Going insane

I spent this week basically at home...I would make a LOUSY stay/work from home person. It's not even that there are too many distractions (although there is that), but I'm just not efficient.

I also forget to eat. This could contribute to the general lack of efficiency.

Inertia is HUGE in my life. If I'm doing something, I'll keep on doing it. If I'm not doing something, I'll keep on doing that.I also have "shiny thing" syndrome where I'm all over the place. Hence why I have wet laundry in the washer, nearly burned the pancakes (as it is, there's three that are pancake crisps, only unburned since the heat was on so low) and didn't even go shopping for dinner until it was after five (good thing D's working late.)

I'm feeling...bleh. Maybe it's the rain the last two days...my Vancouver brain can't handle it after all the gorgeousness. Maybe I'm coming down with something. I've got something really important coming up on August 30th, and I'm not ready at all. I'm working every day on it, sooooooo....I've got 29 days to BE ready.

I guess I felt like I should've accomplished a bunch more stuff since I had the week off. As it was, we basically still ate out/had take out and the place is still a total disaster. Between Dave and I, we're probably working the equivalent of three or four full time jobs, so I guess it's understandable that things have slid a bit. I just had these big grandiose plans of cleaning the whole apartment, organizing a whack of things and getting all of my homework finished for the summer.

Epic. Fail.

Maybe writing it all out will make me feel better (as soon as I swap the laundry...)

Things I've accomplished this week:Train karate (every day)
grocery shopping
empty dishwasher (2x)
make banana bread
clean out fridge
put away laundry
garbage and recycling run
work on botany scrapbook (every day)
press flowers
wash bed linens
recycling depot
pickup flowers from Jen’s
get green card stock
go to school for a day (making up for a sick day
organize school binders
final exam homework
grocery shopping again

That looks pretty good actually. Huh.

I've still got a billion things on the list...but it's a little less depressing when I see it all laid out like that.

School Work Can Be Fun!

There are SO MANY things I want to do someday...learn to scuba dive, various foreign languages, various art projects, various movement arts (dance, fencing, gymnastics etc). I want to be in a play someday. I want to learn aromatherapy to the point where I can blend scented relief for people quickly and easily. I have thousands of books I want to read. I have dozens of books I want to write, gardens I want to plant

Sometimes, life comes about and lets me fulfil a few of those ideas at once.

I've always been envious of scrapbookers, but I never started scrapbooking, even when I was working at Michaels. I've already got an insane stash of art and craft materials...how could I possibly justify a new (potentially extremely expensive) hobby, even if I have hundreds of printed photos from trips, special events, and so on. I would love to do a scrapbook for each year I have a class (since I have thousands of digital photos). I have always wanted to do a botany scrapbook with drawings, and pressed flowers and...ahhh... This ties in with my love of plants (I love them SO MUCH that I will cut them apart, squash them between heavy objects and keep them with me FOREVER!! A little creepy when one thinks about it...) and my love of order (not noticeable to anyone who's ever seen any place I've ever spent any time at all) which manifests itself in strange ways.

For school this summer, one of my assignments is a botany scrapbook. I've been spending the last several weeks collecting flowers and leaves, pressing them in a lovely microwave flower press I got at Lee Valley, and gluing them to bits of cardstock. Things are coming together quite nicely. Pictures of in progress are forthcoming, but I'm on vacation this week, (a post ALL for itself...I am under the impression that I would make a REALLY crappy homemaker, but I will allow you to judge for yourself when [if] I make that particular post. [seriously, horrible housekeeper. for realz.])

Because I have absolutely ZERO sense of direction...

When reading yesterday's lightning post, please read "south" as "west" and "north" as "east". Thank you very much.

...

And weirdly, I do solo road trips, usually get where I'm going, and so far also get back home from them. (knock on wood, since I'm actually still in Kelowna for another day.

I can see my fingers reflected in the screen (mental note: laptop with matte screen, and one with a card reader) and, damn, it's weird seeing my fingers just...do stuff. Nifty. I want to keep typing and watching them. Lalalalala....I guess I could watch them do homework.

Meh. :P

One more day of school!!

Sentient Weather

The lightning is mocking me.

And not only because when there's lightning I won't go swimming. I was trying to take pics of it when it was in the north, about three minutes ago, then I decided I should do work and anyway SCREW YOU CAMERA SHY LIGHTNING, so I went onto the porch where I'm facing south. Guess what? The lightning is suddenly in the south.

Stupid, sentient, mocking lightning.

It's nice and cool right now. YAY!!

Two more days of course...wow. That feels like a crazy lots amount of time, and it also feels like a crazy little amount of time.

There have been eight lightning flashes since I started this post.

Nine.

That's a lot, since I copy/pasted part of this from IM with (ten) my mom.

I think I'm going to stop liveblogging the flashes of lightning now. As awesome as they are (and they're seriously, really [eleven] freaking awesome), I really, really should get some stuff done (TWELVE! And that was a GOOOOOOOOOD one.)

Maybe I'll try takeing a couple (thirteen) south facing pics....

(edited to add: fourteen and fifteen hit just as I clicked post...sixteen...)

(edited again to add: YEAH! Southern lightning must less inhibited. I got three or four pics at the same time lightning struck, and two of them show the forks! I'm super stoked, and now I should go inside to get my WORK DONE!!! and not be distracted by a bunch of STATIC ELECTRICITY! Pictures will be posted when I get home, since I have no cord, and as far as I can tell, my mom's laptop doesn't have a card reader for my camera.)

Before Day One

(from an email I sent my mom this morning. I currently feel much better, although very tired.)

I feel like death. :P I got to sleep around eleven upstairs after taking a shower and not drying off in an attempt to combat the HEAT. I woke up around two to spider nightmares, realized it was insanely hot and couldn't sleep, drank some water and splashed water all over my tank top and me. That didn't help, so I went downstairs to try since it was cooler down there...spiders were still on my brain, so THAT wasn't going to happen. So, after some deliberations and more attempts at falling asleep, I set up a mattress on the back porch with the chair cushions and watched a bit of lightning before I slept from around 4 until 530, when it was liiiiiight...waaaahhhhhh...

Managed to squeak out another hour or so of dozing between glaring at birds and the lit up clouds when my cell phone went off. Now, I'm feeling gross because I'm exhausted and still sick, nervous about class, and my mouth tastes ick from my antibiotics.

Random Mishmash of Otherness
The class was absolutely phenomenal. I'm so excited about teaching this stuff, it's awesome. This is totally the right path for me.

According to the scale here, I weigh about 171 lbs. I like this scale. The one at home says I'm 174 or so.

I'm debating another swim before I try and get some sleep (had one after dinner tonight). I'm also debating if I'm going to be sleeping on the back porch again, or if I should at least attempt an actual bed tonight. Decisions, decisions. I think part of it will depend on whether the drunk neighbours continue celebrating Canada Day in their backyard.

I love having use of a laptop. Last night, before attempting the aborted inside sleep attempt, I was hanging out by the pool fooling around online (which is exactly what I'm doing right now! Yay!), as I am wont to do. I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, and a cat was hanging out with me. Hee! Ironically, I'm doing a whack of hand written stuff because of class notes, and because some of the other notes I'm taking lend themselves better to hand written. Ooh, plane just flew overhead. Nifty.

PS, I also love having a pool. Kersplash! Swim tonight? Yes/no? I have to cover it still, so I might as well get another quick use out of it before I go inside to die a little bit of heat. Hrm...regardless, I'd better sign off, since I want to do a bit more work before bed. Good night, Lower Mainlanders!! Happy Canada Day!

Safely in Kelowna

Timeline for today so far.
1130-leave Port Coquitlam after the doctor's appointment (whee! a week of the antibiotics that taste like gah!)
1230-Pass through Hope
100-Coquihalla toll booth
130-arrive Merritt, eat at A&W...they've got a decent veggie burger...who knew??
215-leave Merritt (busy at the A&W)
400-arrive in West Bank and try to find my Oma and Opa's old house.
430-find the house by memory (10 years after the last time I was there!), take pictures
500-find where I'm staying, unpack car
515-phone around to let people know I'm here now
534-get off phone, get into swim suit
535- dive into pool...ohhhhhh yeahhhhhhh
538- hear thunder (pretty far away, but why take chances?)
538 and thirty seconds- jump OUT of pool
542-sudden massive rainfall and much closer thunder.
544-get online

Time to figure out where I'm going for class tomorrow...or supper first? Hmmm.

What happened to the sunny Okanagon I've heard rumours about??

Holy crap, the rain is coming down like CRAAAAAAAAZY, and the lights are flickering. HOORAY FOR LAPTOP!!!!

School

Tomorrow I leave for Kelowna to start a one week course. I'll be there from Monday to Saturday, coming home either Saturday or Sunday, then I'll start a two year program on Monday.

*whimper*

Oh, and I'm sick like yikes. I took three days off school in the second last week, then was almost better when I got WHAMMED with illness again. Summer colds are the worst. :P I've got a doctor's appointment on my way out of town. Hee.

Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy

I can't WAIT to be finished tutoring. Holy crap, I'm tired of it.

Tutoring today, then not until next Monday...yay! Kids karate today too...tiring Monday...looking forward to karate though. I like doing kids karate, even when my brain feels like it's going to leak out of my ears.

I would like my weekend back please. It was fun, but not restful. I'm currently reading a biography on Maria Montessori for the course I'm starting in the summer.

What the hell, also...I was out all day Sunday, under a tent-structure at an Ultimate tournament. I literally was out in the sun for two occasions at about 20 minutes each...I HAVE A SUNBURN! Damn this pasty white skin of mine. It's not super bad, but it knocked me out for three hours yesterday afternoon.

I got random accupuncture on the weekend too. I was hanging out with the physiotherapist for most of the day because our tents were adjoined and mentioned my messed up hip, so he did some physio stuff and then he poked me with an accupuncture needle. OMFG, that was the weirdest feeling evar. I didn't feel the needle after the first quick pinch, but then suddenly a muscle that was about eight inches away started cramping up. Craaaaazy. My leg felt like it'd gotten beaten up afterwards. Interesting sensation...not sure if I'd like to repeat it.

New...weekend resolution

The time that I previously spent on clicking webcomics and blogs hour after hour in the hopes that they've updated: to be replaced by writing fiction and/or doing actual work, since I've registered for a summer course, and will be registering in a two year program next week.

The end. True story.

Miso Soup

I found miso soup paste at Save On the other week and just had some. Love it. It took me thirty seconds to make once the water was boiled, then poured it in and mixed it up. Nom nom nom. We have a boiled water dispenser at school. I will be eating this and rice every day for the next week, due to deliciousness.

Things are falling into place nicely for returning to school in July. Excellent. *steeples fingers*

Gradumacation!, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

Look what I did today! :D

Haha...oh yeah...

I've got my Bachelor of Education convocation today.

I totally forgot to say anything here. Hehe. Whoops.

Pix forthcoming, I'm totally sure. :D

HOLY CRAP I'M FINISHED SCHOOL!! I'M NOT A STUDENT ANY MORE! THIS IS A LABEL I'VE HAD FOR THE LAST 22 YEARS! I NEVER HAVE TO GO BACK TO UNIVERSITY AGAIN UNLESS I WANT TO OR ELSE I CAN'T GET A JOB!! OH MY GOD, I DON'T HAVE A JOB YET! OMG OMG OMG...

*hyperventilates and goes to sit in a corner*

I think I need some serious chocolate ice cream...or Half Baked. And chicken curry...or something like that. And alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

Whoa. I feel dizzy.

Hooray for Gravol!

Last night, I remembered I bought Gravol* in anticipation of going to Vancouver Island, the trip I didn't actually get to go on. :( However, I still have the Gravol! I take one and chat with Kit online for a few minutes, then it starts looking like this:

Karin said: maybe I should go back to bed and wait for sleepy making t o kcikin
Karin said: whops. htere it goes

And then I went to bed and passed right completely out, waking up at 8:30...half an hour before my last class of my career was to start. It's at least an hour's drive, plus I'd need to get ready still, I still had a vicious headache and I could feel cramps starting. I said, "forget it", emailed my prof and went back to bed.

Currently, at 1200, after sleeping for a while, while using too many commas, I still have the vicious headache, my cramps are worse and I'm really glad I stayed home. I also feel bad about it. :( I really really enjoyed the class I'm missing, and this would be only the third and a half day I've missed classes this entire year **. Now, telling you this is a scary bad thing, because every time that I brag about not missing any classes, I get so sick that within a week I've missed one. Maybe by bragging now, I'm taking up the slack for today. It's a nice thought...

*Actually no name brand "Travel Tabs". They were $1.85.
**Plus one day of practicum

Test Update

So, I didn't take the test today after all...because my prof cancelled it! I would LOVE this class if it wasn't for all the uncertainty. :P

I mostly finished a skirt today. I should probably hem it, but the bottom is serged and it doesn't look too bad. I kinda like it that way. Pictures later.

I did a bunch of quizzes, so here are my results.

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 6/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Your Stress Level is: 55%

You are somewhat prone to stress, especially when life gets hard. When things are good, you resist stressing over little problems. But when things are difficult, you tend to freak out and find it hard to calm down.

How Stressed Are You?

Your 1950s Name is:

Phyllis Dorothy

What's your 1950s Name?

You Should Weigh 145

If you weigh less than this, you either have a fast metabolism or are about to gain weight. If you weigh more than this, you may be losing a few pounds soon!

How Much Do You Weigh?

Your Hair Should Be Red

Passionate, fiery, and sassy. You're a total smart aleck who's got the biggest personality around.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

You Have A Type B+ Personality

You're a pro at going with the flow You love to kick back and take in everything life has to offer A total joy to be around, people crave your stability. While you're totally laid back, you can have bouts of hyperactivity. Get into a project you love, and you won't stop until it's done You're passionate - just selective about your passions

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

Your Geek Profile:

Academic Geekiness: Highest SciFi Geekiness: Highest Gamer Geekiness: Moderate Geekiness in Love: Moderate Music Geekiness: Moderate Fashion Geekiness: Low Internet Geekiness: Low Movie Geekiness: Low General Geekiness: None

How Geeky Are You?

A Big List of Stuff

(rant)
I'm in this class. We're regurgitating the textbook in presentations and that's all the class is. Grr...the prof hasn't taught us anything all term. Also, we haven't had any feedback on any of our assignments, we're losing out 14+ hours of teaching time (out of a possible 36) and we have a quiz tomorrow. ARGH! Now I have several choices. I can take this quiz tomorrow (Friday) and having a four day weekend and only needing to go to school on Wednesday, taking it next Tuesday and having a three day weekend only needing to go in Wednesday or taking it Friday and needing to go in Tuesday, Wednesday AND Friday. I need to go in tomorrow anyway, so I think I'll decide when I get there. I emailed my prof and hopefully she'll give me my feedback. I'll be a lot less stressed if I know that I had a high enough mark that I could just not take the test and I'd still pass the course. It's only worth 25% of my mark and I need 76% to pass. Yuck.
(/rant)

I followed a raven yesterday. It was pretty cool. :D I also ate vast quantities of huckleberries after picking them myself, walked through a Japanese garden and looked at some beautiful museum objects. I looked at all of these pieces of art that were all so different, but they all had one thing in common. Someone, somewhere had a vision of beauty, and they took materials...clay, paint, wood or wool...and made these incredible representations of their thoughts. This...THIS is what I want to do.

Today I went through a community centre near Chinatown and learned about the work that they do, including a breakfast program for the children in the area. It was awesome. I'd been worried about getting into an inner city school when I finally had my own classroom, but now I'm almost HOPING to be put in a poorer section of the Lower Mainland. I've got a bunch of ideas for how to help my students. We also toured Chinatown, including a Taoist temple. It was really neat! I burned some incense and said a prayer while there were seven or eight people (monks and nuns?) chanting and ringing chimes. It was truly amazing.

This has been a pretty spiritual week. Between ravens and museums and gardens and incense and picking my own food, I'm feeling awfully serene, despite the annoyance of this class. Could this be because I've only got two more class days??? I think it might be!

Also! I have an auction up on ebay via my friend...Phantom of the Opera tickets...fifth row, August 11th. If you're interested, please bid, or let other people know that they're there. Thank you!

Good Guesses!

I don't really want to post what I actually did to get my arms all scraped up...I like the guesses better! But, I did promise, and it is a day late.

Picture, if you will, one of the movie popcorn promo buckets. Now, picture me in short sleeves, toting said bucket. Now, after one hour, picture said bucket 3/4 filled with sweet, succulent blackberries, for my sweet boyfriend. Awwwww...

Incidentally, there's a correlation between the biggest clumps of the biggest, ripest blackberries and the greatest amount of thorns between the picker and the clump.

Today was awesome. I only have two (2!!!) days of classes left, due to field trips and other things. I have a field trip to Chinatown tomorrow (w00t!) to learn about the immigration headtax and a community centre that continues the local school's free breakfast and lunch program in the summer when the school is (obviously) closed. Friday I have a quiz. Monday is a stat holiday (BC day). Tuesday I'm supposed to go visit the Museum of Anthropology on my own, but I went yesterday, so I now have Tuesday off (whee! Four day weekend!). Wednesday I have class, but it's going to be fun. I love my Exceptionalities class. And I'm not just saying that because my prof probably has this address * or anything. ;) Thursday and Friday, my classes are finished for that day. Holy crap. I've only got two days left.

*Hi Raquel!

Today...today pretty much rocked.

The fast version: I got early morning snuggles when I went to Dave's to get my lift to school, I worked out the above calculations, had an interesting class, went swimming for free, had lunch for partly free, studied for my quiz which will be pretty easy, went home with Dave and had a good dinner.

Swimming: At lunch time, students at my university are allowed to swim for free, so I arranged to be there at that time. I started out swimming in the moderate lane (slow, moderate or fast were my options) but got passed with AUTHORITY before I'd gone half a length. This was somewhat demoralizing. I've never been a ridiculously fast swimmer, but I can usually keep up. I switched to the slow lane where it took me ten minutes to swim four lengths of the Olympic sized outdoor pool, since I needed to rest after every length. This was also very depressing, so I took my towel and headed into the complex. While there, I decided not to give up so quickly, so I started slowly doing laps of the shorter pool. My goal was to do ten minutes, to match my outside stuff. I reached the end of the ten minutes, but I was on the other side of the pool, so I swam back. When I reached the end, it was pretty close (ish) to 15 minutes, so I bullied myself into going for that amount of time. I did that a few more times, and wound up swimming for 35 minutes. That doesn't really sound like much, but it's the most activity I've done in a row since Pender Island...over a month ago. I was completely exhausted by the end of it. I was resting every so often still because I was having a bit of trouble breathing still (freaking pneumonia) but I did 35 minutes worth of swimming.

I am so incredibly proud of myself.

Oh, and I drank three lime Diet Cokes. I'll just sit here vibrating for a while, shall I?

Yesterday

Yesterday was AWESOME. I took my last antibiotic pill, then fell asleep before the taste invaded my mouth (about half an hour after taking it). By the time I woke up again, the taste had dissipated (about 3-4 hours after taking). I am pleased.

Things to do today, in order of importance...ie: the way they really should be done.
-start laundry pile #1
-work on IEP assigment
-swap laundry #1, put in laundry #2, continue working on assignent
-swap laundry #2, put in laundry #3, put away laundry #1 and the rest of laundry hanging around my room
-swap laundry #3, put in laundry #4, put away laundry #2 (I have a lot of clothes, ok?), finish IEP assignment
-do the laundry swap, start to memorize the glossary of my assessment text (I'm going to write about this class at some point...)
-apply for school boards and the BCCT.
-laundry swap, clean my kitchen to prepare for the massive room clean
-start the wash of fabric that is still around, start moving stuff into boxes and boxes into the kitchen.
-create giant empty space in room part and huge enormous stacks of stuff in kitchen part.
-vacuum
-work on secret project #1 and consider secret project #2.
-go visit Dave where he's doing an Ultimate clinic workshop thingie all day.
-watch "Blade: The Series", "Kim Possible" and "The Simpsons" that my computer has recorded for me.
-collapse into bed with a smile on my face, knowing that I got a lot done and my week will be easier because of it.

Prediction of things I'll actually get done today
-watch "Blade: The Series", "Kim Possible" and "The Simpsons" that my computer has recorded for me.
-read blogs and webcomics
-check my email
-play Minesweeper or Spider Solitaire
-work on secret project #1 and consider secret project #2.
-take a nap
-half-assedly start some laundry.
-collapse into bed and realize that DAMMIT! I didn't actually get anything done. Chastise self for wasting weekend.

Ohhhh...holy crap.

My head has been spinning for the last two hours. I feel so dizzy that I feel like I'm going to be sick. Ohhhhh....ugghhhhh...

Of course, since I'm an attention and sympathy whore, I'm going to post here instead of going to bed. I have GOT to get my priorities straight.

Also, quick plug. I don't have any money right now, but I'm doing a presentation on the Kids Help Phone at school tomorrow (the only reason I'm still awake with the spinny head) and the more research I did, the more impressed I am. Please, send them a couple of bucks if you can. They do good work. I think that KHP will be my charity of choice for my birthday this year. The last few years it's been breast cancer.

And my printer is possessed...I just printed out some stuff and now it's decided to spit out a swack * of blank paper. STOP THAT.

* Swack. n. "More than a bit. Less than a bunch." --The Teacher's Brain Dictionary. Copyright "The Teacher". All rights reserved. Void in Utah and Quebec. Your mileage may vary.

I could go on, but that would be stupid. Good night.

Grumpy.

I am grumpy. And grouchy. I hate those words because they feel like inadequate descriptions and somewhat childish * . It's hard to find a word to describe how I feel though. I'm not angry. I'm not sad. I'm just...off.

You know...grumpy. Or maybe grouchy.



Reasons why I'm grumpy and/or grouchy:
1) My throat really hurts.
2) My stomach hurts.
3) I still have more than two weeks worth of school **
3a) I have no job yet. Yeep.
3aI) I have no money.
4) I have assignments to do still and I can't focus. Grrr...
5) I want to be creative and play with fabric and paint and clay (err...not all as one project)
6) My room is a complete fucking disaster. I managed to put away some fabric last night, but it's still really bad. I'm hoping that a new strategy will work...I'll probably give it its own post, because I don't really have much in the way of inspiration lately.

*probably because the first thing I associate with those words are cartoon characters and muppets. Grumpy of "Seven Dwarf" fame, and Oscar the Grouch.

**On the flip side, I've only got about two weeks left of school.

Two more weeks. Two more weeks. Two more weeeeeeeeeks.

I have an army in my room. (Uhhh...NNY...you might not want to read the rest of this. Close the browser or leave the page. No pictures, but you will be grossed out. Seriously. Remember the tick picture.) Let's refer to this army as "space invaders" because I hate even the sight of the shape of that word. Anyway, these "space invaders" are most commonly of the variety "familiar name for male parent, opposite of short, lower extremities". On any given day, I'll see three or so of them around my bathroom. Bleah. I hate killing stuff, "space invaders" included, but this was getting ridiculous. And I don't mind this kind nearly as much as the icky gross bleahhhhhh "space invaders" that I used to see. But then...THEN! I saw two of them ATTACKING AND KILLING one of the icky bleah ones! WICKED! One of them did it again today. This pleases me greatly.

So, here's the deal. The "familiar name for male parent, opposite of short, lower extremities" get to stay. If they venture outside my bathroom or on anything that is not wall, ceiling or some floor, they're open game. Otherwise, they can just sit around and do their canabalistic thing.

One thing that more than sort of bothers me...how many of the other "space invaders" ARE there in my room to support at least five or six of the others. Best not to dwell on that too much...I may just discover the answer when I start moving furniture around to vacuum.