Yo-gurt

Worst Job I've Ever Seen (Have Your Cake and Eat It Too)

2010-04-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

Keep in mind minimum wage here is $8.60

Title: Live-in caregiver

Terms of Employment: Permanent, Full Time, Shift, Weekend, Night

Salary: $8.60 Hourly for 40 hours per week

Anticipated Start Date: As soon as possible

Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (1 vacancy)

Skill Requirements:

Education: Completion of college/CEGEP/vocational or technical training

Credentials (certificates, licences, memberships, courses, etc.): First Aid Certificate, Red Cross Babysitting course, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Certificate, Canadian Red Cross Society (CRCS) Swimming Certification

Experience: 1 year to less than 2 years

Languages: Speak English, Read English, Write English

Children's Ages: Toddler to pre-school (1 - 3 years), School age (6 - 12 years)

Experience with Special Needs Children: Allergies

Work Setting: Employer's home

Specific Skills: Supervise and care for children, Bathe, dress and feed infants and children, Prepare infants and children for rest periods, Help children with homework, Organize, activities such as games and outings for children, Prepare craft materials and assist children to use them, Instruct children in personal hygiene and social development, Read to children, Prepare and serve nutritious meals, Sterilize bottles, prepare formulas and change diapers for infants, Shop for food and household supplies, Wash, iron and press clothing and household linens, Perform light housekeeping and cleaning duties, Assume full responsibility for household in absence of parents, Travel with family on trips and assist with child supervision and housekeeping duties, Maintain a safe and healthy environment in the home, Tend to emotional well-being of children, Discipline children according to the methods requested by the parents, Take children to and from school and to appointments, Keep records of daily activities and health information regarding children

Security and Safety: Basic security clearance, Confidential security clearance, Criminal record check, Child abuse registry check, Child welfare check, Driving record check (abstract)

Transportation/Travel Information: Own transportation, Own vehicle, Willing to travel, Willing to travel regularly, Valid driver's licence, Public transportation is not available

Work Location Information: Work in employer's/client's home, Room and board provided, Willing to relocate

Essential Skills: Reading text, Document use, Writing, Oral communication, Working with others, Problem solving, Decision making, Critical thinking, Job task planning and organizing, Significant use of memory, Finding information, Computer use, Continuous learning

Other Information:Room and board of $65/wk to be deducted from wages.

2010-03-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

Maybe this'll help:
Midterm1 H-done
Midterm2 H-done
Midterm3 H
Midterm4 H
Final H

Midterm1 B-done
Midterm2 B
Midterm3 B
Final B

Midterm1 P-done
Midterm2 P
Final P

Assg1 Hs-done
Assg2 Hs-done
Assg3 Hs-done
Assg4 Hs-done
Assg5 Hs
Assg6 Hs
Assg7 Hs
Assg8 Hs
Prs1 Hs-done, did me no good
Prs2 Hs
Prs2-2 Hs

No, this is horrible

~

2010-03-02T07:11:00.000-08:00

Not so much raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Job hunt

2008-07-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I got a job. Today was my first day. Can't go into detail, though, because I changed my bedtime to 11 pm so that I can get up at 6. 11 pm is not very far off.

Man, I had a crazy day, filled with all kinds of running and lengthy walks. It's ok, though, I made up for it by having mad amounts of ice cream and rice krispie lump and pie and Indian dessert and iced cappuccino, etc, etc.

2008-07-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

New phone #: 431-6235

2008-05-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

Let's say an old woman, living on her own, dies. What would happen to the rolls of toilet paper left behind? Would someone inherit those? Or would they be thrown away on principle?

I'm going to Ecuador tomorrow.

2008-05-15T03:39:00.000-07:00

All-nighter packing? Yeah, that's my kinda game. Currently paying the consequences of my playful ways.

2008-05-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

The last few days, all I've been doing, all day long, is blowing my nose. Every now and then, the nose-blowing will be punctuated by moments of packing and the occasional nasal explosion (sneeze). It's a good thing I have allergies to keep me busy, otherwise I suppose I'd languish in my room, with nothing to do but the minor tasks of clearing out my extremely cluttered room, and saying goodbye to people who I won't see for more than a month (and, knowing some of them, probably won't communicate with for that same length of time).
----------------------
I'm throwing it all out! Everything! Even my 5to curso stuff! But before I do so, I'd just like to say...I was a surprisingly good student! [strangely, more so in Chem than Bio] Here I always considered myself mediocre. Sweeeet.

I also threw out a bunch of my old gel pens.

Jajaja, MB+ on our Meiosis work. Of course.
Awww. All the labs I stressed so much over. Honestly, work in university is about the same level as my grade 11 Bio labs. It's kinda sad throwing all this out....still, it's gotta go!

Partenogenesis! My favourite!

Ok, so I couldn't handle throwing out my bio notebook stuff. That's ok.

2008-05-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

Mattress? Who needs mattresses? And food? Pfft, another one of those insignificant things.

What's needed is a .22 and a few moments alone with the dogs, who once again got into my room and trashed it (sad thing is, I finally got around to cleaning my room up yesterday). Honestly, I'd be doing the globe a favour. I hear flesh makes for rich earth.

I might keep Rudy alive, though. He's good for a joke, at least. We always threaten him with torture and death so much, that it would be a pity if he were to actually snuff it.

I guess I'm going to go eat now, as Diana just called Don down for supper. I'm hoping that invitation includes me, in spite of being a lowly student. I'll take my chances and head down.

2008-04-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

A-, A-, A...the worst is yet to come. Man...I was hoping to get the bad news over with first.
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B+...guess the news wasn't that bad after all.
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April 30, just printed something at the library for the first time EVER.

2008-04-23T08:30:00.001-07:00

DONE! FREE! WOOOOOH!

Going to the Valley tonight with Robyn, after Bible study. Back on Friday.

Got my marks back from Saturday's exam already. Sweeeeeet. Unfortunately, it's the one I felt best about, and I only got an 80-something on it. Doesn't bode well for Thursday's exam, which I sucked at, and today's exam, which I got bored of halfway through and went from answering with educated guesses to answering with random, hurried guesses (I got out an hour and a half before I was supposed to...exam's worth 50% of the total. Eek).

Only one more exam to go, then I'm...

2008-04-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

DONE

2008-04-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

Well, after the worst exam of my university career(since 1st year Chem) on Monday, tonight's exam was awesome. Actually, my favourite since 1st year Psychology, which I was excited to write at the time. That professor rocks. And I was done in just a little over an hour, which means I get to have a shower now, and maybe go to bed early-ish (although I probably shouldn't).

2008-04-18T05:08:00.000-07:00

I think I need new headphones...my current ones just shocked me. Never a good sign. Apparently the little caucho part is there for a reason. It keeps the whole thing together.

2008-04-13T17:31:00.000-07:00

Did you know that homicide is the most common cause of death in very young children? (I'm guessing they're U.S. statistics)

2008-04-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've officially already passed in one of my courses. I think this means I can maybe spend 2 or 3 less hours studying for that exam, and allot those hours to another exam. I still want to do well on it, though, because I'd need about a B in the course to do Honours, if I was ever seized by the ridiculous desire to do Honours (I already know what I'd do as my paper or whatever if I did, though. It's about women and authority and suits and jaywalking, and stuff like that).
But yeah, 2 or 3 extra hours to study Forensic, or something. Exciting. Strange how much excitement can feel like anxiety. The 24th of April cannot arrive soon enough.
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Noteworthy event: Just had my second nosebleed of the year (9:38 pm). I never get nosebleeds!

2008-04-09T14:57:00.001-07:00

15 degrees out, 6:57 pm.

2008-04-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

I saw a rat on the way to school yesterday. It was just hanging out by the rock wall in front of Shirreff hall. It was soooo cute. It was also very slow, though. I hope it's ok.

2008-03-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

I guess that's one less clone I need.

Easter Weekend pics

2008-03-26T18:20:00.001-07:00

In keeping with tradition, here are some pictures from the trip to the farm last weekend:

P.S. I won the egg hunt by a whole lot of points
P.P.S. I played football and tackled people. And took them down!

2008-03-24T16:02:00.001-07:00

I really, really don't want to be back in school right now.

2008-03-21T08:28:00.001-07:00

Wow, this is ridiculous. I have no idea how to do about 24/27 questions on my assignment. Excellent. I'm going to fail 1st year Statistics. Awesome. Sweet.
Second year specialized Statistics is going great, though.

2008-03-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

Hey people. I'll be at the farm this weekend. I'm leaving at ~3 pm tomorrow. Back home some point Sunday (probably later in the day, but not sure). And now I have to go do an impossible 27 questions long assignment. Yay.
---------------------------

The messy and largely self-entertaining game, "Peeps Jousting" is played with a microwave oven. One takes two Peeps, and licks the right-hand side of each until sticky. A toothpick is thereby adhered to each Peep, pointing forward like a jousting lance. The Peeps are then set in a microwave, squared off against one another, and heated up. As they expand, the toothpick lances thrust toward each opponent, and the winner is the one that does not pop and deflate (or fizzle and die). Both usually are eaten after the competition, however, regardless who the victor was, calling into question the nature of "winning" in such a circumstance.^[1] This folkloric tradition has been noted by the Washington Post. Peeps jousting has also been called such names as "mortal peep fight."

Take that a few hundred steps further, and you have this:

2008-03-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

Optimal conditions would involve there being about 7 copies of me so that I could:
-Study for several of my exams at the same time
-Work somewhere while I'm studying, so as to make money for this summer's activities/living situation
- Get stuff done while I write in here
- Do the C.S.C thing
- Go to Hong Kong from July 24 to August 28
- Go to Andy's wedding on August 16
- Go to Ecuador May-Juneish
- Live in whatever apartment we end up with while traveling the world
- Search for apartments while studying/hanging out
- Study while hanging out
- Hang out while studying
- Hang out with all the acquaintances that could be friends if I had the time to invest in them
- Go to Moncton on the 22nd of June while still being in Ecuador
- Enjoy NS summer while still spending most of my summer outside the country
- Work all summer long (I'd have two jobs, one for each of two of my copies, so as to make more money to fund schooling and housing and traveling) while still having a life and traveling
- Go to the farm this weekend, study in Halifax, go out Friday night and attend Gospel Hall Sunday night
- Learn a foreign language, a musical instrument, how to cook, and read tons of novels...and sleep, without actually wasting time.

The list goes on, with all sorts of combinations and permutations, and unspecified variables. I should write a formula or something for it. That would be sweet. If I had seven copies of myself I'd give that task to one of them.

2008-03-15T12:06:00.001-07:00

Good thing teachers put stuff on the assignments that they never teach us in class.

2008-03-13T08:07:00.001-07:00

Man, W.K. rocks.

2008-03-11T07:51:00.001-07:00

After next week I'll have TWO WHOLE WEEKS with no exams in them (although of course, I'll have to study for the 5 final exams in a row that I'll be having in April), which means that maybe I'll be able to update this thing properly. Why am I writing in here now? Because I have a tough exam on Thursday I'm supposed to be studying for, but am bored by the class notes (they're really detailed for the easier bits, of course), and a really good song is playing on my ipod so I don't want to have to turn it off yet and focus. Unfortunately, there's a whole series of really good songs after it that I also want to listen to. Man, it's bad. I always seem to find really great bands during exam times. Last year it was Brandon Heath, earlier this year it was Leeland, and now it's Building 429. I'm excited for what I'll find when the finals are upon me.
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Tengo demasiada hambre.

2008-03-03T07:07:00.000-08:00

Man, this sucks. I'm already weak with hunger and it's only 11. I still have another 7 hours to go before I get to eat (Mondays and Wednesdays are my least favourite days, to say the least).
Also, I just found out that my Assignment which is due tomorrow at 10 am and I didn't know I had to do until yesterday is 29 difficult questions long. And I have a midterm on Wednesday and another one Thursday. Basically what I'm saying is that if anyone has been feeling like quitting "life" and forming a small hippie commune in some secluded area of the world, count me in.

2008-02-22T08:37:00.001-08:00

Assante Wealth Management.

Hahahahahaaaa...oh man.
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Got 4 hours of sleep last night (to bed at 3, up at 7), after getting a whole FIVE hours of bed time (I wouldn't quite call it all sleep) the night before. But I got Andy's paper edited (probably not my best job of it though) in time for him to print it off for school. And I did what I feel is an excellent job on the Spanish Society books (we'll probably fail again or something. Meh).
And I got to attend C&C, which again, didn't suck (rather unusual. It's been like that the last 3 weeks or so). And I got to socialize with Robyn. We decided to have an all Spanish day during reading week. Excellent. Now my schedule for that week is filled up quite nicely. My other plans involve doing a Childhood psychopathology case study and spending every other waking hour studying for my exams. For some reason people are all about "hanging out" on reading week or something. I'm pretty sure reading week is for reading, not gallivanting about, hoping time won't pass by so that exams won't be upon you. Well, I know better now. Reading week can be evil if you don't watch yourself.

I hope everyone realizes that I kinda tend to exaggerate in here a teeny bit . I'll probably lie around a lot (especially if all my nights continue to be like the ones I had this week), and screw myself over for the rest of this term by not managing my time correctly. But my plan, at least, is to study like mad.
Anyway...gotta go...feeling a little bit ill and I have to drop the books off.
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Yessss. I gathered up the courage necessary to ask the red-shirted ULC person if I could borrow the stapler. Said person was very nice. And Asian. So an all-around great human being.
Ok, NOW I've gotta go.

2008-02-18T18:13:00.000-08:00

Well, once again I got one measly point under A+ on a midterm. Man, it's like no matter how well I pretend to be a good student, underachievement is too firmly engraved in my personality to let me do really well. Lets admit it, I'm going to end up with Bs again this term.

Still better than contenting myself with a pass.

2008-02-14T16:54:00.001-08:00

Too hyper today. I spent 3.5 hours at the library today and got less than 1 chapter of readings done. I did, however, perfect like 20 songs on the air drum...while in the library. My peers must love me.
C&C is going on right now. Hyperactivity has extended to this area, as well, as I'm up here instead of down there, and have been in and out of C&C constantly. I don't think I've spent more than 15 minutes in my seat tonight.
Being hyper is unpleasant. I don't like it. At least this lets me know it's not mania. I think when people have manic episodes they love it. Not sure though.
Yesterday was much better. I wasn't very happy, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was way better. More solemn and novel-worthy. Tonight is just ridiculous. And non-productive. And I should go. After this song. Which I'll put on repeat.

2008-02-12T18:52:00.001-08:00

Kim and I took a walk today and, upon hearing a fluttering sound we paused and looked back to discover a strange looking bird in front of some bushes on someone's lawn. Thinking it might be hurt, we decided to take a closer look. As we approached it, the strange looking bird flapped its wings and took off to a farther side of the yard, out of reach. It carried something large and round in its talons.
I excitedly exclaimed, "I think it's a falcon or something!"
Kim, ever the educator, said, "Katie, don't be silly, it's not a falcon."
I, however, remain mostly convinced that it was some sort of raptor, most likely a falcon. I don't think it was an osprey, as I remember it being mostly white, and osprey are dark brown on top. So:
-possibly a Northern Harrier, but not likely
-maybe rough-legged hawk, but not likely at all
-gryfalcon: colouration was definitely like it. But it may be too large. Also, very rare

2008-02-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

On second thought, I think I'll go to Hong Kong this summer.

2008-02-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/07/eveningnews/main3805316.shtml

I'm not even going to touch upon the article part of this, but if you read the comments people post, it's quite interesting. People will turn against even their idol of Science, if it means they can continue seeing things the way that will make it easiest for them to live comfortably.
Thanks for the article, Bethany, it's cool.

Update time

2008-02-07T07:42:00.000-08:00

2 Midterms down, 100 million to go. I just got out of my Psychology statistics midterm. It was mostly quite easy (although I caught myself making stupid mistakes a few times. I shudder to think of the possibility of times I didn't catch myself in the act of making a stupid mistake), but I didn't get to do the last question. Which annoys me. The teacher told us that the last question would be extremely hard and that she expected most people not to get it. And here's what bothers me: I looked at it, and I am fairly certain I could sit down and solve it right now if I wanted to. Correction, I really want to pull out my notebook and solve it, right now, but I don't have a valid reason to do so. Sure, it would be a great little challenge (challenges you're certain you can handle are always great. I'm pretty sure when people say they love a good challenge they actually mean they love a good ego boost), but I really can't justify wasting my time on it. Sigh.

Hahaha, woops. I'm sitting in the nifty new learning commons (or whatever it's called) of the Dal second floor library, and a guy just walked by on the other side of the glass, and for a few seconds I was convinced it was Andy. So when eye contact happened, I gave said dude a huge grin. And then realized it definitely was not Andy. Genuine grinning at strangers is NOT something you do in Canada. Especially not your university peers. Especially not while at the Killam. I do hope Andy comes at some point, though. I'm bored. Anyway, back to Stats homework (I'm skipping tutorial, I actually save myself time by not going...time that I then squander on blogging).
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The Higgs get back on Monday. I may not have to consider stealing a roll of toilet paper from the Dal bathrooms after all. I wouldn't have done it, but I definitely would've debated with myself over whether it was right or not to do so. Now I might save myself the mental agony of it all.
C&C tonight. I realized yesterday that the way I feel about the Wednesday Shirreff Bible study is completely different from how I feel about C&C, where I have to practically coerce myself (the conscience is a fearsome thing) into going.
I have a theory about why this might be, but I could be completely wrong, so I'll have to observe the proceedings at C&C very carefully tonight to see whether my hypothesis is supported or not.
Ah, carambas, donde estara el chico ese?

SCHEDULE

2008-01-28T16:19:00.000-08:00

To whom it may concern, here is my weekly unavailability schedule:
Monday: School until 5. I get home at around 5:30.
Tuesday: School until 3. Depending on whether I need food or not (I generally do need food, these days, since I have to walk all the way to Quinpool and back to get groceries, and my back isn't that strong, so generally about one carton of milk is all the weight I can bear/outing, so most outings aren't extremely productive, so more outings are required), availability is patchy.
Wednesday: School until 5 again, then Bible study (it's starting up this week), which can end at any point, although probably before 7, since most people at it have meeting on Wednesdays.
Thursday: School until 3. C&C starts at 7:30. This is probably the best time to try and reach me by phone, as I'll be desperate to escape small group most times. Last week was good, though. Also, last week would not have been a good time to call, as our small group decided (thankfully) we needed to get out of the house.
Friday: At school/spanish society until around 5:30. Then, I leave the house at around 6, and don't get back until around 2 most times.
Saturday: I generally sleep in until around 10-11ish. I may or may not go out during the day (probably not). Then at around 9:30 my friend comes over and at some point we head out to the hockey rink, where we watch the Grace Chapel people play hockey.
Sunday: As of a week ago, I'm frequenting different churches, as I have some vague plan to unite all the churches of Halifax into The Church of Halifax, like the church of Ephesus, and the church of Rome, etc, etc. You don't need to know the details. I don't know the details. But I'll probably be back from whatever church I go to at around 1ish. There'll be a 20 minute availability window before I (probably) go to the library to study with Andy (unless that's only been the last two weeks. It's quite possible the trend won't continue), where I will spend the rest of the afternoon. At 7ish, I'll be heading out to Gospel meeting (at least next week I will) with Andy, Charles, and whoever else comes along (Ashley perhaps? I hope so, she's cool. And Laura). Back at around 9, unless I'm invited to socialize with the Gospel hall people, in which case I might accept, depending on how my (few) social skills are doing that day, and come home later.

And at any point, library hours might start to become a huge factor, as my first midterm is next Monday, and I'm using the library textbooks. If they do, something to take into account:
The library hours are as follows
Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m.
Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sunday 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m.

Other factors (excluding grocery shopping) to take into account:
-Random events (such as scheduled hangout time with various people)
-Weather: If the weather is unpleasant (like it was today. Actually, it wasn't so much the weather as the condition of the sidewalks and roads), pretty much nothing can get me out of the house, unless someone is driving me. Keeping an eye on the Halifax weather can be a good predictor of my behaviour with regards to time spent inside. Except Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, where regardless of the weather, I'm out most of the day.
-There was another one that was supposed to go here, but I can't remember what is was
-MORNINGS: Here's an important one. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, my first class doesn't start until 11:30. So, between 8:30 and 10:30, I'm mostly available (other than getting ready for school, but if necessary I can get that done between 10:30 and 11:00.)
-Physical well-being: Sickness and poor sleep quality make me lazy, which also makes me want to stay indoors. Also a good predictor of behaviour.
-Kim's mall-going cycle. Unfortunately, I have not figured out when the strangely compelling urge to go to the mall that Kim gets will hit, so I can't add this one to the schedule. But a lot of times it's been when I'm still at school, so likely not a HUGE influence on my presence in the house.
-Calling at 5:30 on Mondays is most likely your best bet, as after a full day of no eating, pretty much nothing can stop me from plowing (a lot of times in a sadly literal sense. Someone needs to get to work on the sidewalks at Dal. Students are people too) my way home for food.

2008-01-28T05:35:00.000-08:00

Apparently Dal is the only school in the HRM which isn't closed. Great.
Also, we have no hot water or heating. Thank goodness Graham and Sarah are around, because Graeme and Diana aren't, and we'd be screwed otherwise. Actually, according to Amy, the whole house would be screwed because the pipes would freeze and burst and the house would flood.
So yay.
I wish Dal sucked enough to close today. It would mean less material for my first Social Psych midterm. And it would mean not having to go out in the freezing, torrential rain. I'd get to stay home and watch an Audrey Hepburn movie, and drink hot chocolate.
Man, I should've gone to St. Mary's. I bet they suck.

2008-01-27T11:04:00.001-08:00

Man, already having two separate statistics courses that deal with exactly the same material has helped me. Because I have my Psystats notes handy, I can do my Stats assignment, in spite of having let my attention drift in Stats when I should've been taking notes the other day. I'm covered!

2008-01-23T04:40:00.000-08:00

If a relationship lasts through the peri-Christmas relationship destruction period, it apparently has to soon after survive the late January breakup season. Quite interesting. I think I'm a social psychologist at heart.

2008-01-22T16:18:00.000-08:00

Hey, maybe I could work as a Psychology and English teacher at Colegio Americano when I grow up!!!

2008-01-22T10:48:00.001-08:00

I spent most of the morning chuckling over the mental image of Mr. Jon (Cariveau, gr.11 Literature) telling a bunch of 7th graders to "Get out of here!"
And now I have to go buy groceries, or risk death by ham overdose.
Here's a picture of Caribou:

Ope, just laughed again. Favourite guy ever.
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Man, today I got a call from the Federal Government (granted, it wasn't really for me, it was for a Dr. Turner or Miller or something), and just now a call came in from Halifax Regional Municipality. Intense.

2008-01-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

I must say, I'm a little bit disappointed now that I missed last Childhood Psychopathology class. Apparently a woman came in and spoke about what it's like having a child with Williams syndrome. Over the summer, while researching perfect pitch, I came across this disorder on Wikipedia and was fascinated by it.
Gah!
Also, it means I missed a whole class of stuff which will probably be on the exam, and which I didn't get to take notes on.

2008-01-20T12:08:00.000-08:00

Well, it was definitely an interesting experience for me at least. I don't know if it would sound so once translated into stories. I had this conversation with one lady that seemed to be right out of an L.M.Montgomery novel:
"Are you presbyterian?"
"Um, no, I don't have a denomination."
"Oh, that's ok."
And later on:
"What's your family name?"
"Uh...Horne. Yeah."
"Lorne?"
"No, uh, Horne, H-o-r-n-e."
"Oh. Well, I'm from PEI, we have quite a few Hornes over there. I think there's a community of Hornes in the North of Nova Scotia."
"Oh, yeah..."
"But you'd be from the Ontario Hornes, wouldn't you."
"Uh," me, thinking to myself, Kinda. I guess there's Uncle Jeremy and his family, and Grandad...but really we'd be the England Hornes. But I can't say that, because probably all the Hornes are originally England Hornes. Maybe I should've said my last name is Cuthbert. Or Murray. Or Starr, "yeah, kinda".

Post # 301

2008-01-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

I've decided to skip Grace chapel tomorrow and head all by myself to St. David's Presbyterian church. I'm a little bit nervous about it. Thankfully, it's really easy to go unnoticed in churches (and most other big, filled buildings). I'm hoping something noteworthy happens.

My sad attempt at news

2008-01-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, here goes all the news I can think of:
-The Higgs are back
- I have now baked 3 things in my life, all successfully done, all in the past month:
~ Banana bread, which turned out quite well, in spite of the fact that I cooked it for about an hour at 150 degrees before Charles pointed out my mistake. As a result of this experience, we all now have our own inside joke.
~ Ginger cookies, which I made at around 11:30 one night, because someone in the house needed sweets that did not include chocolate, and I've been learning certain lessons lately. Not to be cryptic or anything.
~ Apple Crisp, which I made with Robyn, and was a spectacular hit, and made studying together at the Higgs' dinner table a popular activity. Also initiated for the same reasons the cookies were made, and also so that Robyn and I could hang out after finishing Span. Soc. matters in a natural, un-awkward situation.
- Kim and I made a new friend, lost her, found her, and then lost her again. Her name is Hannah.
- I went to an information session for this thing called College Pro Painters, for the manager position, and it was the most ridiculous experience of my life in the past year or so. Seriously, it was all about learning how to be better than those silly, lesser, normal human beings, and learning pride. Excellent, just what I need.
And don't even get me started on the application we had to hand in at the end of the session. Lets just say that after what I wrote, they would have to be slightly deranged to consider giving me even the hour long "pre-interview" that they give before the other two, two-hour long interviews they also conduct on candidates for their program.
-I had a brief moment of ambition the other day and got the crazy desire to do an Honours thingy in Psychology. I'm slightly more sane today, although it still seems like an interesting option now to my strange mind. No, no, no, Katie! Underachievement is the way to go! You know this!
-I accidentally skipped class for the first time this term yesterday. Technically, I would only have been about 20 minutes late if I had left when I realized my mistake, but meh. I got more important stuff done because I decided to stay in the library.
Anyway, gotta go, or I'll be late for Stats. Not that that's a bad thing anymore, because it doesn't matter if have to sit at the back, because I can see now. Yay for glasses!
---------------
Ok...Andy is currently on the toilet...and playing guitar. That is just so wrong.

2008-01-08T12:31:00.001-08:00

I think I saw Lesley Choyce yesterday, in the McCain building. He looked rough and a little bit wary. Poor genius.

2008-01-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

Here is the line that I'll be hearing at 11:30 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning for the rest of the term:
"Welcome to the wonderful field of Forensic Psychology".
---------------
I think one day I'll get myself a car just so I can sit in it and listen to music.

From my 2007 diaries

2008-01-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

I wrote this one in January of last year:
"This is why if you can't be in silence with someone, you can't be their friend: because when you chatter, no thoughts march through your mind. Conversation never acquires depth, and so you also achieve a superficial friendship. And then you want out."
Yay! I love keeping a diary!

2007-12-29T07:55:00.001-08:00

Someone should invent root beer flavoured beer, so that they could call it Root Beer Beer.

2007-12-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

Sheesh, what's the point?

2007-12-13T16:17:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm at the library computer, and I'm out of my exam an hour and a half earlier than expected, and so I have to wait around for ages because I told Johanna that I'd meet her outside the Secund Cup at 9:30 so we could walk together to the Higgs' so she could attend the C&C Christmas party thingy. Really, all I want to do is go to sleep.
I learned while studying today (and I would just like to say none of the super important, super interesting stuff from the textbook was on the exam. I don't think I did very well on it by the way. Oh, well, it was only worth 30% of my mark) that if you have to shift your schedule (say for shift work) it's easier to push it back a few hours than to push it forward (so, go to bed later and wake up later, instead of go to bed earlier to wake up earlier) which is the exact opposite of what I've been doing the last few days. And so now I really just want to go to bed. But I can't, because I have a social life to maintain. At least Charles is on the computer beside mine, which is a nice little surprise.
Ope, she's here. Later!

2007-12-09T05:40:00.000-08:00

I find it a little bit annoying that it's my birthday tomorrow and I can't bring myself to feel even a little bit excited. Whatever happened to countdowns and such? I miss feeling excited about it all. I don't think I've been super excited about a birthday since my grade 11 one. I guess all good things ended when the golden years did. Oh, well, I'll get over it. And hanging out with the roomies will be good.
It also sucks that I probably won't get to graffiti anything. There's just no time to. I have to learn about the endocrine system instead. And consolidate my knowledge by getting a good night's sleep.

On the upside, Lam might be in Ecuador this summer, so if I go, I'll get to see them all. Every single one of them! Eu, Lam, maybe Baque (I haven't decided if I'm still angry at him or not), Liliana, Juan, Ana, Diana(s), etc. And, of course...Sofia, Adri, Vane, Lula and Katherine.

2007-12-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

Best part about waking up at 1:30 pm:
Not having to eat breakfast.
Worst part:
Feeling like it's 9 am. Wasting time.

2007-12-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

I really REALLY shouldn't be taking the time to write in here, but I just had to document this event: I SAW JASON TODAY!!!!
Jason, who used to work at Cheers, that is. It was intensely exciting. I saw him from within the SUB and I ran out to see him. It was great.
Back to studying. I've been in the library 7 hours now.
-------------------------
In total, I spent a little under 16 hours at the library yesterday. It had better pay off. Anyway, back to work.

2007-12-02T16:47:00.001-08:00

Sabes que? Me vale. A meter lata, se ha dicho. Ocho hojas enteras de LATA.

Boring entry. Don't feel obligated to read it.

2007-12-02T05:29:00.000-08:00

Well, so much for that plan. As soon as I started packing up my stuff, the other guys did too. Then Charles drove me home, where we found Andy in the kitchen, watching I Know What You Did Last Summer. I unwisely stayed to watch the ending of it. Now, if anyone of you has watched it, you know what the ending is like.
It's weird, because I know that by most standards that movie is hardly scary at all, but at the end, when the fisherman jumps out at the girl, I had the most violent outward fear reaction I've ever had. I actually jumped so that my whole body was on the chair I had merely been sitting on a second before the attack. Thankfully I don't think the boys noticed.
Road trip came on afterwards, and so I left to go to bed, thinking I was going to get to sleep at a sensible hour, as planned, so that I could wake up at a ridiculous hour, and get back to work.
As I put my foot on the first stair, I realized Amy was not home. So I'd have to get into my bed in the attic, knowing there was no one around to protect me if a crazed, presumed-dead fisherman with murderous intentions decided to jump out of my closet at me. I turned around and went back into the kitchen.
I turned Road Trip off, and then Charles asked me if I wanted to play chess (Andy had gone to talk to Melita on the phone, so the boy needed entertainment). I gave him a resounding no, but I guess it wasn't as definite as I had thought, because a minute later I caved and told him we could play chess if he really wanted to (I figured I'd lose abysmally and the game would end quickly enough, and by then Amy would be home).
But anyway, long story short, Charles found a guitar, so the chess idea was abandoned (yay!), he broke a string on the guitar (strangely enough, he was loosening it when it snapped), decided to change all the strings on it, and as a result I now know how to restring a guitar! Yay! I also know how to play a C, but that's about it. All important life skills. I imagine if I ever learn how to play a guitar, knowing how to restring it will be very useful.
And by the time that was done, Amy got home and Andy got off the phone, so after hanging out with them all I got to go to bed as I had originally planned on doing when I left the library at around 10. I got into my bed at 1:30.
So...fail.

2007-12-01T17:40:00.001-08:00

http://www.ogrant.com/ActiveVote.aspx?aid=93

People, vote for Bethany. All the other ones suck, I checked.
---------------------
Well, I'm about to attempt walking home from the library in weather that supposedly feels like -21 degress. Alone! How am I supposed to relieve the pain if I don't even have anyone to complain to about it? I should've worn my long underwear today. What was I thinking!

But yeah...I don't think I've ever actually faced severe (-21 is severe in my estimation) Canadian weather. Usually I just stay inside the house. The fact that the library was full when Andy and I got here completely astonished me. I seriously imagined everyone else stayed inside on snowy days, too. Guess not.

By the way, it is 9:51, not whatever time stupid blogger says it is.

I need to go to bed.

2007-11-29T05:09:00.001-08:00

I've discovered a flaw in my big plan for maximizing available working time during the day by getting up at 5 am(apart from the fact that 5 am no longer counts as daytime during winter): no matter how energized you feel at 5 am (which actually isn't as much as you'd hope, but still more than you'd expect), by 9 am your body is already telling you it's time to get back into bed.

I'm thinking the solution to this problem lies in going to bed earlier than usual to trick my brain into thinking it's getting extra sleep, but then getting back up at 3 am!

Just kidding, I'd have to be really stupid to do that.
Maybe 4:30 will work, though.

I've also decided that refraining from food consumption for the sake of wasting less time is actually more counterproductive than not. However, I think I may need to review my demands when it comes to quality of food. I'm thinking that spending an hour perfecting and enjoying a quesadilla is not necessary, when I could easily save myself 15 minutes at least by heating up some old chicken and choking it down with liberal amounts of Diana sauce, and stuffing some lettuce into my mouth and then rushing back upstairs to continue working.

Also, I'll be skipping C&C tonight, which, strangely enough, makes me a little bit sad, now that I'm finally starting to appreciate my group members and all that. But it doesn't make me nearly as sad as having to skip my usual Friday night activities would. And even that is looking like a possibility. A horrible, dismal, distressing possibility.

Hmm...hunger pangs. I think I'll ignore those, though. I'm sure they're purely psychological.

2007-11-26T18:37:00.001-08:00

This how easy it is to crack someone up while in the Library:
"pregnant cows"

2007-11-25T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't study at all for my midterm. Which is tomorrow. This is going to suck. So will Spanish, but at least I got to watch one of the movies.
What a ridiculous night this has been.

By the way, I think I'm in an abusive relationship with my workplace. I'm a battered woman, but I just can't leave it!

Se me declaro un panhandler. Haha, at first I was all excited at meeting him, because I met his brother last Sunday and talked to him again on Friday and he told me all about his brother C. and how he'd gotten beaten up and stuff. But then talking to C. just got uncomfortable, because he seemed to like me. A lot. Inappropriately so. But that was ok, because I didn't feel endangered(so don't worry, Mom and Dad). And at one point a busker came along and I felt even safer. I made eye contact with him and he hovered around until I was able to get out of there, at which point I mouthed "Thank you" at him, and he gave me a look that made me feel like we were friends even though I'll probably never see him again. It was pretty sweet. You can't go wrong with a guitar player.
And then I was walking along and I got to see that other panhandler who is really awesome and nice all the time, and who I usually see standing outside the Shopper's Drugmart. He's my favourite, so seeing him made it all better. He wished me a Merry Christmas.

I wonder if C. has a frontal lobe problem, which would explain the total lack of inhibition he displayed. And both he and his brother seem to demonstrate a kind of looseness of association when talking, which I find interesting.
Ok, I need to get to bed if I'm going to get up early and hopefully get a teeny bit of studying done.

2007-11-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

You know, I think I'm fine with my IQ level. I don't think I could handle the burden of my thoughts if they were any more complicated or abundant. Can you imagine how hard it would be to organize them into a 4 minute monologue then?

2007-11-22T05:35:00.000-08:00

http://albumoftheday.com/facebook/

http://www.ideashower.com/blog/block-facebook-beacon/

2007-11-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

So...I gave my oral presentation today. I'm pretty sure all 18 people in my classroom simultaneously diagnosed me with schizophrenia while I was speaking. Or kinda speaking. Trying to speak. Making strange noises that could maybe be interpreted as a sad attempt at speaking.
Apparently starvation and sleep deprivation do that to you.

2007-11-20T11:57:00.000-08:00

From Kornheiser's review on adaptation to laterally displaced vision:

The idea of selectively distorting one of the
senses was originally conceived as a means of
discovering whether sensory coordination was
innate or learned. (See Boring, 1950, for a
fuller account of the nature of the philosophical
problem involved.)

Yeah, I don't think many people will be doing that background reading. For some reason it just doesn't sound like a good time.

2007-11-20T03:28:00.001-08:00

Yay, no nightmares! I was sure I'd have some after that movie. Lucia. Gah.

2007-11-19T11:51:00.000-08:00

I am too busy for this to be real. There is no way that this sort of life can be possible. This must be fiction I'm living in, badly planned, amateurish fiction, by an unexperienced writer. They may have the potential to do great things, but so far the writer is just plowing ahead, not taking time to develop the plot, to make an outline, to do the research necessary to make sure the story has a solid basis. Come on, writer! It is not realistic to expect someone to actually be able to handle this amount of crap all at once!

Me lleva el chanfle!

2007-11-13T15:59:00.001-08:00

So, if I were to leave Halifax on January 7th, fly to Ecuador, have a great time there, and leave on April 1st to return to Halifax to have a semi-alright time, the cheapest flight available would cost me US $876.53. Of course, I won't be doing that because:
a) I'd kinda still have school. Minor detail.
b) Not all the Gordas would even be there, so there'd really be no point in me visiting, as the Gordas are pretty much my whole reason for traveling. Major detail.
c) If I went then, I wouldn't be around to meet Amy's Stefan and Kim's Sabrina. Medium-sized detail.

Oh, but I'd be escaping the cold, horrible, dreary, non-productive months, and I'd be there for camp! But there, I'm too sensible.

Next. If I left here April 1st for Ecuador, and left Guayaquil June 27th, it would cost a minimum of $1029.

And that kinda sucks.

Either way, the tickets should be bought sooner than later, because the US dollar is low. It's all about kicking the Americans while they're down.

Here's a picture of what could've been:

Let us all heave one great, collective sigh.

2007-11-13T04:59:00.000-08:00

I've decided having a baby around isn't a terrible thing, after all. They're kinda like pokemon, aren't they? You know, with different levels, and learning new attacks and stuff.

2007-11-12T07:16:00.000-08:00

I got this new, natural, neutral pH deodorant yesterday and it seriously smells just like a complimentary bar of soap in some hotel in Cuenca.

Day of triumph

2007-11-11T23:21:00.000-08:00

Everyone! It happened! The day I proved my worth as a human being/dishwasher was today. I finally managed to batter the fish perfectly. At last! At long, long last! No accidental usaged of 6 oz. fish slices, no unexplainable bumps on the fried fish, no runny batter that wouldn't stick, nothing but perfection!!!!
During the walk home tonight (I wasn't too cold, I had 6 layers on my upper body, and was wearing my long underwear), I think a taxi driver randomly gave me the finger, for no apparent reason. Clearly he was jealous of my fish-battering skills. That sort of thing emits a wonderful glow of well-being that people can't help but notice and envy.
That would also explain why, again, for no reason, one of the bouncers tonight was being kinda hostile. I was strongly and unpleasantly reminded of Ma. Fernanda Chang. But I don't think I'll let it continue this time, if future interactions seem to confirm the presence of bullying behaviour (for all I know, my imagination is messing with me again. It likes doing that). I'll use my newly-acquired indy sarcasm on him. Verbal laceration and all that.

Just kidding, I try not to do that anymore.

What else? Oh, yes, the roommates get back tomorrow! Hopefully my sanity returns with them...I'm starting to wonder if real friends(ones you feel comfortable with) are yet another one of my imagination's cruel pranks.

You know the great thing about those horribly awkward, but brief encounters? You can quickly make a supremely ridiculous face about it once it's over (when no other people are around to see it, of course, otherwise you just get this whole domino effect of awkwardness going on), and laugh to/at yourself, and then it's done. Prolonged awkwardness, though, there's the killer. And yet, prolonged awkwardness is the one you have to put yourself through the most if you want to get anywhere with people.

I'd talk more, but I've started to rigorously control my sleep patterns, and I now make absolutely sure I get 8 hours of sleep a day. No wishy-washy "oh, if I go to bed now and wake up then, that makes for almost 7 hours" for me. Eight is OPTIMAL. Our Methods professor said so. I'm taking full advantage of my REM sleep while I still have it. Just around the corner lurks 60, and with it getting only like 2 hours of REM sleep for every 6 hours of non-REM sleep.
I'm hoping to increase my IQ by about 15% by the end of the school year, which would in turn mean I have to work even less to get the same grades, which would in turn mean more nights of 8 hours of sleep, which of course makes for more REM sleep. Really, the sky is the limit. Or, actually, again, the age of 60. Blasted time!

2007-11-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

Hahaha! Ok, I just had to share this with the general public. So, on Facebook there's this application called Compare People. With it, you, uh...compare people. Specifically friends. Yeah, great system. But anyway, this is the one I just couldn't keep to myself. I hope the people in it don't mind their pictures being used on here, I made sure to delete names:

Um...guess.

Last night's dream(s)

2007-11-09T05:10:00.000-08:00

Well, it was a strange one. There are no concrete details, but it kinda resembled Canoa in some aspects. There was a strange undercurrent of violence during the whole thing, although I don't know if my dream ever reached the point of actual beatings or killings or anything. But you knew it was going to happen. It took place in a village in what seemed to be a clearing in the Amazon jungle. So the ground was dirt, and there was vegetation surrounding the village, and there was a crevasse, and one of those wooden bridges you always see in the jungle in movies, which spanned the crevasse mouth. And there were kids in it. And a teacher. And if the kids failed their test, the teacher was going to call out "2", and something horrible was going to happen to the kids (there parents were probably going to label them as unfit, and kill them, but it was never actually said out loud). If they passed, "1" would be announced, and the kids would continue in school. And that's what I remember about the village, although I know there was way more going on.

My role in the dream was one of observer. In fact, I had to analyze the events going on for my Spanish film class. So, there I was, very reluctantly taking notes as parents planned to kill their children and I really did not want to have to be there, analyzing crap, I just wanted to go home, or wake up, or move onto another dream, anything but sit there and analyze that horrible village!

But I had to stay, because it was for a grade.
---------------------------------------
By the way, I hear there are some great videos out there of polar bears attacking walruses. You should check it out. It sounds like a good time.

2007-11-07T17:34:00.001-08:00

For some reason, the mental image of a polar bear stranded on a remnant of ice being attacked by an orca sent a surge of anxiety through me. Thankfully, it was a brief surge, and such an event (polar bear-killing by orca) has never been observed.

2007-11-05T14:57:00.001-08:00

Well, Graeme asked me to do a 4 minute talk thing at C&C in about two weeks, telling my story. Sooo.....stress. But interesting stress, at least. Not scientific paper stress.
Still, self-research is way harder than you'd think. Probably the fact that my old diaries are buried somewhere underneath the massive amounts of debris (AKA, the clothing piles) doesn't help. Gah!

GAH!

And how to summarize endless thought processes in only 4 minutes! How to be honest!

2007-11-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

I LOVE storms!
The Wind Woman is anything but a lady tonight. She is a hag, or a ghoul, shrieking and striking the house.

It's wonderful.

Also, we have a leprechaun in our freezer. It provides us with a constant supply of ice.

2007-10-31T18:05:00.000-07:00

Got an A on the abnormal psych midterm. All that's left is the Animal behaviour one.
Went to a Gospel Meeting with Andy, Charles, Kim and Amy. It was interesting.
And now I have a headache and must get to work making up some budget for the spanish society. I hate dealing with money, I don't know why I had to be thrust into this position. I was told all I needed was to know basic Math. Because I do know basic Math, and kinda thoroughly enjoy it, I thought it would be a nice little project. You know, a stab at responsibility without any actual commitment. I was vilely deceived.

2007-10-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

You know, standing outside a male washroom for an extended period of time, while an uncomfortable experience, can also be an informative one. I saw all sorts of human lifeforms go by. Even had a few brief chats. Even had one in Spanish (Spanish-speakers are always so much nicer. I suppose if I spoke Chinese, I'd say the same about Chinese-speakers, though).
---------------------
Now that I work as a dishwasher, sometimes I'll be sitting in the McCain building, or the LSC, and I'll see a janitor, and I'll feel like going over and chatting with them about mopping techniques or something.
Today I was standing in front of the Spanish office waiting for Pam to get back (for way more than 15 minutes, I might add), staring at all the different tools on the janitor cart thing (they use the same kind of mop bucket as the one Diana has. I've used that thing before, it sucks. Dalhousie should get its people buckets like the kind we have at Cheers. But oh well. They had the same kind of dustpan we have, which was super cool. She had also rigged up a really long duster, by taping together a duster and a stick. And her "Caution Wet Floor" sign was neon pink. I also know for a fact that she has another neon green one, as I saw it earlier on while I was running up the stairs. All we have are boring non-neon yellow ones). Then the janitor lady came along (with her janitorial friend, Charlie), and started getting ready to clean the guy bathroom (the one I was standing in front of). Her "Don't come in I'm cleaning sign" kept falling over, and at one point I giggled, and she looked over and I grinned at her, and she informed me that that had made her day (I don't know if she meant the sign falling, or the little moment of solidarity we had, either way, it was great).

Honestly, I don't think I could stand being rich. I love being low class. I'd like to have money to spend on stuff like clothing and good food and computers, but there's such satisfaction in getting paid to mop up the floors, and in being able to better understand what colourful characters are involved in this sort of job. I never wondered before what the personalities of the cooks at restaurants might be like. Now it's one of my secret favourite activities when I eat out. That and making up stories about fellow restaurant-goers.
But yeah...there's so much I don't understand about myself.

Today I realized that I'm kinda enjoying Brain and Behaviour class these days (actually, it was only last class, but I think I'll enjoy today's class too). We're studying different brain pathologies, instead of annoying crap like the visual and olfactory and somatosensory systems, which is what we had to learn for the last midterm (I'm SO hoping the final is not cumulative).
---------------------
I would just like to state that my Abnormal Psychology teacher is a huge jerk. I logged onto BLS, and saw "Abnormal Behaviour. New Grade for: Midterm 1" and I got super excited and clicked the link, only to find that my grade was "N/A". Jerk!
---------------------
Sweeet. I checked the syllabus. Not cumulative. Unfortunately, the pop quizzes are worth 40%, and I hardly ever study for them. Bah.
--------------------
I'm so screwed for the lab report, by the way. Some idiot borrowed the two readings that were on reserve in the library at 8, and was supposed to give them back three hours later, but didn't. So I can't even do the required readings for the lab report, so I still have no idea how to start.

2007-10-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

Yay! 82% on the Methods midterm! Unfortunately, that's the one that was only worth 15% of the course. I have a lab report for this class due Wednesday that's worth the same, and I haven't been able to get started yet.
Scientific papers are apparently not my passion.
Bashing crappy Mexican melodramas apparently is. It probably wasn't the wisest thing to do, I could tell by watching the teacher as she listened to what the other students had to say. But I had to, for the very same reason that I had to tell people that I wasn't fine, and that I hated school, and that I hated the stupid weather when they'd ask at church in Fall River (back when I used to go to church in Fall River...*shudder*), and the very same reason I couldn't lie when people asked me if I liked their new haircut or whatever. Sometimes something rises up in me and rebels against that.
Guess I still have some growing up to do.
I sympathize with you, though, 8 year old Katie, and you probably should have implemented your living-in-the-closet plan when you had the chance.
-----------------------
I really, really don't want to do this lab report. For some reason, just the thought of starting it fills me with some odd panic that makes me want to drop out of university now, right now, before having to subject myself to such dry torture. I did it once, you'd think I'd be able to do it again, even if all I'd get would be a 68, because a 68 is still by far better than a 0. But the panic remains. It's ridiculous, really.
Talking about Aventurera at length must have brought out the stupid in me.
----------------------
In order to calm myself, I'll talk about yesterday's strange event:
I was sitting on the chair in the main entrance area, saying my goodbyes to Kim, stuffing sweaters into my backpack for work, Graeme's study in the periphery of my visual field, when for a split second I thought I saw a well-dressed (he had a bright blue button-up shirt, with a dark suit on, and nicely gelled hair) Asian businessman sitting in one of the study chairs. When I focused on the chair, he was gone.
And then I had to go for work, leaving Kim all alone in the house after the strange incident. I assured her there was nothing to worry about, as the apparition had seemed quite friendly (he had waved), although, to be honest, a little too self-confident.
-------------------
Ok, I've decided to not put too much effort into this lab report, because as I just remembered, school is not everything, and even if I flunk out of university, it is not a complete measure of my intelligence, and even if it were, a measure of my intelligence is still not a complete measure of my worth. I could give examples of why this is so, but I'd be very tempted to pull the Hitler card, and I think I'll give that one a rest.
-------------------
I miss the days when I got to be bored because there was nothing to do, I miss being able to waste a whole day, and feel guilty about it and all that great stuff. Now, boredom comes because I spend the whole evening in a pointless conversation with someone, or because I'm forcing myself to read dull scientific papers and write my own dull scientific papers on the Face-in-crowd-effect.
Who cares about the face-in-crowd-effect? Really? Is the cure for cancer going to come from learning about whether we perceive happy or angry faces in a crowd more easily? Is the cure for cancer what we really want, anyway? Is there even a cure for cancer out there, waiting to be discovered?
What is with Science, and assuming that any information is just out of reach, but there, waiting for someone brilliant enough to come along and capture it and put it into a dull scientific paper?
Am I the only one that just visualized that situation and laughed bleakly? Am I the only one that just escaped zeitgeist for a second there?
What I actually want right now is to go to sleep, and to wake up and find that someone has changed the lighting in my room so that it no longer has such a strong soporific effect on me. That would be nice.

Buuuut I can't, because of my stupid lab report, which I'm currently not getting done. How can you have such an exhausting, busy weekend without actually getting anything done?

Note to self: When you tell someone you can't go to something because you have a lot to do, and they try to convince you to go anyway, just tell them to shut the heck up, or you'll cut them out of your life for good. By this point it's your right to do so. Honestly, does it really matter if things get unpleasant and awkward? Is not awkwardness the salt of life?
-------------------------------------)>()<(--------------------------------------
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!
-----------------
Weeell, I'm screwed for this lab report. I don't even know what on earth my notes mean. Mean effect? What? ....what??

2007-10-28T20:01:00.000-07:00

Three strange and interesting things have happened to me lately. Two I can remember.
I had a split-second hallucination today, and the other day I witnessed time freezing for a short moment. I'll tell about them some other time.
And I wish I could remember the second thing.
----
The crows let out an almightly battle cry today. It filled me with a strange thrill of mixed fear and excitement. The gulls, our allies, were tensed for the fight. The ducks, our enemy, were also rallying their troops. I feel we can win this, though the ducks are savage in their hatred.

2007-10-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

Even though I don't believe it at all, it's still very nice to have some stranger say " OMG! you're a GENIUS!" because of a poem of yours.

Haha, sadly the person that sent me that was banned from deviantART, so I don't know how credible they are.

B&B

2007-10-25T02:48:00.000-07:00

Yay! Pase, pase! I passed on my Brain and Behaviour midterm! I only got a 72%, but still! I passed! And actually did a little better than expected! I was thinking I'd get another one of those ugly 68s or something.

2007-10-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Ay, que frio para mas horrendo! A quien se le ocurre prender a full el aire en pleno otono!
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Estoy en el lab de computadoras, intentando revisar disimuladamente mi facebook. El vicio secreto.
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Ouch, my pride! I got a 68% on my first Methods in Experimental Psychology lab report. I've never gotten such a low grade on a writing assignment before.
What I tell myself to coddle my ego is that it isn't real writing, because scientific papers are too dry and stupid (in spite of their big words) and unimaginative.

Apparently my writing style is too informal. Que vivan los cambios! A romper con la tradicion!
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STRESSED!
And hungry. All the yogurt was gone after one day.

2007-10-23T07:07:00.001-07:00

Well...that didn't go as badly as expected.

But Thursday's exam is going to suck. Of that I am sure.

And writing my lab report will be stressful. And doing up the budget for the Spanish society. I actually expect that one to be more retarded than labour-intensive. Somehow I have to find past years' budgets and hopefully guess the correct way of making one up for this year. All in the space of a few hours, because it's due Nov.1st, and my lab report is due Oct. 31st, and you can guess that between a lab report, which is worth marks(15%) or the budget, which is worth ******(to me, at least. Si me botan del puesto, me botan y asi me quito el estres de encima), lab report is top priority.

This should be fun.

2007-10-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

You know you have issues when you're completely suprised and amazed by the fact that a boy finally managed to keep a promise. And not only kept it, but went beyond the call of duty to do so.
I suppose I've done guys a bit of an injustice. After all, there are some crappy girls out there, too. Just less of them. Just kidding.

By the way, para que no se hagan ideas, this is NOT related to my last very short post. I actually never really care too much if guys keep their promises or not, because, as you can see, I never expect them to. I'm thinking that should change, though. Make the males a little responsible for their actions, as well as be fair to the decent ones out there.
This is all very interesting.
Abnormal Psych midterm later today, then Spanish class (I have no idea what I'll say for my 5 minutes, especially if other people go before me, which they might. Oh, well, as Mark said, no one can deny your story, so I'll use that idea here, and if necessary I'll talk for the whole 5 minutes about whether I liked the movie or not).
Methods midterm tomorrow, which will be hard, but also is only worth 15% of the course total.
Animal Behaviour test on Thursday, which should be pretty hard, but I also have a rather firm grip on the concept of evolution (if I do say so myself. All I can say is, thank goodness for Science and its demand that all theories be parsimonious, if sometimes it does let an untestable hypothesis through), and that's all we've talked about so far, pretty much. I'm almost excited for the essay question, because it'll be a nice little challenge. And I'm pretty sure the teacher means "essay" in the Mr. Billy sense of the word, where "essay" means a paragraph or two of answering a question. Of course, I didn't do too well on the last two tutorial questions we were given....but I also had to deal with the politics of handling group members and, for some reason, being considered the final word on all decisions. So I'm hoping with a clearer mind I'll do better on the exam. Still, I've heard her tests are really hard and this midterm is worth a lot. And I have two days in which to study for it. Not even, because Wednesdays are super busy for me, my last class finishing at 5:30.

Oh, gosh, I'm screwed.
Ok, I need to get going, and at least look over my notes for today's exam or something. I don't feel like I want to, though. Oh gosh. I'm probably screwed for this one, too. I just want the next 2 weeks to be over. I actually just want the whole two terms for this year to be over, so I can get back into the recovery period(you know, the one where I spend all my day, most days, at work and hardly get to see my roommates at all. Heeey...wait...oh, well, this time I won't have Calculus, too), AKA summer.
Just keep in mind that as negative as I sound, I really love complaining, so actually writing in here is making me happy. So don't worry so much about me!
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Talk about screwed, I have only about 8 hours to study months of material that all trickled out of my mind the second I left class, every time.
I'm SO glad it's only 15% of the total mark. I think I will refrain from complaining about lab reports in the future.

Anyway, I met a girl from Kazakhstan yesterday. She's in one of Charles' engineering classes. That was cool. Meeting her reminded me of El Zahir, which I miss being able to read, and is going to be one of the first things I get into as soon as my Year of Freedom starts.
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I need to stop having things I want to say.

2007-10-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Son iguales. Y no me sirven.

2007-10-20T19:30:00.001-07:00

I just remembered something. In grade 11, they made us choose our elective course, and I put as my first choice Psychology, and as my last one History. They put me into History.

Well guess what. Psychology is my major. Suckers!!!

Although, to be honest, I was super relieved later on that I had been put in History. It was a great year with Mr. Billy, and way better than it would've been with Farfan.
Also, we studied the World Wars and the Depression, and those are my favourite years of History to study.
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I wrote a poem today, and I enjoy it, but in a few years I'll probably find myself at 19 a ridiculous creature.
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Oh, and I bought my dream winter coat today, so I'm almost giddy about winter.

2007-10-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

If my nose were the size of a mountain, it would be the best skiing slope out there.

2007-10-18T08:36:00.001-07:00

This is insanity

2007-10-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

This isn't fair. I hate exam anxiety. It's painful, and stressful, and the worst part about it is that it impedes memory consolidation (in the form of sleep deprivation) and concentration, which interferes with studying, which of course leads to more anxiety. It's not FAIR! I wonder if I could get a note from a doctor about this. I mean, it's as unfair as getting typhoid or something right before the exam, right?

If I ever get through university I'm totally revolutionizing the system.

By the way, according to Don, Einstein felt the exact same way as I do about memorization. So take that, evildoers and teachers!
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Did I mention I nearly burst into tears in my lab today because of the force of sheer exhaustion? And I nearly blacked out before that because I had been sitting in the sun (on the 5th floor of the LSC) for about 10 minutes.
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Alguien acaba de llamar y preguntar por Katie. Le dije que no esta, que esta estudiando.
Numero para evadir: ni ni ni san shi ni kyu
Creo que era la Ktolik. Tipiquisimo, andarme molestando en plena temporada de examenes. Y tipiquisimo de mi, hacerme pasar por alguien llamada Rachel.
That's my new name, by the way, everyone: Rachel. From now on you shall refer to me by that name on the phone, until I specify otherwise. Say "Is Rachel, I mean Katie, there?"
It'll work, trust me. If you don't say Rachel, my roommates will ignore your request to speak with me.

I could be a stalker if the average human being wasn't so dull

2007-10-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

I found out today, while in the bathroom (I was maybe doing a little artwork on the wall of one of the stalls) that a Miss Kylie McGregor is hoping to be allowed to take SOSA 2291. People really should not leave forms on the bathroom floor while they do their stuff. You never know when creepers like me might be in the adjacent stall.
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http://soci-able.ca/

I'm intrigued. This had better be good.
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I either have a sleep disorder, or the stress is seriously starting to mess with my physiological processes.
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Time to pull out the old tranquilizer: if I fail, I'm moving to Montanita.

2007-10-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

I had another odd dream last night. I went in to work (even though it was a Tuesday), and when I got there saw Charles, Andy's friend. We greeted each other, and chatted (about...hair?), and I realized I wasn't actually supposed to work that day. But I wasn't sure, so I was also a little bit nervous about being late if I was supposed to work. So I decided I'd go in to check out the situation under the pretense of asking Chris for Sunday off. Meanwhile, all these unfamiliar faces were filing in and out of the door that says "Employees Only". So, at about 4, I handed Charles my backpack and apron (which for some reason I had been wearing), and made my way to the kitchen. When I got there, the place was teeming with people, most of whom I'd never seen before. One gave me an expectant look which I took to mean "What the heck are you doing here when we're so busy?", so I told them I was Katie the dishwasher and that I was looking for Chris. She nodded and went in search of him. I saw her give him the message, but he just seemed to ignore it and continued to stress about this and that. Then he and a bunch of other people, all dressed in function clothing (or something) pushed this cart (which I'm assuming had food on it. I didn't pay too much attention to the cart, I was too busy standing around awkwardly and hoping Chris would come over so I could ask him for Sunday off) out the doors. Chris rushed over to me, told me "act like you're a server" and pushed me into his spot at the cart. Perplexed, I clumsily did my part at moving th cart into another room. This room was decorated ostentatiously, and there was an irate-looking Asian man standing in the middle of it, in a black suit and a sash. The other cart-pushers started doing this strange hand salute which I embarrassedly tried to imitate, and ended it with a "hao!" (as in "ni hao"). The Asian man rounded on me. Poor me, in my green Puma shirt, and feeling increasingly nervous. Then he started shouting all sorts of versions of that "hao!" whether to see if I could copy them, or to teach me the correct way of saying it, I'm not sure. Either way, I shouted my own version of it back at him, with as close to a Japanese accent as I could muster (even thought the "hao" thing is Chinese), and he finally shut up, perhaps surprised that a North American knew Japanese (that's how it seemed in the dream).
Then the dream shifted, and I rescued these kittens from somewhere, and against my parents' permission, raised them in our restaurant(our restaurant, by the way, only seemed to have dim reddish lighting, and appeared to be modelled after a beach hut). They grew up to be German Shepherds, one with floppy ears and blue eyes (Lucy? Lisa?), the other with erect ears, an awesome brain, bad behaviour and red eyes (Sabido. He was my favourite).

2007-10-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

I think my hair is celebrating Christmas early on its own.
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I finally bought new shoes today. This means that tomorrow I can mop the floors at work without having to worry about getting my socks wet. Awesome.
They were a little expensive, but I can't take my eyes off them, so I think it was worth it.

Also, I made myself shrimp fettuccine Alfredo the Cheers way. It was actually pretty good, for my first attempt, although I think I undercooked the shrimp a little. I had wanted chicken in it(the chicken in our fridge was expired by a month. When I have my own place...), so having to use shrimp was already a bit of a letdown. Therefore the undercooking didn't make too much of a difference. I nudged the shrimp to the side and ate the rest.

So yeah, maybe in a few years, fettuccine Alfredo will be the new omelette. I'm excited for that day.

There it is...sigh. My webcam blows. Unlike my super cool, impermeable new shoes.

And then I think next weekend or at some point I'll buy myself a winter coat and maybe a sweater or two (I realized I really need them. I don't know what I did last year for warmth. Oh yeah, I do, never mind. What I did was not leave the house. Ever. Except for exams. On which I did not do very well because I had not been to class. That's right).

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Wow, I just realized how completely screwed I am. I have 3 midterms in the same week. Awesome. Oh, and tons of spanish crap to do. And another huge lab report the week after all my midterms. Great. Isn't school just wonderful.

Katie in the clouds with excitement

2007-10-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

OH MY GOODNESS. I just watched the most amazing movie. I feel high off it (and the huge amounts of chocolate probably didn't hurt). If you get a chance to, watch it. It's got sketchy moments (ok, it's one big psychedelic sketch-fest), but it's insanely lifefull. It's called Across the Universe. If that doesn't tip you off (and it didn't tip me off), the names of 4 main characters are: Jude, Lucy, Sadie and Prudence.

Yeah. Yeah!
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Psychedelicatessen. Wooh!

2007-10-12T04:55:00.000-07:00

Well, this sucks. I haven't had the time (or the company) to go out and get myself new shoes yet, and it's supposed to rain today. I expect much grossness.
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The crows were warring amongst themselves today. It started out as usual, with them working away at the skylight to try and get me out of here. But then, one became fed up and decided a lunch break was in order. The other one did not appreciate this attitude (personally, I can understand the first crow's feelings. I don't mind. I don't see why the second crow should mind if I don't, and I'm the imprisoned one), and lunged at the first. I witnessed the dark dogfighting from below. It was an awful, magnificent sight.
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Ok, I got this email from some site I'm apparently signed up for (I have no recollection of doing so). Anyway, it's about this Ferrell and Kurtz case that's been going on for ages (this is the first time I've heard of it, but oh well), and it's super interesting, and very frustrating. Here's the link for an essay thing on it, it's awesome(and Monsanto is mentioned): http://www.caedefensefund.org/reflections.html

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Dude, a guy that totally looks like he should be in a film based on a Shakespeare play just walked by. It made me smile.
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Again, no sleep last night. I think there's something wrong with my suprachiasmatic nucleus. It keeps me alert during the night, and makes me really sleepy(painfully so) during the day

I NEED SLEEP.
Ok, I'm getting off this machine, I can't handle it anymore. Stupid library. It unbalances me.
I wish I didn't have to wait around for Spanish society. I wish I could just go home and sleep. Except I wouldn't sleep, because that would just mess my system up more than it already is.
Right. Fresh air, Katie. Now.

2007-10-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

I would just like to state that there is a whole lot more to the treasurer thing than I was told when offered the job. It's insane, actually.

2007-10-11T05:48:00.001-07:00

Oops. Not only can I not remember what the other dream was about, but I just accidentally skipped Methods class. I guess the snooze button of my alarm clock was actually set to 59 minutes not 59 seconds. In my defense, I've had maybe 5 hours of good sleep in the last 3 nights.

2007-10-10T04:03:00.000-07:00

I had the worst dreams ever last night, they were completely stupid.

In one, it was a remake of Jaws or something, except now, since people had caught on about there being a shark in the water, it had become a lot harder for that shark to get food. As a result (and here's where the details get blurry. I blame this whole crappy dream on my Animal Behaviour teacher for talking non-stop about adaptive behaviours in animals), the shark took its last victim, a girl in a bikini, and instead of eating her (somehow he had managed to kill her without causing any tissue damage at all) he manipulated her and made her "walk" stiffly around on dry land. I'm not sure whether the shark was actually in the girl, or using her as bait. Anyway, it was gross, and people were like "dude, you stink", and she stayed in the same grotesque pose during the whole dream, and I woke up wondering where the heck it all came from.

I'll tell about the other one once I have my work (due later on today) done.

Wheeeee!

2007-10-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

Veis esa luz amable
Que raya en el oriente,
Cada vez más luciente
En gracia celestial
Esa es la aurora plácida
Que anuncia libertad!,
Esa es la aurora plácida
Que anuncia libertad!

Coro
Saludemos gozosos
En armoniosos cánticos
Esta aurora gloriosa
Que anuncia libertad,
Libertad, libertad!

Nosotros guardemos
Con ardor indecible
Tu fuego inextinguible,
Oh santa libertad!

Como vestales vírgenes
Que sirven a tu altar.
Como vestales vírgenes
Que sirven a tu altar.

Coro
Saludemos gozosos
En armoniosos cánticos
Esta aurora gloriosa
Que anuncia libertad,
Libertad, libertad!

Haz que en el suelo que amas
Florezca en todas partes
El culto de las artes
Y el honor nacional

Y da con mano pródiga
Los bienes de la paz.
Y da con mano pródiga
Los bienes de la paz.

Saludemos gozosos
En armoniosos cánticos
Esta aurora gloriosa
Que anuncia libertad,
Libertad, libertad.

Nos vemos el prox. anio, querida Perla!

2007-10-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

I. Am. Ridiculously. Stressed. IAMRIDICULOUSLYSTRESSED.

Why, oh WHY am I wasting my time on this? What will come out of it? Pleasant, insipid conversation for a few hours, sitting on couches, stuffing the worry down deeper, so it doesn't intrude on my consciousness, when I could be here, getting stuff done. That's what.

2007-10-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

So, my boasting for today: I went to bed at 5:17 this morning.
I thought I'd wake up on my own at 10, but as a precaution, I set the alarm clock to 11 am, which turned out to be a good idea. I had a dream that Andy and Charles were selling Mary Kay makeup, and I guess the dream was just such a good one that I didn't feel like waking up until I heard the alarm.

I was a pretty cool dream, I must say.

Oh, and Charles' room was totally messy, which made me happy because I hadn't seen anyone with a room that approximated mine on the calamity scale in Canada until today.

I am still the Queen of Chaos, though. My room is way grosser.
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Feeling tired now. And ill. And tired.

I think a walk is in order, clearly concentration will not be happening otherwise.