Help Internet-benkenobi! You're my only hope!

I have a dillema dilema dillemna dilemna problem (beyond the fact that I can't spell that word...). I would like to purchase an mp3 player, because my Rio Karma bit the dust a few months back...whoa...nearly a year now. I would like to buy an iPod of some flavour that isn't the Shuffle. Anyone have any suggestions? I want to use it to work out with and listen when I'm in the car or at my computer. The working out thing is the part I'm worried about. With my Rio, I managed to drop it a few times when I was working out on the punching bag, or on the exercise bike, so I'd need something I can attach very securely to my person, or that won't die if I'm my usual clumsy self.

Please leave personal experiences and/or warnings and/or links to complaints in the comments.

Thanks!

Meme!

Is this the first one of the new year? Hmmm... might be.

Irene tagged me...and it's the FIVE THINGS ABOUT ME MEME! Me meme? That's hard to type. I'm going to slot in stuff that's been going on, very sneakily, since I haven't been posting. Cop out? Maybe. :P My blog, my rules.

1) While I publicly aver that I despise pink, I secretly love it (especially paired with black...mmmm...). *looks around at the site* This may not be such a secret any more...

2) I had my orientation with my school district today. It went well. :) I could be teaching on Monday, assuming my criminal record check came back this afternoon. Now, assuming they don't find out about that weekend back in '01... ;)

3) I love creating things. I love learning how to make new things. This results in a plethora of projects. (And apparently alliteration, also.) I have trouble finishing things. This results in a precarious pile of UFOs (UnFinished Objects).

4) I'm a collector. I collect rocks, books, craft stuff (yarn etc. You've seen my stash...), clothes (I'm not sure how it happens! I don't remember buying THAT many clothes!!), stuffed animals (Ooh! That one's cute!)...basically anything large, bulky and/or heavy. It's going to be fun to move eventually.

5) As of Monday, or whenever I get called, I'm going to have three jobs again. Oy.
5a) As of Monday, people who want to see me will have to schedule several weeks in advance and fill out the proper forms in triplicate.

Ooh, Prizes!

Go to here if you blog to fill out a questionaire. Prizes are offered!

I'm in.

I could be subbing in someone's classroom this time next Monday.

Whoa...I'm in a bit of shock.

Also...look at the tags. NO STRESS TAG!! WOOO!!!

Soooo...

It's after closing time for government buildings, including school boards.

Looks like I'll be finding out on Monday.

In order to escape from the ARGH! I'll be in Victoria all tomorrow with Dave. :)

Some News?

It's possible that I have *VERY* good news.

It's equally possible that I have not got any good news.

I don't have the news yet. Watch this space...I'll post as soon as I know. And since Dave's a contributer on this site, and I'll be away from the computer all day...maybe I'll ask him to post when I find out. :)

Boy, this "work" tag (down at the bottom) is sure getting a lot of use these days...as is that pesky other one beside it. :P

Sound off!

Poll time: since everyone I talk to is SURE I'm going to get this position...am I the only one who actually has doubts??

Thanks. :)

I think...

...that it went ok. There was one point where one of the interviewers said, "Ok, but you haven't answered my question." and I couldn't remember the question...luckily she repeated it so I didn't have to ask. :P

Overall? I don't think I did as well as I could have, but I think I did fine. I'll find out on Friday or Monday if I'm being invited for orientation.

If things continue in this vein...

1245: finish working on my portfolio and going over interview questions. Read for about ten minutes, figure I'm not going to fall asleep, but decide to turn out the light anyway. Fret that even if I manage to fall asleep, there's no way in hell I'm going to STAY asleep for any length of time, especially without wild dreams that leave me more exhausted than when I started. (this is how I deal with stress. That and stomach aches)

aprox. 0120: drop off to sleep, despite my mild freaking out.

649: wake up 11 minutes before my alarm, completely refreshed and without the memory of waking up, or any stress dreams. Doze until my alarm goes off and I can relax that it's set.

700: it's set. Hit snooze and do some breathing exercises doze off again.

709: Actually do breathing exercises. Feel nervous, but confident.

720: Stop writing this post so I can take a shower, eat breakfast so I don't feel like I want to throw up due to hunger (what a weird reflex...).

I think I'm going to be sick...

13 10.5 8 hours and five minutes until my interview tomorrow morning. I think it's a toss up between my mom and I as to who is going to get the least amount of sleep. Argh.

I have my email folder open in another tab...I haven't checked yet to see if the interview is cancelled. Wahhhh...I'm scared to look. Ok, here goes.

...

Ok...nothing yet.

I'm going to work on my portfolio and make sure I know the difference between Piaget and Erikson. Please think happy thoughts at me at 9:00 am tomorrow morning!

Trying for the Third Time

I'm trying to get my photos to burn to DVD...third time's the charm? I managed to find some of the photos that I'd thought were lost...turns out that I'd saved them in the wrong hard drive. Grrr...I'm so confused trying to maneuver around my computer these days. I haven't been posting on flickr lately, but I'll be doing that probably in the next few hours, assuming this all works...

So! I've been reading the Yarn Harlot's blog. She is...inspiring. Wow. I'll see a picture of a...pair of socks...say. She'll cast them on one day, and then the next day will be a picture of the finished object. It's INSANE. I'm jealous. So I knit a bunch this weekend. Pics on flickr...assuming this all works.

Hmmm...

I think my DVD drive/burner is broken. Umm...this isn't good.

When all else fails...

...ask the people on the internet.

Since there's massive snowfall, it seems appropriate to knit. I have some very special wool that I bought on Pender Island when I was there during the summer, but I don't have a lot of it, so I was thinking I'd knit up a slender, lacy scarf. However, it's an odd wool, handspun, and it changes back and forth from really fine to rather thick and back again. A picture of the yarn itself is HERE.

Japanese Lantern Scarf. Not a very good picture, but maybe the best for the slubby-ness of the yarn.

Feather and Fan. Very simple. I approve of simple.

Branching Out. I love this one, but I'm worried that the pattern will get lost due to gauge change of the wool. Also, it should probably be leaf coloured...whether it be green, or autumn colours.

Hmmmmm...

I'm probably going to wind up making a little swatch of each one to see how it works...but I just thought I'd throw this out there. Comments are appreciated. Thanks!

*mouth agape*

This? Absolutely incredible... I want to do something like this now.

http://www.jeffdeboer.com/Galleries/CatsMice/tabid/63/Default.aspx

DAMMIT!!!!

My interview has been rescheduled to next week. WAHHHHH!!!!!

Ok...tooo many variations!

I finally remembered my password. Ye gods. I'm changing it to something a little less forgettable.

Soooo...this week is DELURKING WEEK! That's right! Comment to say hi if you read here. I know that I've got a dozen or so regular readers who comment on a frequent-ish basis (when comments work. :P) but I know there's a few of you who are lurking. So, say hi! :)

I want to talk about my resolutions...mostly they have to do with fun stuff, which I think is good. It keeps me from feeling too awful if it doesn't work out.

I) NO YARN FOR A YEAR
The rules are as follows:
1. The Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through September 30, 2007 -- a period of nine months.
2. We will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:
2.a. Sock yarn does not count. What? You think we are made of stone?
2.b. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that we really and truly do not have the yarn for, we may buy yarn to knit that gift.
2.c. If we are knitting something and run out of yarn, we may purchase enough to complete the project.
2.d. We each get one "Get Out of Jail Free" card -- we are each allowed to fall off the wagon one time.
3. We are allowed to receive gifts of yarn.
4. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt.

So, what's coming up....for Valentines, Chinese New Year, St. Patrick's Day, my Mom's birthday and Easter, I'd like yarn please. ;)

II) FINISH UP UFO's (aka UnFinishedObjects)
I have waaaaaaaaaay too many projects started. So, these need to be finished.

III) DO MORE CREATIVE THINGS/MAKE TIME FOR MYSELF
Whether it's reading, knitting, sewing, painting, etc. I need to make more time for myself.

IV) SELL ARTWORK
I'm focusing mostly on photography, but I'm open to selling other items, especially fabric/yarn related stuff, since that stuff's REALLY bulky and I'd like to get it out of here.

V) CONTINUE HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
I fell off the wagon the last few weeks of 2006, due to extreme candy and cookie availability, but I've managed to stay fairly active. Now to finish off the holiday treats, and continue being active!

I've got a few other ones, but I'll save them for now. Currently, I've managed to work on all of these things except the unfinished projects one. I've been enamoured with fingerless gloves and made a pair of those. This of course, means I needed to make a matching hat! I don't have enough yarn for a matching scarf (wahhh!) so does this mean that it falls under the "if you don't have enough yarn for the project" clause? I'm thinking not yet. Maybe once I've busted my stash down a bit.

Incidentally, does anyone want to buy a pair of fingerless gloves? ;) They won't cost too much...probably 10 bucks or less. ;) Feel free to look through my stash pictures and pick a colour (I can also do kids size)

I Should Be Sleeping...

...but I'm not.

Happy Birthday, Dave. For a present, you get...the bestest girlfriend in the WORLD!

:D

And as soon as I find her for ya, she's yours. Until then, you're stuck with me.

Love you lots. :)

PS. I'm not really looking all that hard. :)

No Title

One of the problems with not posting very often is that I will freeze up when I actually sit down at a computer, since there are so many things I want to talk/write about. So, here's a list of things I want to talk about.

1) Christmas
2) my cousin's wedding celebration
3) New Years
4) knitting and my new resolution
5) photography and my new resolution
6) New Years resolutions
7) TV shows I want to/have been watching
8) the amazing amount of interest generated by one of my photos
9) how I'm freaking out slightly about my interview in eight days
10) missing people, but still enjoying doing stuff at home

But, I'm supposed to be working tomorrow at some point, and it's very late, and I've been informed that I'm going on a date with my fabulous boyfriend tomorrow, and I've still got to clear off the yarn on my bed...since I catalogued my entire stash tonight. Oh...my. I took pictures, but I'm not sure I want to post them...so here's a picture of a fingerless glove that I knit instead. The other one is still on the needles, but ought to be finished by tomorrow.



Sooo...since I don't want anyone else to have free time...here is a link to some free books online. http://www.baen.com/library/

Boo.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a good weekend/holiday Monday.

Me? I don't really remember much of Christmas Day. I somehow managed to contract the plague on Christmas Eve. We were opening presents (Austrian tradition) when suddenly it felt like someone had shoved sandpaper down my throat, scratchy side out. I then had a sore throat that lasted until sometime last night while I was sleeping. The sore throat was THEN replaced with that fun "inability to turn over in bed without coughing" that is so wonderfully reminicient of summer...when I had pneumonia. Whee! I seem to be getting better though...so we'll see. This is why I haven't been social.

Today I didn't feel like going anywhere, but I sucked it up and went out to Mundy Park where Dave and some other guys were playing disc golf. I opted out of playing, instead going around the park sort of with them, shooting about two hundred pictures. (As always, they can be found on flickr.) I had originally planned on photographing birds, but...well...the birds were camera shy, so I didn't get anything except a raven. Which was cool...don't get me wrong! One of the things (er...two, I suppose) I got for Christmas were two bird books. One is an Audobon identifying book for Western Canada and the US, and one is Vancouver/Lower Mainland based telling which birds are found where. In this, I discovered that my favourite bird of all time, the American Kestrel, actually is a fairly frequent visitor! I'm super excited about that, and will be going out on specific photo shoots to see if I can get myself some pictures.

Now, it's time for bed, because I would like to try and get to as many stores as I can tomorrow to give me Friday off-ish.

One of my favourite pictures from this afternoon...

*ding* Lightbulb

Maybe people aren't commenting on my posts because Haloscan SUCKS and hasn't been allowing it. *grumblesnark*

My interview is on January 10th...don't know the time yet. I'll find out in the new year. I'm so happy that I found out now...what a nice pre holiday present.

BTW, Happy Solstice everyone...it'll only get lighter from here on in! WOO!

Do you believe...

...in ghosts??



As always, more photos at Flickr.

Dum da DUM!!!!

Why doesn't anyone comment on my postx any more? Well, you all better comment on this one.

I'VE GOT AN INTERVIEW IN MY NUMBER ONE CHOICE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT!

Hell YEAH!!!!

So, hi! Again!

After being all excited about getting Blogger Beta...I've posted, what? Three times? Bah.

Things I've been doing:
READING! Yay! I've missed doing that. I've been reading a series by Steven Erikson called the Malazan Book of the Fallen. I'm on book four, which Dave has just finished. It's kind of fun to be reading the same series. I kind of liked the first book, but found it hard to understand what was going on, got very confused in the second book and HATED the ending of the third book. Based on Dave's recommendation, I decided I'd give book four a shot. So far, it's the best one.

I've also been reading one of my MANY Chapters bargain books. This one is called "Last of the Amazons" and I don't know who wrote it, but I bet Google does. Ah, yes. Here we go.

Because I participated in the generic-winter-holiday-pay-it-forward event, I received a copy of "Amy Unbounded" in the mail last night. Written by Rachel Hartman, it's an amazing graphic novel with a great story, wicked dialogue and great art. I highly recommend it. Shoo! Go over to Amazon and buy it! Go now! I want all of the rest of it now!

Ok. What else have I been doing?

Working: Working at the stores is going well. I had a crazy busy week last week. I think I went to roughly...eleventy billion stores. Give or take. Friday morning, it took me an hour and a half to go 20 km. That was...somewhat unpleasant. I'm looking forward to my paycheque. :D That and tutoring. I've managed to keep my students generally taught, so I should have a pretty fair chunk of change by the end of the month. This pleases me.

Karate: Haha...I forgot to post about this. I passed my grading! I was not happy at all with my execution of the techniques, but I will feel better for my next one because I'm already training for it, even though I haven't talked to anyone about it, or been given a date or anything like that (this awkward sentence requires brackets {especially nested ones.}.). If I start now, I may actually feel better about how I do.

Knitting: Finished a hat. Real wool, for the first time. I'm pretty happy about it. I found out that the wool that I used to knit some soaker pants for beverly_sutphin's son isn't very good because it will pill. Ick. I was going to make some soakers for a new baby of some friends, but I believe I will instead finish the quilt that I pieced a few weeks ago.

Cleaning: I almost have a craft area. I have a bunch of books organized, and my brother dug out the rec room, which is where all my paints are. I'm feeling pretty creative, and I'm excited about using up some of my stash.

So that's it. I've been busy, and you know what? I'm happier now (despite total exhaustion after working every day...holy crap, climbing ladders all day sucks the life out of me) than I have been in months. I knew I was a little depressed, but I didn't realize just how awful and down I'd been feeling until I suddenly didn't have this shadow hanging over me. Yep. Ok, done. Bedtime.

Oh. A special shout out to Dave. Go congratulate him, mmmmmkay? :)

End of Year Meme

Stolen from many

The guidelines:
1) Go into your archives and find the first sentence of the first entry of each month of 2006.
2) Copy and paste that sentence into your blog.

January: I had a good evening last night...good friends, good food, fun games and movie.
February: KARIN http://metaatem.net/words/
March: I'm still kind of sick...this sucks.
April: I went to a great vegetarian restaurant today, Naam...it's awesome.
May: It's already the first of May.
June: I have so many things I've mentally noted to write about and I can't think of many at the moment.
July: Hey all.
August: I don't really want to post what I actually did to get my arms all scraped up...I like the guesses better!
September: Happy four year anniversary, Dave.
October: Gwynabella tagged me.
November: Just a note: I won't put any spoilers here...so people who aren't going to read along with it can read here without worry.
December: Or: how to make sure more is given than received.

So...hi!

I've got a job! Basically, I fix displays at various stores around the Lower Mainland. It's not a bad job, the hours are flexible, my boss-who-doesn't-want-to-be-thought-of-as-a-boss is fun to work with and the pay is decent. It's exhausting though...I'm not used to working 8 hour days any more...and I'm definitely not used to climbing ladders and/or standing all day. Even when I was doing my practicum, it was only 5 hours of teaching, and there was a lot of sitting and/or crouching. Very little climbing.

So far, I'm doing pretty well I think, although I came home for a half day today because I felt like utter crap. I slept for a while and dreamed some freaky ass dreams about hurricanes and the horse I had that we sold when I was 16. I've got some serious residual guilt about that...it's been 11 years and I still dream about her occasionally. Gah.

Light Spiral

I'm sure I'll get tired of long exposures on Christmas lights by the time the Christmas lights get put away. Until then, I'm afraid I'll be subjecting you to the occasional vomit inducing long exposure picture....as seen above.

*nervous*

I'm testing for karate today at about 6:15. Think happy tai-sabaki (body displacement techniques) at me...

Playing with Light

I had to update

This is my 1337 post.

I'm such a freaking nerd.

kthxbye...

About Freaking Time!

I finally got my "switch to Blogger Beta" option today. I was getting cranky, since I'd been here for AGES. *snark* Anyway, I'm finally part of the cool kids club. And look! I've only got 3000 posts to go through and tag! Whee!!

I'm in the process of writing out an application form for a non-teaching job that I'm starting tomorrow. Yup. Got the job already. It should be fun. :D I'm looking forward to it. I didn't mention anything about it earlier because I didn't want to jinx it. So there we go. I start tomorrow and will be training all week.

I've done a bunch of stuff with my flickr account, including geo-tagging all of my photos. The ones at UBC are pretty accurate down to the building/road. The ones taken at my house, Dave's house, the school I did my practicum at...not so much. I live at a 711, according to the map. I'm just conceited enough to think that anyone would want to stalk me, hence the elaborate subterfuge.

Not sure if I've mentioned this or not, but I went and saw Casino Royale a few days ago. MUST SEE AGAIN! Anyone interested?

What is This?, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

Leave a comment with your guess as to what this photograph could be of. Maybe there will be prizes...like cookies! Or something!

GLEE!!!

So freaking excited! My best friend got me a Pro Flickr account for my Christmas present. Woo! *runs over to flickr to play with the sets and the maps and ALL THE PHOTOS THAT ARE AVAILABLE!!!!*

Star Trek and the Holy Grail

OMG...don't watch this at work, or with liquids in your mouth.

"I have to push the praaaam a lot!!!"

Victor Scott - Gotta Go

My cousin Victor has his first music video out and I absolutely love it. You must look at it. I compel you!

Frosty's DEAD!!, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

Someone ran over Frosty! Actually, it's a bunch of tree branches that we hadn't hauled to the dump yet. I'm a sick, sick individual. I should've stuck a carrot and top hat there.

Yes, another quiz

I was a true alternative, but I got irritated with the way it screwed up my template. :P

Quiz is here

Hahaha!, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

SO TRUE!!!!

Telegram

To: Internet
From: The Teacher
Computer less broken stop Probably will update later stop Hooray for Dave exclamation point full stop

The pay-it-forward generic-winter-holiday gift-giving game!

Or: how to make sure more is given than received.

Rachel didn't start it, but that's where I found it. Here's the deal: the first five comments to this post get a present from me! Here's the fine print:

1) It's then your turn to make a similar offer on your blog, obviously.
2) You must be willing to let me have your snail-mailing address, obviously.
3) The present from me will be an 8x10" framed photograph that I've taken. You may offer up whatever you wish. I accept no responsibility for any subsequent participant's offering, obviously.
4) If you really want a present and don't have a blog, please wait until it's apparent I'm not going to get five takers, and I might be willing to entertain your offer.
5) It's okay if you plan to re-gift this present.

In other news...LOOK! It's Day 31! ;)

Home Safe...Again

I'm NOT going out to karate tonight. I'm not running the risk of getting caught in the (so far) unpredicted snow.


Pictures are currently uploading onto Flickr. Verrrrry...slooooooowly....

Snowed in Again

I've gotta stop going out when the weather calls for snow! Luckily, both times I've been with great company: Dave the first time, and beverly_sutphin and family this time.

Seriously, Beverly's kids are like a big old happy pill for me. I miss everyone when I don't see them. I'm pretty content right now...hot chocolate is currently being made for me. Video games are being rented (due to insane boys going out in this weather to rent them). :D It's good stuff.

Eventually, I'll upload some of these pics I've been taking...hello and good bye to 3200! That's what? An average of 400 a week? Something like that? Crazy...no wonder my hard drive hates me.

Blargh

side note: I wonder how many of my posts here begin with an inarticulate noise...quite a few, I'd imagine.

SO!

My computer is currently broken! Yay! Hopefully Dave will be able to work his computer-fu on it and make things work. Seriously, WTF is up with me and broken computers over the last few weeks? Think happy "please don't lose any of the files" thoughts at my general direction if you please. The first thing I was going to do last night after uploading photos was to do a full back up of everything. DAMMIT. I realized this morning that I had close to 700 photos that I hadn't backed up yet. Eeeeeee... no good... Please oh please...

Today was lousy. Computer broken, angry about no job, etc. ad nauseum.

Then I started getting a really bad headache and my stomach started hurting in that fun, monthly kinda way. "Ah!" I said, raising my finger to the sky, then quickly placing it back on the steering wheel (as I was driving at the time). "This is why I've been so ARGH today, and would've been more ARGH if I hadn't been in Nanaimo." Hooray for PMS. :P At least this time I get to pretend my insanity has a cause.

I've been doing a lot of driving over the Pitt River bridge between my house and Maple Ridge. Several years ago, when I was first going over there regularly, there were bright orange plastic posts, about 4 feet tall, along the centre lane to discourage drivers from changing lanes whilst (mmm...pretentious Englishe writinge.) going over the bridge. I hadn't been that way in a while, and I noticed that every. Single. One. of these posts had been shortened to roughly 1 foot high...about the height of an average car bumper. As they are now, these posts are more of a polite suggestion than any type of deterrent. You know what really would deter people instead of plastic posts? A concrete divider. :D

Or else a PMSing, underemployed teacher using her under-utilized "teacher glare". Man, put one of those every twenty feet...THERE WILL BE NO LANE CHANGING!!!

Oh, SWEET!

Windows could not start because the following file is missiong or corrupt:
\system32\hal.dll.
Please reinstall a copy of the above file.

Woo to the HOO! /sarcasm

Testing...

Is this going to work? I posted a more real post on my basically unused LJ...we'll see what happens. Dave and I are back from Nanaimo, and we're snowed in at his place tonight. Luckily he booked tomorrow off work and I don't need to be anywhere except tutoring at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon.

I wound up only taking ten or so pictures on the island because I was so busy, and we came home early, but I got a few nifty pictures of snow falling back out here.

Testing.............**HIT PUBLISH**

Greetings From Nanaimo!

This internet terminal doesn't have a very good space bar... $1/ten minutes! Ai-yi-yi! It's in the lobby of our hotel and I'm standing up after seven hours of disc golf.

It's snowing here. It's kind of nice, because we don't have to come home tonight...but I'm not sure when we'll come home tomorrow...maybe early. Auntie J, could you tell Mom if you see her online that we're ok in the snow? Thanks!

Last night we had dinner out at a family restaurant with juke boxes on some of the tables...not ours though. :( Probably just as well because I wouldn't've paid attention to Dave if there had been. "Ooh! They've got FLOYD!!! Huh? What? Yuh huh...ooh! Jewel!" *clicky clicky* I had a rather uninspired seafood soup and "Caesar" salad. Oh well. Then Dave and I went to see Happy Feet, because we would have just been around our room so we figured we'd actually go out.

Disc golfing was pretty awesome. We played in the COOOOOOLD for a lot of the time. Things were warming up a bit and the sun even made a wee brief appearance, but then it started snowing. At one point I had to switch from my white discs because the ground was covered! I slid down a hill on one of my discs. It was amusing, but my hands froze after that. Luckily it was the last hole.

Also! Guess who won Amateur Ladies? Yeah...that'd be me. :D I've got a trophy and twenty bucks to prove it. WOOO!!

Ok, time's up. *love* Talk to everyone later.

Grrrr...

OMG. I hate packing so very much.

Off to the island for a disc golf tourney this weekend. Wish Dave and I the luck!

Gradumacation!, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

Look what I did today! :D

*cough gag*

Oh my GOD. Arnica gel smells like EVIL. Like EVIL DEATH! Not Evil Dead. Although maybe a zombie...

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

COOLEST THING EVAR!!!!!!

This takes a while to load, but holy crap. I <3 it.

http://www.geogreeting.com/view.html?zeV0nrd2+p-v29D6+ON7F

Rabbit Update

Running desperately around the wheel...feeling sick because I totally dropped the ball on the tutoring thing and I think I'm supposed to be in two places at once tomorrow, but I can't ASK anyone because they don't know I've dropped the ball.

And that damned letter from the school board. I hate this. I HATE this. I can't deal with everything. ARGH!

Now it's nearly three am. I just want all my responsibilities to vanish for a few months. I don't even HAVE that many responsibilities! How am I going to cope with working? Or when I want to have kids? I think I need a few months in a padded cell.

Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. (and I typed each of those out...no cut and paste here!)

I just feel so helpless. *sigh*

Anger and Depression

Bad day today. My alarm didn't go off and I slept until I had to leave for tutoring. Checked my email and I'd forgotten a tutoring job I had yesterday. Got a letter from one of my school boards saying that they weren't going to interview me.

Fuck.

Can I have a do-over?

Smiling

The comments on my previous post made me smile today. Thanks to everyone. :D

I have purple painted nails. Finger AND toe. Although I have to redo two of the fingers as I managed to drop the (capped!!) bottle of nailpolish under my bed and the polish wasn't quite dry yet. There's a lot of "yuck" under my bed. I should get on that...

Due to some lovely hand/body cream, I have fancy, papaya milk scented hands (and arms and elbows because I put too much on and needed to spread it around). The polish and the hand cream were gifts from Dave from Gwynabella's aromatherapy store.

Less smiling: I had my hard core schedule all figured out...was very excited about it...had my alarm set for 0800... Then I stayed up until 430 reading a novel and spent nearly five hours hitting my snooze button. At least I'll be tired tonight...

Furious Anger

I. Do. Not. Want. Advice.

Is that clear enough? Seriously. I will kick you in the butt if you give me any more unsolicited advice. I don't care if you're trying to help. I just. Don't. Care. Leave me alone. If I tell you not to give me advice because I'm working things out on my own, when you still persist, you're not trying to help me. You're trying to show off how much you know and that's all about you and what you want. You're just being selfish.

Don't tell me to "smile" when you see me in public, especially if you don't even know me. I'm not your little girl puppet who makes you uncomfortable when I'm not falling into your perfect little happy childish cliche. I'm not happy right now. And that's none of your fucking business.

****

Hi. I'm not in the best of moods right now. The above was pre-emptive, not because anyone's doing it. Thanks. Oh except for the "smile" in public. Some asshole did that to me once a few years ago...and it still pisses me off.

Things I'm doing to put myself into a better space:
-exercise
-time for creative stuff
-creating a strict schedule which allows me lots of time for creativity and exercise, while also getting stuff done that needs to get done.
-clearing out the deadweight of all this physical stuff that's in my living area. Enough is enough. Maybe I'm finally sick enough of it all to just make it go away.

So yes. I'm working on it. Thanks for reading the virulent attack. And it probably wasn't directed at you...we'll see what happens in the comments. ;)

ZOOOM!

Running away to karate...will post later, but wanted Day 18 to be in. :)

NaBloPoMo Day 17

This post is a potpourri. Hence, no descriptive title. Although none of my titles are really THAT descriptive. And none of my posts are really that un-potpourri-like.

Wow...I've done more than half way on the posting every day thing. I'm pretty impressed with myself. :) Unfortunately, the same cannot be say for NaNoWriMo. I wrote hard for the first five days, then gave up. I got sick, I got depressed, I got REALLY SICK FOR THREE DAYS OMG!!!! and so I've decided my time was better off elsewhere.

Last night, the rabbit that runs on the wheel inside my head refused to step off the wheel, churning it around madly within my brain for hours. And hours. And hours.

Until six am. The squeak of the wheel was as follows, "you'renotgonnaGETajob you'renotgonnaGETajob you'renotgonnaGETajob you'renotgonnaGETajob". It was really nice. I was so excited. :P Finally at six I was starving, as one is when they're up at some ungodly hour, so I ate a yogurt, took 1/4 of a Gravol and was knocked out fifteen minutes later.

I managed to get up for an hour or two at 11, then came back down and passed out until five.

Looks like I'm back to being nocturnal...but that's not so bad tonight! Because I'm hanging out with Gwynabella and Dave this evening, and there will be food maybe a movie and possibly even wine consumed because guess what...

It's been over a month since I went off booze and caffeine!! YAY!!! Good news: the dizzy spells have nearly vanished after the hellish first week and change. Bad news: the dizzy spells went away...which means it was probably the cutting out of the caffeine that did it. Dammit! To test that theory, I toasted the arrival home of my brother yesterday with one of my beloved Lime Diet Cokes. Oh...how I have missed thee. The Diet Caffeine Free Cokes with a squeeze of lime juice? Faugh! They are as mud to your sweet, sweet, caffeine-y and artificial lime goodness. *cuddles up to one*

Ahem. I quite enjoyed it...as you may be able to tell.

Unfortunately...guess what happened twenty minutes after I finished it. Mild dizzy, mild nausea. This could've been because I was about to drive to Maple Ridge to teach a new student upon whom I cancelled the previous day because of the windstorm and I wasn't sure how the parents would react to me. So could've been nerves...in fact, I believe it was indeed nerves.

And to test that, I'm gonna have one! Just not tonight. I'd rather the rabbit fell off the wheel on its own...not because I shot it with misused Gravol.

Happy, happy dance

My "little" (6'something) brother is coming home today! He's been working on a cruise ship for the last six months and we're leaving for the airport in *EEP* nine minutes!

WOOOOOOO!

Quilt, originally uploaded by Random Synapses.

What with the whole computer blowing up thing, I spent some time off the computer and finally finished up this quilt topper for a baby quilt for some friends who just had a baby girl. It's gone through the washer all right, and now it's in the dryer, so with any luck I won't have any burst seams and can put batting and the backing on tomorrow or over the next few days.

I always worry about the first wash...my projects always look fine, but...I'm not sure how strong they are a lot of the time. Thus, I like to do the first several washes here before I actually give it someone.

Fixed!!

Hooray! I'm computer'ed again! My computer had been broken but it now seems to be fixed. We'll find out quickly...

It's odd how attached to the computer one gets...this morning afternoon (I'm allowed...still recovering...) I woke up and blearily went to my desk...then remembered I had no computer.

Last night, I did some sewing, a bunch of reading and went to bed early. I was caught up in a book so I didn't actually go to SLEEP early, but I had the right idea.

Tomorrow I start tutoring a student for a few weeks while the usual teacher is away. I'll be taking a bunch more of her students...assuming that I ever get myself together enough to call her about it. It's on my list. I'm doing it tomorrow.

Yep. I made another To Do list. I find it's the only way that keeps me together enough to get anything done. Apparently I'm feeling a lot better now. I had a huge dinner and needed to make some Annie's Mac and Cheese tonight because I was starving again. Hooray!

???

Is Blogspot down? Is it just me? Can anyone read this?

Hello? *tap tap* I'm getting an internal 500 error...I guess that means it's on their end?

I had to share...

During my random meanderings through the internet, I stumbled across this quote...

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."- Groucho Marx

Sleeeeeeping.

Couldn't sleep last night, possibly due to the eighteen hours I had slept that day, and the fifteen from the day before. So I was up from one am to eight am, then slept until 4.

Good grief, I've become completely nocturnal.

I am feeling better though. I'm a bit queasy and weak, but I'm taking that partly as a result of not being able to eat much for three days. Now, of course, I've started coughing as my cold has decided that I'm better enough to invade.

Does anyone know if no name Gravol and Tylenol are bad to combine? My neck has been really sore the last few days due to odd sleeping positions and far too much time reading/being online with my head held oddly. Oh, and Neo-Citrin too. NC is my wonder drug for colds. kthx.

The Diet Nobody Wants

(aka: Why do I always feel compelled to tell the internet that I've been throwing up?)

Starting around 0800 yesterday morning, I started feeling kind of icky. I blamed the fact that it was 0800 in the morning and I hadn't slept well. I've been yo-yo'ing back and forth between staying up all night, then sleeping most of the day. Rinse and repeat. So yesterday, I was going to a teaching ProD day that I'd been invited to and that I really wanted to go to...the catch being that it was in Abbotsford at 0900. And it was raining. Hard. I don't like driving much at the best of times, and driving out to Abbotsford (unfamiliar roads), in the hard rain (srsly...it was REALLY coming down) and not feeling well...it wasn't high on my list of things that I'd really like to do.

So, I made it out there, largely without incident (found Abbotsford Airport by accident...) and mostly on time (due to aforementioned Abbotsford Airport incident). By this time, I was feeling absolutely foul. I was dizzy, felt nauseated...really fun. I made it through the (very very interesting! I'm glad I went) conference, ate some very nice Greek food that had been provided for us and drove home in the slightly (very slightly) less pounding rain and got home around two. I promptly went to bed, feeling like death, in preparation for date night with Dave.

When I woke up, I felt ok. Not great...just decent. Better than death. Dave arrived and we hung out for a bit while I showed him Evil Genius. Then...then I started feeling really, really bad. REALLY bad.

To make a long story short (all together now: "TOO LATE!!") I was basically getting rid of everything I've ever eaten in the last six years from midnight until six in the morning when my mom's chewable anti-nauseant finally kicked in. I then slept until nearly five pm.

Currently, I feel ok. Not great....but I just had a shower and that seemed to help. Bleah, I say.

Oh, and Dave is my witness in this. Around 1230 or so (after I was sick the first time...first of MANY) I sat up on the couch where I'd been lying with my arm over my face, and in a panicked voice asked, "HAVE I POSTED YET??? IT'S AFTER MIDNIGHT!!!" After being assured that yes, indeed I did post after midnight the previous day, I fell back into my couch stupor.

SEE HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU GUYS????

Whoo, 1300 posts

Strangely, Dave also mentioned that he had a certain number of posts today. Very odd.

Anyway, I just came back to mention that I've finally loaded my birthday present...a game called Evil Genius (links forthcoming, unless, you know...they don't. Google iz ur frend!!). I meant to just play for a few minutes, get to know the game...you know how it goes.

Three hours later...

Heh. Good present. Thanks. :) I like it, but I'm annoyed with it.

ALL THE SECRET AGENTS! COMING TO INFILTRATE MY BAAASE!!!! MUAHAHAHAH!!! Kill them, my minions!

Meme

I was kind of tagged by Tsia, so here's my meme. And since I already posted today, this one doesn't even count for NaBloPoMo.

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Official Notice

DAMMIT! I'm officially sick. :P Stupid cold. How do I know? I woke up this morning in total agony due to sinus/throat/ear blockage/pain/grinding itch/something. I've had this once before and Neo-Citrin cured it, so I went upstairs and sucked back a dose. I was tempted to snort it, as most of my issues were in my sinuses, but I managed to refrain from the "temptation". Apparently my brain isn't completely blocked. This was around 8:30, so I fell asleep until around 2:30, helped my dad in the yard for an hour or so, then ate breakfast/lunch and fell asleep around 3. I then proceeded to wake up at seven. An hour later, I'm exhausted again, but I want to wait until ten or so before I go back to sleep so I can actually sleep through the night.

Being sick sucks.

However, this is the first time I've been actually sick since I finished off my antibiotics for pneumonia...and according to my paper journal (in which I track stuff like that) I was last "officially" sick was the end of July/beginning of August. Comparing that to my year of teacher education...I was sick basically the entire time. That was teh suck. So I'm feeling pretty good about that...

Two Steps Forward...One Step Back

Guess what I'm doing right now.

I bet you didn't guess applying for a job at Michaels. I just bet you didn't. Unless you're Dave, or my mom. Because they already knew I was going to do this.

This kind of sucks. I mean, I'm excited about being surrounded by beautiful crafty goodness again, but I'd really like to be getting ahead in my career, not just something which I considered to be a stepping stone...a job that gave me money (and many, many discounts...oh, the discounts...) while I was going to school.

DAMMIT! I'M OUT OF SCHOOL! I WANT TO DO WHAT I'VE TRAINED FOR!!!!

So yeah. I'm torn. Happy to be potentially working, sad to probably be doing the stuff I did for a year and a half as a stop gap measure, happy to be working in a place that I (generally) enjoyed. :P

Although I have to say that the main reason why I'm doing this is because after that cheque, I've gotten used to receiving money from them I think that as soon as I'm hired there, one or more school boards is going to call me and want to hire me.

pleaseohpleaseohplease...

Whee!!

I just got my cheque from Michaels craft store. Since I bought a bunch of shares over the year I worked there, and they're buying back all the shares, I just received a cheque for what I thought was $900 Canadian. Turns out it's for $900 US...WOW!!!!

I'm tempted to hang onto it to see if the Canadian dollar drops or the US one rises....hmmmmm....


Or I could put it in the bank tomorrow...since I could use the money NOW.

Hooray for good stuff!

We had brilliant Ultimate weather tonight...there was no rain, it was about 10-12 degrees Celsius, so I wasn't freezing my butt off, there wasn't much wind, except to cool me down a bit...just a fantastic evening.

AND...I scored my first point this season, and played some wicked good defense.

Good gosh, a post about something that isn't my big four!

Well, better remedy that. :)

I've now heard from my references that two different school districts have called them. SD-A called about two weeks ago, and SD-B called at least one of them last week. Neither of these districts were my original first choice, but looking into them, I'm really excited to be a part of either! :) The positives: both districts are growing. Negatives: both are in the opposite direction of where I want to live.

Details. :) Right now, I just want an interview...

Photography

I'm really probably only going to talk about one of three or four topics over the next few weeks. Those topics are: writing, cleaning, job hunt and photography. Guess which one I'm going to talk about now. :) Hint: check the title.

Anyway, I was looking through the photographs I took while I was in Scotland/England a few years ago (four and a half now...yikes.). Some of them weren't too bad. However...the camera that I was using (and probably my lack of experience in photography) caused the colours to be fairly washed out in some of the shots. This makes me sad because I really like how some of them should have turned out.

Now that I have a brand new awesome camera of awesomeness, there's only one solution...

Back to the UK for holidays!

Due to money issues (ie: the total lack of it [money, not issues]), this won't happen for a while. I'm interested in travelling though. I like that I have been doing a little bit around the province, and I'll be doing some more over the winter (disc golf tournaments). Soon I will have money. And then I will go around the world a bit, to see what I can see, and maybe take a few (thousand) pictures while I'm there.

This is becoming a very productive month...

Things I've got on my to do list:

-novel
-cleaning and purging through my whole room
-helping my mom purge the basement
-helping my dad chop up several trees in the backyard
-photography and how to sell it
-karate, Ultimate and disc golf
-writing in my blog every day this month

Things I've actually worked on:

-all of the above

I'm excited, yet confused. Why is it that only when I have a great many things to do that I actually get stuff accomplished. Maybe I'm a frustrated perfectionist, Type-A personality...

...yeah, or not...

Sitting....

I'm going to ask your indulgence for any spelling errors and/or typoes which may appear in this entry, as I am curretnly sitting cross legged on the floor, gazing longingly up at the monitor, in front of my computer desk. You see, I've been cleaning. And since I've got enough stuff in this tiny bachelor suite to fill (easily) a two bedroom condo, I had to move the most portable large objects out of my way so I could move boxes et. al. So yes. The two things that got moved were my exercise bike and my computer chair. This annoys me. But at least it means I'm not playing Solitare until the wee hours of the night. *siiiiiiiigh*

Yeah. Ok. Going to try and wrestle at least the chair back in here. It's kind of buried beneath a bunch of crap from my room. Actually, most of it's pretty good stuff...but it's stuff I don't need anymore. My mom and I are having a comeptition about how much junk we get rid of by next Thursday...as the Diabetes Association is coming by with a big ass truck to haul it all away.

Thank goodness. :P

Novel Day 2

Today is the second day of NaNoWriMo and the second day of NaBloPoMo. So far, I'm ahead of the game in one (4238 words) and right there with the second. Lying in bed last night, I realized a few things.

1) Kit always mispronounces NaNoWriMo, calling it NanoREEmoe, rather than NanoWRYmoe. I say that she is mispronouncing because Wri stands for Writing, not Reeting. HOWEVER! I eat the crow of shame...because No stands for Novel...and it is not pronounced Noe...but Naw. And Mo is for Month, not pronounced Moe, as I have been...but Muh. So I have ALSO been pronouncing it incorrectly based on the words used to make up the shortened version. However, I did read the FAQs on the NaNoWriMo website, and ...well...I can't find the pronounciation guide which I'm PRETTY SURE was there last time I checked. *grumble*

2) I've come to a very weird conclusion...one that just never occurred to me before. (And Jen! Please don't think I'm picking on you...) Jen from Coasting Richly is the one who made my brain twist around this very odd notion. She writes "I once had an idea for a novel but not once, ever, the inclination to pursue it." *blink* *blink blink* That had never occurred to me. Ever. That people might not want to write fiction. It seriously blew my mind. I mean, thinking about it...it makes sense, but I'd never even thought about it before. One of my earliest memories is being pre-literate at my Oma and Opa's house in West Bank, near Kelowna, British Columbia and within an hour, scribbling on every piece of paper that my mom had brought for me to draw for the two weeks that we would be there. (Good grief, could I GET a more awkward sentence? I'm going to go with "yes", in my currently whipping out novel. Oh look. Another one.) My justification? "I'm writing a book!" A whole book in an hour? Dude, NaNo's got NOTHING on my three year old self. I guess it was meant to be.

Ahem...anyway. The point is that I guess I always assumed that everyone had a writer, frustrated or otherwise, inside them. I sometimes look at the world with a running dialogue/monologue through my head, thinking about how I would describe things in print. When my grade four teacher was reading us Charlotte's Web, I pictured how the words looked, and read along in my head. It's so weird. I didn't do this with any of my other activities. I can understand perfectly why someone may not be interested in karate, knitting, art or playing a musical instrument. But because writing was such an ingrained part of my psyche, I didn't even think that people would feel differently about it than I did.

3) I need money. I want to start selling some of my (amazing, if I may say so myself) photos. Brainstorming, I came up with the idea of prints, greeting/holiday cards, calendars, images and that's pretty much it. I'm looking into places I can upload my photos and people download them for a certain amount of money per download. Has anyone out there had experience with that kind of thing? Anyone? Bueller? Alsoplus, I'd like to start selling some of my jewellery online, since I've got a digital camera now. I've become enamoured with Hyena Cart and could definitely come up with some stuff to sell there. Maybe even prints and cards and so forth.

******

So, lots to think about. I write in my paper journal every night, and lately I've been having trouble finding things I wanted to record. I wasn't doing anything new. I wasn't trying to think grand philosophical thoughts. My entries were getting shorter and shorter. So, what do you think happened after I went to bed after writing over 4000 words of fiction in 24 hours? I wrote two full pages in my journal. This writing thing...it's like crack!

(edit: and as proof that this writing thing, it being crack like...please note the relative length of this post as compared to the last....six months worth or so. Go ahead. I'll wait. Or, if you don't want to look yourself...trust me. This one's longer.)

Novel: Day One

Just a note: I won't put any spoilers here...so people who aren't going to read along with it can read here without worry.

Anyway. I started the novel. I'm currently 986 words into it...not too shabby! HOWEVER! There's a small problem. I have one really good story idea in my head (which I didn't spend too much time on) and as I was writing, another one started edging its way in there. Annoying...sneaky... yes. So now I'm not sure what to do. But I'm tired, and feeling kind of sick, so I think I'll try to bang out another couple hundred words so that I've got almost all of today's work done before I go to bed. Then I can let it ruminate for a while.

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