daughter, the fourth player having already lost and skulked off. Tom is smart enough to lose when playing Risk with the boss. However, he really needs to get permission to do homework or read or something on the job, because the games he has evolved to pass the time are just way too intricate. "OK, so you line the little wooden knobs up like this, in a triangle, and then you flick them. Now the last one in line has to go between the other two, and the object of doing this is to get it to the other side of the counter." He took his break and we had a nice talk in the food court. He was full of the news: Jesus Paul has a girlfriend, which Tom deems "cute". Our graduating class also has its first out-of-wedlock child on the way. Go us? I won't say who the proud parents are, mostly because I don't even know whether it's just a rumour and also because it would be impolite. Additionally, there is a chance that it will drive people crazy not to know. And I am evil. Anyway, I papered the mall with applications for summer jobs and also had a very pleasant chat with Tom. So Thursday was good.

Friday I hiked over to the University library with Mum to do the aforementioned reading and checking out of books for my poli sci essay. Hopefully it will be useful. And I had a lunch date with my mother and her friend Margaret, which was fun. It's always good to hear the faculty's point of view on such things as undergrad misbehaviour, to prevent future missteps. In this particular case, the moral of the story they were discussing was: If your prof's mother has just died, then don't be an arse -- don't ask her about your midterm marks as she's heading out the door to go to the airport. Honestly, some people. Anyway, a pleasant afternoon at home, and then the lovely Heather came over for dinner and a chat. Whee! She is really a most excellent person, that Heather. After that (I know this is an encyclopedic blah blah blah of my life's chronology but that's just too bad for you) it was time for a night out at the theatre with the fambly. Metamorphoses is sort of amalgam of Greek myths. It's a little on the bewildering and uneven side, with no clear narrative structure, but there were some bits of it that were just stellar (Phaeton: "And it was, like, chaos, right?"). Pretty cool. And there was an actual pool in the stage, which they used all the time in the staging and which was kind of nifty, so I can't complain loudly because that part was cool!

Saturday was delightful -- I did my first-ever tax returns with Dad. We discovered, to our mutual delight I'm sure, that the gummint owes me $2.11. I plan to put it away for my retirement when I get my cheque. Whee! And then it was more resume distribution. I have applied at eight places. Oy. And then Katie, Colleen, and Lori came over for dinner. It was awesome. After dinner we sat in my room and laughed hysterically for an hour and a half, just as it should be. I showed them the Llama Song and Colleen got all fascinated-like. Katie shocked us all by showing up with short brown hair and glasses (who is this person? we thought). She looks fabulous, though. Brown hair suits her, and is after all more her natural colour. After that dinner, it was over to the Lockaus' to await Laura. Like Katie, she had been in Vancouver all week, and her flight was delayed because of fog. But she got back safe about 11:30, and we said hi and had some birthday cake for her long-past birthday. She seems to have had a good time in Van City, and brought back the remains of a White Spot kid's meal: a cardboard pirate ship. Way too cool. Actually, that reminds me of a woman I saw on the bus to the University, reading a book entitled Pirates of Desire: A Personalized Romance Novel starring Deborah and Curtis. Seeing this, I proceeded to choke myself stifling laughter. And I was all alone so nobody else saw the weird, weird badness. Anyway, that's about all I did. Thank heavens the break wasn't longer because then I would be here until I died, writing this blog post. If you, dear reader, have survived this long, I commend you for your endurance and patience. Fin.

!!!!

I'm going home tomorrow!!!!

!!!!

And my econ midterm did not totally suck. So I am in a very positive frame of mind just now. At lunch with Katherine and Jacob today, it struck me once again how I always manage to construct at least two totally different groups of friends everywhere I go. So I guess we don't change that much, really. Anyway, call me if y'all are in town! And remember, after March 3, the Jessica Hotel is open for business, because school looks a lot less crazy. Tours of Ottawa's finest bakeries and tchotchke shoppes available upon request.

Ancient Wisdom

A most delightful dinner tonight with Yuna, Katherine, and Emily and her mother and baby sister, Isobel (cute baby! And who knew Katherine was a baby person?). We reflected meditatively on many things, with great perspicacity, of course, and told the tale of our Thursday night jazz club excursion. My fortune amused me greatly: "Your love life will be happy and harmonious." Only one way to go there, bub. The food was great, and Emily's mom is really cool. Much like Emily herself. Emily herself promised me, Katherine, and Yuna that we will be her bridesmaids. Expect to be held to that promise, Ms. Connell.

This morning, after three delicious hours' sleep, I roused myself to go see our EnviroMin defend his ministry from accusations of doing too much/too little for the environment(standing, as the Liberals do, in the middle of the road, they get hit by traffic from both directions). It was okay. He kind of sounds like Kermit the Frog, only French-accented. His climate change plan doesn't sound earth-shaking. I'd start by laying off the feeble gags, like dressing all in green and calling himself a "green minister". I can see why people are criticizing the plan, though. It's an environmental protection measure, so naturally the Conservatives are aaaaall over smacking it down to defend "the families who will have to pay extra for heating costs" Right, folks. Your business friends have nothing to do with your opposition. And the NDP is getting cranky because it doesn't seem like enough, and includes some voluntary measures and stuff that they don't think will work, like emissions credits. Bottom line: free muffins and coffee at the event.

And now it is time to work on my history book review, due in 13 hours as it is. I'm nearly done, but it's not good by any means.

Suspicious Cafeteria Items, Pt. IV

"Fruity Turkey Pasta".

And All That Jazz

This week went by in a whirl, again. It's been pretty busy trying to get all this stuff done (see previous post), and so last night I felt celebratory, having probably not egregiously failed my poli sci midterm. To rid myself of this feeling, I tagged along with Emily'n'Nathanael, Katherine, and the lovely Yuna. They were going out to a benefit at this jazz club right near the university, and it turned out to be an utterly wonderful evening. The music was live and really good. I don't know jazz, but now I do know a couple of music students from the university, including two Daves, a Corinne, and a Ben. The latter is an amazingly efficient flirt -- I think he got around to every girl in the room in the space of about three hours. In any case, I have now been Out to a bar that I actually really like. It's not all about the partying, it's about the music, and there were moments when everybody was just listening. It was really nice. And there was no deejay having a birthday and taking the occasion as a reason to chant "let's get drunk, and have sex!" into his mike. It was just people having a nice time, and it wasn't too crowded (apparently it's kind of a ghost town most nights). Anyway, the BPAPMers are grateful to the music students for showing them how to get down and have a little fun of a Thursday night.

In other news, Charles and Camilla Parker Bowling Ball (as the Arrogant Worms have christened her) are getting hitched. Mum tells me that some woman on the radio said, "I don't want to be nasty, but that woman looks like a witch!" There was a time when she would be drawn and quartered for such impudence... ah, those were the days.

Aieee

That is my word of the week. Within the next 23 days, I have: a history book review, three midterms, a poli sci paper, a fiddly little public affairs assignment, two choir performances, a ski trip, and four glorious days at home.

Saille figured out how to make ominous rabbits out of mittens like one did in elementary school. The looming comes specially included.

Here's Steph on her birthday, last weekend. I didn't actually attend the party, but I can testify that the cake in the background is delish.

Notl, Diana, and the birthday girl, Joni! Girls in black with drinks of pink.

Rosina and I are Emo.

Note to the Drunk People Outside

I've Been Workin' on the Railroad is not a good drinking song. Also, I know it's Tuesday night. Going "it's Toosday Nite! Woo! Holy shit!" in tones of amazement is really, really not necessary. Tuesdays come around once every seven days, there is no need for such excitement. I appreciate your joie de vivre, just please have it elsewhere.

Suspicious Cafeteria Items, Pt. III

"Waxed Beans".