Pierre, Evil Kitty Extraordinaire, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

Pierre would like to wish everyone a Happy Hallowe'en, Merry Samhain, Happy New Year and a Wonderful Parting of the Veils.

Me, I'm currently sitting here going, "OMG, I'm supposed to start writing a novel in less than three hours. Without caffeine. WTF have I gotten myself into?"

I'll be starting a new blog/LJ for the event and will be posting the info. In the meantime, I'm going to go lie down until midnight when I get to start writing. I have a stress headache.

Oh...and I finally finished editing my 2004 novel...like...tonight. Dave still hasn't read it yet....so yeah.

Ok, bye.

I want this shirt...

It's so accurate! There's a bunch of other ones too. (Sorry in advance, Dave...)

In other news, I feel really sick to my stomach. :(

In other, other news, who the hell authorized it to be freaking minus four degrees out here??? A jacket left at Ultimate on the sidelines tonight had FROST on it...at 8:15 pm!! That's just not right.

In other, other, other news, I got this lovely poetry in my spam today.

magnificent Macedonians were indeed his ancestors. The
trotted out, swept up her underpants,

I am amused.

To Do List

There's NO WAY I'm going to be able to get all this stuff done today. I'm going to bold the things I have to do today or tomorrow at the latest.

-practice kata
-chop up branches
-dark laundry (1)
-white laundry (1)
-dark laundry (2)
-dark laundry (3)
-dye hair red (Hallowe'en costume)
-boxes in basement (1 hour)
-clean desk
-finish editing NaNoWriMo 2004 novel
-burn DVD of Heroes and Prison Break for Dave
-finish knitting gift
-order prints of digital photos
-finish notes for NaNoWriMo 2006
-reorganize room and put crap into closet
-reorganize closet to put room crap into
-take flea market leftovers to someplace that isn't my HOUSE

Oh man. :P I hate this crap.

Meme

Pick one word from each pair that you think describes me the best and leave it in the comments. Then copy this and post it in your own journal to see how your friends view you.

* logical or intuitive
* social or loner
* cute or sophisticated
* kitten or puppy
* warm flannel sheets or sleek satin
* leader or follower
* quiet or talkative
* spontaneous or planned
* teddy bear or porcelain doll
* hiking or window shopping
* tequila or vodka
* bare foot or shoes
* jeans or slacks
* tender or rough
* aware or dreamy
* nerd or jock
* brains or brawns
* common sense or book smarts
* pretty or sexy

Ngghaaaa...

Question: Why have I gotten up at ungodly (read: before noon) hours for the last two Saturdays running?
Answer: Because I've started participating in disc golf tournaments.

Yep, got another one today, in Burnaby this time, so I can still go to karate afterwards. This one is run by the fantastically sexy coordinator of Burnaby Ultimate, aka my boyfriend, so you KNOW it's gonna be good and organized. :)

Alsoplus, I've decided to participate in NaBloWriMo, in addition to NaNoWriMo. Because I'm insane. And I hate myself and resent actually spending time away from the computer.

Wait. That last one's actually pretty accurate. ;)

*waves*

Hi all...I haven't been writing much lately. Life's been happening, but either I don't have time to write, don't feel like throwing it out there, or else I totally forget and wind up just posting a picture or two.

So, a quick recap of the last little while:

-The biggest news! I've got two school districts interested in hiring me. I will refer to them as SD-A and SD-B. SD-A called me about four weeks ago to tell me that my application had been accepted and they'd be calling my references. After twiddling my thumbs for that four weeks (plus a phone call saying basically, "uhhhh...things happening??") I received word from one of my references that she was, indeed phoned. Hopefully things will now proceed a bit faster. (*snicker*) During a bunch of phone calls to various districts (most of said phone calls involved me saying basically, "uhhhh...things happening??") I called SD-B and they said that my application had been pushed to the reference level. This is good. I'm not sure when that happened though...so it's possible that it happened two weeks ago...or...the day I called. So yeah. Waiting game again.

-I've been having some dizzy spells, which REALLY isn't fair. I've been (mostly) good about eating on time and I've cut back on the salt (mostly) and even dropped caffeine (except chocolate. BTW, Halloween is a BAD TIME to try to kick chocolate. And Autumn in general is a bad time to kick caffeine. I crave tea and coffee when things get cooler. And hot chocolate...mmmm....)

-I've been visiting people...slowly but surely. I've felt myself slipping into depression a little bit, so I'm trying to force myself to get myself moving. Once I'm going, I'm usually ok but inertia is almost a bigger force in my life than gravity.

-I've been helping out around the house a bit...cleaning the basement with my mom, working on the garden with my dad...that kind of stuff.

-I've been reading and watching stuff my computer records for me. Currently I'm totally into Heroes, Corner Gas and a few things Dave watches and I follow when I can...Shark, CSI and various shows along those lines.

-I've been channeling my inner domestic goddess (IDG) and made soup and corn muffins. Mmmm...every year around this time, I start getting all home-like. I usually don't like cooking, but the cool weather makes me want to nurture people and feed them hearty soups and stews and bread. Now if only I can convince my IDG that cleaning, organizing and getting rid of stuff is nurturing. Hmmm...

(edit:) Oh yeah. And I uploaded a TON of pictures into flickr...and I had sized them wrong so they're all tiny. :( BOO! On the plus side, I've figured out how to resize photos quickly and easily after I installed some of the software that came with my camera. Before, I was using Paint to do one at a time.

*click* Open picture.
CTRL-W to open resizing tool.
25 TAB 25 ENTER to resize it to 25% of the original size.
Mouse up to File, Save As, because there's no hotkey for Save As.
Come up with "witty" title. Hit Enter.
Close window.
Rinse and repeat.

I got it so that I could usually resize one every thirty seconds or so...but STILL!!!!!! That time adds UP!

So now I'm happy with my new abilities...if only I hadn't made things so TINY!!!

This one's going to mess up my site....

View from Moss Rock in Victoria, BC, done in Autostitch. There's fifteen photos there, all stitched together.

I'm addicted.

Simon Fraser Sunset, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

Tonight's sunset was fantastic. I'm so awed by what nature can do for us. Having a camera has made it so that I look at the world differently and I notice things that I've never seen before, even though I SEE them.

Railroad, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

New photos up at Flickr. I went to Old Orchard Park in Port Moody and took a bunch of pictures...my favourites are up.

Whee! Disc Golf!

A few housekeeping things:
1) WTF just happened to my blogroll? Everything is all mixed up, so that the ones that update all the time are mixed with the ones that don't. All the ones that update frequently float up to the top eventually, and now they're all mixed up...not even alphabetical!! This is messing with my brain.

2) My computer's doing some whacked out things, so I've been away from MSN and here. Sorry about that...I still love all of you. Except you, hiding at the back. Why don't you ever comment? Hmmmmmm??? Ok, fine. You're ok. I guess I still love you too. Bring me chocolate.

3) Chocolate. Oh my. Chocolate is the only caffeine I've let myself have for the last...uhhhhh...four days. Except a sip of Dave's ice melty regular coke. Bleah...diluted AND too sweet. Didn't really enjoy it. Oh right...chocolate. Dude, seriously, I've had like three hot chocolates in the last four days, 1/2 a pound of M&Ms and various other chocolate like substances. STOP ME BEFORE I EAT AGAIN!!!!!

4) NaNoWriMo planning is going well. I'll be setting up a blog about it in the next few days/weeks for those who want to observe while I spew my words onto the computer screen. I also encourage everyone to do this!! It's a wicked fun thing to do, and it gives you an excuse to be tired and drink way too much caffeine. Unless you're me. No, I'm not bitter...what gave you that idea?

Very very very tired. I played at the Abby's Open Disc Golf Tournament this weekend, in the Amateur Woman's division and placed 2nd! Wooo!!! It's not such a HUGE awesomeness, since there was only myself and one other woman (Hi Hella!) in there, but what WAS fantastic is that I actually scored REALLY close to some of the women playing in the Open Women's division...which is MUCH higher calibre. So I did ok. I got a really skookum shirt and I'll post a picture of me wearing it later, as I do not have my camera with me. I know...bad camera owner. But it's ok! It's safe at home being babysat by my stuffed animals. (What? If I can anthropomorphize my camera, I'm doing it to my stuffies too. You? At the back? I saw that. Shoo.)

I am currently full of delicious, fantastic Greek food, am finally fully warm for the first time in about three hours and am going to snuggle up to catch up on some Prison Break with my sweetie (who did really well at the tournament today himself) and then maybe have ice cream and/or brownies later. I'm exhausted and think I may fall asleep before he comes downstairs from checking/writing email.

My Current Favourite Quote

This comes from the site Perpetually Pregnant No More.

The Mark of a True Optimist
My glass is half full. Which really is much better than the glass being all the way full, because then it would be more likely to spill.

HEE!! Brilliant!!

Lit Sky, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

New pictures up, some of them from the party.

This picture is from near where i tutor. I wanted a picture of the tree, and in one of the shots, I saw that the sky lightened up quite a bit when the shutter stayed open because it was so dark. I just love how it turned out.

Oh, the glossy thing across the bottom of the picture? That's my car. Rather than use a plain old tripod, I use a $12,000 quad-wheel camera holder.

Caffiene Update

One full day without drinking any cola or other caffinated drinks.

1/2 lb of M&Ms consumed.*

Damn. I don't feel dizzy, but I do feel kind of sick to my stomach.

I've come to a conclusion today. I'm not going to let Meneire's rule my life. I functioned rather well without being all hardcore "I can't have ANY SALT!! Or chocolate!!! Or a glass of wine!!! Or even tea!" A lot of the suggestions that are made to lessen the symptoms are generally pretty good ideas for general health.

-drink lots of water (oh, man...I desperately need to do this)
-eat more fresh fruits and veggies (always a good idea)
-cut back on salt, caffeine, alcohol and tobacco (always a good idea...and I'd been meaning to cut back on the pop anyway, and I don't smoke, so that's fine)
-eat lots of small, regular meals (OMG, this one I really really really need to do. I get ridiculously cranky when I don't eat, and usually I can't remember that's why. SUCH a bad habit.)

Basically, I'm going to try and eat/drink healthier, but if I want a cola, or tea, or a glass of wine, or some chips for a TREAT , I'm not going to completely deprive myself.

Except for the Diet Coke and its various caffinated relatives. That's ending for a month. *whimper* 29 days to go.

OMG! I just realized. I'm going to be working without caffeine for at least the first half of NaNoWriMo. CRAP!!!!!

*probably significantly less...but still.

Oh! I forgot to mention!

During my ear tests yesterday, I had my hearing checked. I've lost some hearing in the lower registers...I told my parents that's where their voices fall when they're telling me to clean my car or my room. Hehe.

So!

Many things have been going on the last few weeks. Most of it was good (flea market, trip to Victoria, Canucks party)...some of it was annoying (still no job) and some of it was very odd.

On Friday night I had a major dizzy/vertigo attack that lasted all night, and almost all of Saturday. Thankfully, I've had an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist for the last six weeks in order to ask about my various dizzy spells. Today was that appointment.

It turns out that I have something known variously as Maladie de Meniere's, or Meniere's Disease/Syndrome. This is a chronic syndrome that no one knows the cause of, or the cure for. It explains many, MANY things over the years...ie:

-dizzy spells
-nausea
-feeling sick after eating popcorn (nearly always) and drinking cola (more than occasionally) (salt and caffeine are two of the major triggers)
-REALLY bad hangovers, fairly easily (alcohol is another trigger)
=inability to focus on what someone is saying
-complaining about things being too loud, but not being able to hear people talking
-car/motion sickness

etc. ad nauseum (pun not intended...)

I'm lucky...I don't have NEARLY as bad symptoms as many people online do, but it still sucks. It's really nice to have a name to put to this and I'll write more later, but...well...I drank a diet coke tonight...my last one for a while, and now I feel gross. I'm going to go low salt/no caffeine for *SOB* a month and see if that helps.

For more info, here are a bunch of sites that I've found tonight.
Meniere's.org
Forums at the above
A website by Karin and David...from BC. SO BIZARRE!!!
A dizzyness and balance disorder site
A great concise definition of what Meniere's is.
A letter describing what it feels like...again, I don't have the symptoms nearly this badly, but that doesn't negate how awful it feels for me when it happens.

Accidental Maturity

Has anyone realized that they desperately needed to reorganize their time, because of conflict? And then panicked because it needed to be reorganized...like, EARLIER? And THEN, discovered that it had already been changed...like...a week ago? Because you were on the ball all the way back then?

Wow. That was really weird.

Anyhoo...reminder: Karaoke tonight at the Shark Club on Lougheed Hwy in Burnaby (near Brentwood Mall skytrain) and PARTY tomorrow at my place. Woo! Go Canucks!

Mount Baker with Sailboat, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

These are a few of my favourite photos from my Victoria trip. This is the fast version of my trip.

There were seagulls at the dock. I'm just impressed with my camera's freeze action abilities.


I saw my uncle's boat.



I fed seals at the harbour. SO COOL!!! OMG!!!!111!!!


At Ross Bay Cemetery (doh! I spelt it wrong through the whole set. Dammit.)


Also at Ross Bay Cemetery. I wanted to get the detail on the statue, but it refused, due to light conditions. I think it's more striking like this anyway.


My surprise birthday celebration first thing in the morning.


Home again! Welcome to mainland traffic!

Meme

Angela tagged me. :)

1) Would you bungee jump?
Probably.

2) If you could do anything in the world for a living what would it be?
I'd have to go with teaching. I'm SO lucky. Next would be selling stuff I've made/written etc.

3) Your favorite fictional animal?
Rufus the naked mole rat from Kim Possible. Or else the owls from Owls in the Family.

4) One person who never fails to make you laugh?
Gwynabella.

5) When you were 12 years old what did you want to be when you grew up?
Teacher. Again...SO LUCKY.

6) What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
Smack the snooze button a bunch of times.

7) Have you ever gone to therapy?
Counselling.

8) If you could have one super power what would it be?
Teleportation.

9) Your favorite cartoon character?
Kim Possible

10) Do you go to church?
Not any more.

11) What is your best childhood memory?
Horseback riding.

12) Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual?
No, but I think that there are some aspects of it that are somewhat archaic.

13) Do you own a gun?
Just cap and water pistols.

14) Have you ever hit someone of the opposite sex?
Yes...both in karate and when I was younger I slapped my then-bf. I also kneed him...err...yeah. I was 13.

15) Have you ever sung in front of a large number of people?
Yep. Karaoke, church musical, various mini school productions.

16) What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
General fitness and health.

17) What is your biggest mistake?
I don't think I've really made any huge ones. Probably money management.

18) Say something totally random about yourself.
I'm hungry and I'm going to have soft boiled eggs for dinner. With sourdough rye toast.

19) Has anyone ever said that you looked like a celebrity?
Yes, but I think they were trying to get into my pants.

20) What is the most romantic thing someone of the opposite sex has done for you?
Dave threw me a surprise party two years ago for my birthday. That was amazing.

21) Do you actually read these when other people fill them out?
Usually.

Sotiredomg.

My camera has successfully and safely returned from it's sojurn on Vancouver Island.

Oh, and I'm back too.

so yeah, hi, back from the island...had an amazing time. Now I have to leave in seven minutes to go tutoring. Ai yi yi yi yi.

Updates and photos later. My camera took almost four hundred photos while I was gone. And I took a couple too.

Oh, and happy birthday to me. :D

Surprise!

Unexpected trip to Victoria for Thanksgiving! See you all Tuesday!

PS, don't forget about karaoke on the 12th and party at my place on the 13th.

Camera, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

Look at the pretty!! And the camera's nice too. :D I didn't use a flash so that's why things are sort of yellow.

Dave on Couch, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

The first picture I took with my brand new Canon Rebel XTi!

A Very Cool Meme

The first five people to respond to this post, will get some form of art, by me, about them. I make no guarantees about quality or type, but I will assure that I will give it good effort.

The only catch, of course; as with most memes, if you sign up, you have to put this in your own journal as well.

Also, I'm leaving open the possibility of there being some sort of other clause, because it's now a binding contract between you and me to make art.

There could be penalties, fines and possible terms of imprisonment for failing to keep up your end of this bargain.

Stolen from dw00

How very nerdy is it...

...that I'm so excited about the percentage that I got?

Edit: I got 42%, but the HTML is fried on it, so I'm getting rid of it. The meme itself is right here.

You know you should've had that coffee when...

...the first words out of your mouth in the morning, after going to tutor, are, "Oh! I'm sorry, I'm at the wrong house."

Er...not that I'm speaking from personal experience. From just about an hour ago. Nooooo....

TWO PARTIES!!!

Party the first: Karaoke!! Thursday October 12th at the Shark Club in Burnaby. Stuff starts around 10.

Party the second! To celebrate the Canucks home opener, and (tangentally, mostly as an excuse) my birthday!

Who: YOU! And significant others! And children, if applicable! (no borrowing other people's children)
Where: My place.
When: Friday October 13th (ooh, spooky). Arrive anytime between five o'clock and LATE...stay until you need to leave.
Other: Casual party... BYOB, I'll have food and mixers. I'm not super close to a bus line, but we've got enough non drinkers that I'm sure we can volunteer them to drive to Coquitlam Center or Lougheed Mall. Or you can crash at my place...it's all good.

There will be a Canucks game on, but you are by no means required to watch...there will be other things happening around the place.

Email for directions, comment or email to confirm or deny your attendance.

Meme!

Gwynabella tagged me. Blame her.
3 names you go by:
Karin
Lovergirl
Sweetie K

3 screen names you've had; including the current one you use:
randomsynapses
The Teacher
Krystal_Band'h (hello, TrekMUSE! 1996!!)

3 things you like about yourself:
I am helpful
I am great with kids
I am really smart
(bonus: I'm smoking hot.)

3 things you hate/dislike about yourself:
I procrastinate
I waste time doing crap on the computer
I'm messy

3 parts of your heritage:
Scottish
Austrian
Canadian

3 things that scare you:
SPaceInvaDERS
Suffocating
Losing loved ones

3 of your everyday essentials:
At least 8 hours of sleep (or I get cranky)
Lime Diet Coke (or I get cranky)
Downtime (or I get cranky [I get cranky a lot...])

3 things your wearing right now: (obviously my Jewelry)
My Canucks jersey!!! GO CANUCKS!! (I was at the game last night)
Really cute, red, lacy (omitted due to google searches)
red and yellow tie dyed socks

3 of your favorite bands: (or artists! And arrgh only 3?!)
Madonna (old stuff)
Leonard Cohen
Bonnie Tyler

3 new things you want to try in the next 12 months:
Substitute teaching
Writing another novel (and editing the one I did two years ago)
Selling stuff I've made online or elsewhere

3 things you want in a relationship:
Understanding
Love
Communication
(Bonus: *omitted due to google searches*)

2 lies and one truth:
I haven't done any painting in over a year
I haven't had any Lime Diet Coke in two full days
I'm getting a pet for my birthday

3 of your favorite hobbies:
Reading
Knitting
Karaoke

3 bloggers you want to party with:
(I'm not counting people I see on a regular basis)
Karaoke with DM
Angela from AMCR...my god, girl. I want to be like you, but I'm just white and nerdy (heee! ONE reference to Weird Al)
My whole LJ friends list.

3 things you just can't do:
Anything resembling the splits. I'm lucky if I can get a right angle.
Fart in front of people
Be friends with willfully ignorant people.

3 things you want to do really bad right now:
Watch Season 4 of Kim Possible (but it's not going to be out until 2007 *SOB*)
Drink some Lime Diet Coke (but it's late, and I don't want to be wired)
Have a teaching job.

3 careers your (ed: YOU'RE...NOT YOUR) considering:
Teacher (um, duh)
University/college prof
WAHM (work at home mom [this one...not for a few years yet.])

3 places you want to go on vacation:
The UK
Japan
A cruise of some kind

3 true loves:
(I'm not going to count people...you all know who you are. And you're reading RIGHT NOW!!!)
Good 80's fantasy movies
The Internet
Creating things with my hands

3 favorite animals:
Horses
Kestrels
Cats

3 reasons why your (ed: YOU'RE!! DAMMIT!!!) doing this:
Gwyn told me to.
I like memes
I should be in bed, but I'm not.

3 people who must take this quiz:
Anyone
Who
Wants