Explanation of the pictures

These pictures are from two different outings. I just happened to be wearing the same shirt for both photo excursions. The two from the Look Off are from early September when my Mom was around to help me move in. After we finally had everything moved in and unpacked, we took a day to tour the local area. The Look Off is at the top of a cliff at overlooks the Annapolis Valley, which is where Wolfville is located.

The other 5 pictures are from when Andrew visited me a few weeks later and we took pictures around Wolfville. When we set out that day, it was cool but not raining. However, as we progressed in our journeys around town, it started raining. Because it was fall, it was one of those miserable, wet, very very cold days. It was very depressing weather-wise, but we had a good time. They aren't the best pictures, but they give you an idea (sort of) of what the town looks like and such. I have taken some pictures of my apartment, but they haven't been developed yet, so someday when they are I will probably post them. Don't forget that clicking on the pictures will make them bigger and easier to decipher.

Andrew gave me a webcam for Christmas. It is fun. I will probably post dorky grainy pictures that I've taken with it before too long.

This is me by the door to my apartment. I like it because you can see the water in the back again. Isn't that a great view from my apartment? 

This is me in the backyard of my apartment building, pointing to my balcony. Mine is the top one that you can see.  

This is me at the end of the driveway for my apartment. You can't really see how big the hill is in this picture. It gets steeper around the bend at the bottom. 

This is me at Acadia. In the background is University Hall, where the registar's office is. Fancy, isn't it? I look cold because I am. It was one of those rainy fall days that are cold and damp.  

This is at the top of the infamous hill in Wolfville. Note how you can see the water in the background. 

Here is the Annapolis Valley again. This is where I live. Beautiful, isn't it? 

This is me at the Look Off. Behind me is the picturesque Annapolis Valley. 

Happy New Year's, All!

That's really all I had to say. I hope that everyone is having a good time tonight, with whatever they are doing, whether partying hard or curling up in front of the TV. Personally, I am going out to dinner with Andrew at the Lotus Tea House in Waterloo (I've heard good things but have never been) and then our plans are fairly open. We have A LOT of alcohol available for consumption, so good times will be had with any endeavour.

Here's exciting news: Andrew got me a webcam for Christmas! Yay! There is lots of fun to be had with this little baby. Apparently, it takes stills and videos too, but I have no idea how it works. It also has a microphone, so I can add commentary. Hmmmm... interesting.... I could make a documentary of my living room.... Wait, that wouldn't be interesting at all....

I am going to upload some pictures of me in Wolfville soon, so stay tuned.

Moral of this story: Boxing Week shopping is dangerous

Hello. Well, yesterday went pretty much as outlined down below. Mom and I spent a total 1.5-2 hours at the mall, during which time I bought 2 pairs of pants for $24 total at Bluenotes. Yay corduroy! I also bought part of Andrew's present, but I won't say what because we haven't exchanged yet.

I had a ball at my sister's. I can't believe the imagination that Anie has... it's so much fun! Yesterday we blasted off in a spaceship (aka her closet) and visited the moon (bounce bounce bounce in the low gravity) and Mars, where we looked for martians and brought back souvenirs. I had a good time talking to Tim and Tam about "adult stuff" too.

The movie that Mom and I saw last night was Closer. I wish that it was out on video so that I could make the other Acadia English girls see it and talk to me about it. It was a weird movie, which I was expecting, and I have a lot to say about it, but only to people who have seen it. Thus, if you have seen it, please post comments below.

Today Mom and I went on a longer shopping spree, but this time only to Stratford. It is hard to have money and not spend it. I bought another pair of jeans (which means that I will return to NS with 4 new pairs) and a sweater. The sweater is made of "marshmallow knit", and as the name implies, it is very soft and squishy. I love it. Wearing it (as I am right now) makes me feel cuddly. I also bought myself two exercise DVD's (one yoga and one pilates) for when I go back to NS. Maybe I can get into shape this term. (Stop laughing everyone!). I finished buying Andrew's Christmas present too. He asked for "something useful". How much fun is that? And he stipulated "no CDs or DVDs". Yuck. Anyway, I followed these criteria. When I type it all out like this, it doesn't sound like I bought that much, actually. That makes me feel a bit better, especially when I add that my pants were $15, the sweater $23, and the one DVD $6. However, I ended up spending quite a bit of money, none of it I really should have. Oh well. It was fun.

I am supposed to be picking Andrew up from the airport tonight. Originally, I was supposed to meet him at 8:30pm, but now his flights have been delayed, so it will be around midnight. Oh dear. Wish me luck finding my way around without a navigator. I'm not known for my internal sense of direction, except for the fact that it is always wrong.

Well, that's all I have to say. I guess I need to wrap Andrew's present and rest up for the big journey.

Today's Goal: Fresh Air

I realized today that it has been over two days since I left the house. Sunday night I was out until 4am, but that is the last time that I have inhaled fresh air. Before you start thinking that I am totally lazy (although why I want you to stop thinking that I don't know since it's true), let me just say that on the first day of not leaving the house, we had my Mom's family over for Christmas, so it would have been rude of me to leave. Yesterday was just our first true pajama day, as neither Mom nor I changed out of our pjs all day. Our previous pj days had all been punctuated by brief spans out of our jammies due to either visitors coming in or visits that we paid to others. Yesterday was spent in front of the TV.

The family day 2 days ago was actually fairly enjoyable. I kicked ass at games. My cousin Amanda and I won 4 straight euchre games. Now granted, we were playing against my 83 year old Grandma, who is not as sharp as she used to be. She would make hearts trump, and then halfway through the hand try to take a trick with a spade. But, we weren't playing for money, so it was all good. I also discovered that my cousin Chris shares my love of That '70s Show and Family Guy, so I got out my laptop and we watched some clips. I also introduced he and Amanda to Clone High.

Yesterday Mom and I got the movie SuperSize Me on Pay-Per-View. It was interesting. I think that Christmas, when there is so much junk food, was a bad time to see it for the first time. However, it was an interesting movie and gave me a lot to think about. I also watched some Charlie Chaplin movies last night that I got for Christmas. They were entertaining. Silent films are funny. I think I like them.

Today I am going shopping, to dinner at my sister's, and then to a movie tonight. Busy day. It should be fun. I still need to get Andrew's Christmas present. Any ideas?

Oooh... breakfast is ready. I've got to go. More later. The service here at my parents' house is great... Dad cooked breakfast for me.

Thoughts on Love Actually; or, Why it sucks sometimes to be an English major

As I posted below, I got the movie Love Actually for Christmas. Mom and I watched it last night after the guests went home and we cleaned up the kitchen. It is a nice bit of holiday fluff. It is, as it advertises itself, the ultimate romantic comedy. With an all-star British cast and a quirky funny script, how can you go wrong? However, since I re-viewed it last night (I'd seen it before), I've had some disturbing thoughts about it. It all comes back to my first essay for my Gothic course, which discussed how marriage is both an ideology tool and a method of control used by the government. The government wants us to get married because then we, in theory, are more stable, or at the very least we are more measurable and controlled. Marriage is all tied into the Doctrine of Unity, which states that the husband and wife become one person upon wedding. This doctrine supports patriarchy because traditionally this "one person" has been the husband, and this notion has not been fully eradicated from the general consciousness yet. This push towards matrimony can definitely be seen in many different societal interactions. This all relates to Love Actually because as a movie, it is a form of media. Media, of course, is the mouthpiece of the governmental regime. Love Actually is a movie that definitely supports the ideology of marriage, as well as certain negative (American) female stereotypes.

This is why it is sometimes difficult to be an English major and to always be on "discourse watch". What was previously an enjoyable, fluffy movie that cheered me up has now become an ideology tool in my head. I was happier watching fluff, which I guess is one of the problems with our current society... I'm not the only one to prefer pretty fluff to less pretty substance. However, even after this large rant-like post, I will still continue to watch this movie (although I will try not to be taken in by its pro-matrimonial propaganda) and I will continue to like it (come on, it has Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, that (super) hot guy that plays Carlo, that really cute guy that confesses his love through an elaborate scheme involving bristol board... etc). I am also considering making "Let's go get the s**t kicked out of us by love" my motto. Or at least one of my mottos (other mottos include "Be prepared for spontaneity" and "Chocolate is good"). But I will never have the same faith in Christmas love miracles as before.

Marriage has been on my mind a lot lately, not just because of this movie and my essay and my entire Gothic class, but because Andrew's little sister recently got engaged. Of course, she's a lesbian, so the same ideological forces are not at work. She is being subversive by getting married. Not that that matters. Most people get married for love (which is what I stated in my essay) with no thought to my Steven-Hyde-like conspiracy theories, which is great. I hope that I haven't implied that I would label people governmental tools for consenting to marriage, because I wouldn't. I see myself getting married someday, probably. Or, if I can't get past the ideological frou-fer-a, having a private commitment ceremony of some sort, with privately-written vows and a pretty (yet cheaper than a wedding gown) dress.

Anyway. Hopefully this hasn't been offensive. Sometimes my external meter of appropriateness doesn't work. And by "sometimes" I mean "always". I'm also sorry for my lack of citations in this post. I should be referencing numerous sources and legal texts, but I won't. I know it's bad academic conduct, but whatever.

Now, back to the chocolate.

The Christmas Update

Hello. I just thought I'd post a Christmas update. My family does our big thing on Christmas Eve, so my sister and her family were here all day, and we exchanged gifts after supper. Some highlights for me were the first season of That '70s Show on DVD, as well as the movies Waking Life, Love Actually and Bowling for Columbine. All in all, very exciting. Besides those things, I got the usual clothes (all very stylish) and some books (Thomas Pynchon) and some things for my apartment. Yesterday was some great family time. Anie is so cute. She is really developing a personality. She told me that she missed me because I hadn't seen her since Sunday. I taught her how to type and how to spell my name. That was fun. She is a smart cookie.

Today was a jammie day. My parents got a dvd player/vcr for Christmas, so my Dad hooked it up this morning. My Mom got my Dad the first season of Corner Gas for Christmas, and we were all eager to watch it. So, after a quick trip to visit my Grandma Taves who is home for the weekend from the hospital, Mom and I put our pj pants back on, and the day was spent eating leftover munchies from yesterday, Christmas chocolate and some clementines while sitting in front of a roaring fire and watching DVDs. Good times. Tonight my plan is to watch the rest of the That '70s Show episodes that I haven't recently seen, and then to watch Waking Life on my laptop in bed. I love that movie. I will probably post a rant about it tomorrow.

Andrew got himself a webcam. Webcams are fun. I can't wait to try it out when I'm back on high-speed internet so the picture isn't so choppy.

'Twas the day before Christmas Eve...

Today there was a huge snowstorm. Lots and lots of centimetres of snow fell. I was planning on finishing my Christmas shopping today, but when I got up (at 9am, believe it or not!) Dad was home telling me that he had been sent home from work since they were closing shop because of the weather, so I had better postpone my shopping for a day. I shrugged. A day spent snowed in watching TV sounded good to me. So, I spent my morning watching all of the The Surreal Lifes on Much More Music, with some interesting shows during the commercials, including MuchMusic's 20 Hottest Men of 2004 (Justin Timberlake was #3 and Orlando Bloom was #2. Yay!) and a Britney Spears profile (since Andrew is a big fan and claims that it goes deeper than sex appeal, I thought that I should learn about her. My feelings about her now are somewhat improved than they were before, but she seems very un-self-aware).

Anyway, my Mom returned home from work (safely, thank goodness) and we decided to watch movies this afternoon. We got Raising Helen on Pay-Per-View. It was as good as I was expecting. You knew how it was going to end right from the beginning, but it was enjoyable. Good snow day fluff. After the movie, the weather had cleared a bit, so Mom and I went to Stratford and I finished my Christmas shopping! Yay! Now I just need to wrap everything.

Andrew called tonight after dinner. The power is out at his parents' house because of a large ice storm (apparently it's wreaked havoc all across the US Midwest) so he hasn't been able to enjoy their hot tub yet. Oh darn. I'm trying to feel sympathy, but I can't. (Read my entries in the November Archives for my power outage experiences.)

Right when Andrew called, Mom and I got another movie on Pay-Per-View called A Home at the End of the World, written by the same guy who did The Hours. This movie was less fluff and more interesting. I definitely did not know how it would end. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I think I mostly liked it. Weird. It's one I'll keep thinking about for a while. I'm sure that the book makes a lot more sense, and I will have to look for it.

Speaking of books, I highly recommend The Book of Daniel by E.L. Doctorow. I have been re-reading it and reading secondary sources on it for my thesis, and I just fall more and more in love with it each time. It gives me so much to think about. And this book is actually accessible and enjoyable for the non-English major lay person. It is loosely based on the Rosenburg trial in the 50s, but deals with the legacy for the children of the couple. The book is narrated by Daniel (hence the name), who is the eldest son of the Isaacsons, a couple executed for treason. Any more than this and I get into the complicated juicy stuff, so you have to find it. It's everything I love: political, emotional, postmodern, interesting, unique... In short, awesome.

OK, enough ranting. There will probably be many more posts about this book over the course of the next 8 months of thesis-writing. In other news, Christmas Eve is tomorrow! Christmas Eve is the big celebration in my immediate family. My sister and her family come over, and we exchange gifts and stocking gifts, and eat dinner together and play games. It should be a good time. Anie is 3 now, and so adorably excited over Christmas and her "wots of pwesents". She is almost as excited about my presents as her own.

I tried to knit myself a scarf today. I bought some of that feathery yarn to make a scarf like the ones that are so popular these days. I bought Mom some for Christmas too, in a different colour. Mine is a gorgeous flame orangey colour, while hers is a nice blue. Anyway. I've given up the knitting, at least for tonight. I restarted my scarf 3-4 times because of mistakes, then called it quits. Mom has started it again for me, and so far it is error free. I might pick it up again later. This yarn, because of its featheredness, is quite hard to work with. I like knitting, but it takes so much concentration for me, and is not a good activity for daydreamers, because, at least in my experience, you forget what stitch or what row you just completed, and then following a pattern is out the window. Anyway, I might say screw the pattern and just do it in plain garter stitch. If it eventually works for me, I might post a picture here.

That's all I have to say for now. I hope everyone gets in some fun family time this holiday. Post comments telling me how your holidays are going. Or send me e-mail. Either way.

Explanation of the "Hot Hot Hot" Post

Just to make it clear, the post entitled "My Boyfriend is Hot Hot Hot" was not created by me. It was made by Andrew. I left him alone with my laptop (while I was making lunch for the two of us... Now I know why he was so insistent that I be the one to make it) which has my password saved, and he did this post. I did not find this out until much later, and I decided to leave it there for humour value. My boyfriend is cheesey and does things like quote songs on people's blogs. He also has a tendency to say really... unique and humourous (for all the wrong reasons) things. However, he told me that I don't mention him enough on my blog and I don't post enough nice things about him. So, I promised that I would say that he has a nice butt (which is true - very shapely) and something else, but I don't remember what it was. I will say that for all of his geekiness he is very sweet and I am very lucky to have him as my boyfriend. He is one of my favourite people to hang out with because he always makes me laugh.

That's enough of that. The Christmas season is making me mushy. I need to move on. I have nothing else to say for right now, except that I really like my new haircut. But that's all.

I like penguins.  

Brief Update

I have been too busy to post anything for a few days. Here is a brief update:

I got my hair cut. This was a relief since my hair previously could not be combed. Now it can. It has been "texturized", which means that there is a lot less of it and now it goes curly on its own, or at least wavy. This is fun.

I got a bunch of pictures back showing various sights in Wolfville. I will try to scan them in and post them sometime this week. Looking at these pictures, all which have me with blonde hair, I can see why Janice says that I look better with brown. But, I will let you be the judge of that.

My boyfriend is a heavy lump of saying the wrong thing. But he makes me laugh so much that I can't stay mad at him.

Yesterday was Taves Christmas. It was fun. I spent most of the day with Anie. We had a good time. Lots of good food, and she got some fun presents.

I went Christmas shopping on Saturday. I stll have so much to do. If my family were different, I'd buy them all an oiled penguin cleaning (see below), but they don't share my obsession with these flightless birds. Anyway. Christmas shopping will be tricky this week, when everyone is in a state of last minute panic. However, I always live my life in a state of last minute panic (notice how I'm carefully NOT mentioning my assignments?), so I think I'll be fine.

Not much else has happened. I've done some lazing around, some cookie baking, some essay writing, etc. I'll post the pictures later.

My boyfriend is Hot! Hot! Hot!

His soul on fire, he is so hot! hot! hot!

OK, so I don't know how the rest of that song goes, but I think you get the picture. He is the best-looking boyfriend anyone could ever want!

I may have an ulcer soon; or, procrastination is fun for a while, but it always catches up to you

Well, it is really crunch time now. I have finished the two essays that I meant to have done a week ago. I am working on my last essay now, and still need to do my 20 thesis pages, which I haven't started, for Monday. Tomorrow night Andrew and I are spending together, and Friday we are making Christmas cookies. I really shouldn't be spending my time socializing and baking, but Andrew is important to me, so I am making time (break out the "Awwwwww"s...we're so cute!). Sunday is the Laurier English girl reunion, which I don't think I can go to, and Taves Christmas, which I have to go to. If I still had my car, I'd do both, but being sans auto has really been cramping my style. But I won't get into that. I whine enough about having sold my car as it is.

My last essay just got a shot of heroin as I came up with a thesis that I am actually super-excited about. I am almost excited enough to pull another all-nighter like I did on Sunday-to-Monday night, but that's probably not the best idea. My thesis is going to be about how both the laws and legal process surrounding domestic violence in British family law and Angela Carter's story "The Bloody Chamber" seem to punish women for having knowledge against patriarchy. Isn't that neat? So much better than any other thesis I've put together for a while (with the exception of my I'm the King of the Castle presentation - I was quite proud of my comparison of Charles to a Romantic child). Anyway, wish me luck with this vast load of schoolwork that I procrastinated until now.

Tonight I visited my grandma in the hospital, or rehab clinic or whatever it is that she's in. She broke her hip a few weeks ago, and is in rehab to deal with it. She is doing well, and is coming home for the weekend for Taves Christmas. It was great to see her again. The clinic where she's staying has a lounge with a small bar on the main floor. Tonight there was live music - a band of slightly alcoholic-looking middle aged fellows playing oldies and country. My dad, aunt, uncle, grandma and I took in the show. Considering that for most of the time I was the youngest person there by at least 30 years, and that most people were in wheelchairs, it wasn't the most rocking performance I've ever been too. However, there was beer and the music was good, for the genre. Having family time was great, and my beer came to me free courtesy of Dad, so no complaints there.

I'm still so excited about this thesis! I hope that my essay goes as well on paper as it is in my head. I also hope that this one won't take me as long to finish as my law essay, since I'm actually excited about it. This is the spark that's been missing in my English work lately. Suddenly I've remembered why I'm torturing myself in grad school (which Andrea so aptly described as craptacular) - it's because English is so neat!!! When it's not bogged down in formalities and requirements, it's freaking awesome! Ideas rock!

Anyway, I'm hitching a ride with my Dad into Stratford in the morning to see if my film has been developed and to perhaps buy cookie ingredients, so I must get some sleep. Wish me happy writing!

Procrastinating with Penguins and more M-B fun

If you are procrastinating and feel like abusing penguins (but in a fun way that they seem to like) click here. These are fun little time-wasting games. The first begins with a yeti batting a penguin to see how far you can get the penguin to go. In the next one you need to send the penguins into a wall with the help of an orca. And so on. My favourite is the albatross one. The penguins are so cute and good-natured. Thank you to Chris C. for introducing me to this site. This site also other neat games, like Sonic the Hedgehog (yes, the Sega game) and Guess the Bra Size (which I've actually tried, and was relatively good at. I call it experience - experience with bras that is, not with guessing, which I usually don't do).

I found that Myers-Briggs site that I mentioned below with the funny descriptions of the different types. Click here to read about my type, INFJ. After reading about how I'm a total emotional flake ("wounded at the core, easily upset, lonesome, cries easily, loner, discontented, sad, etc."), go to my opposite sign, ESTP. I guess it should come as no surprise that this profile says, "happy, emotionally stable, people person"... since it's my opposite, but come on! These people have to have SOME flaws! Anyway, do the test, find out your type, then let me know what you think of your description. If you're an IN, I bet that you won't like being called a flake. Or heck, you're probably used to it by now, especially if your family has a bunch of ES's in it.

Anyway, I can feel the lack of sleep kicking in as my urge to ramble pointlessly increases, so I'll go find something productive to do at this ungodlyish early hour.

Myers-Briggs test results

Ok, I still haven't started on the nachoes. Well, I got them out of the cupboard. What I've done instead is another Myers-Briggs type test thing. I know I said before that I'm an INFJ. Well, I keep coming back borderline between INFJ and INFP. I mean, I like schedules so you know what's going on, but I like them to be flexible and open to new suggestions. Anyway. So I just did this new test, which said that I'm actually an INFP, but I would like to be an INFJ. It also said that I'm attracted to INFP's. This last part is definitely true. I can think of multiple people who are close to me who are INFP's, and some that probably are but who haven't done the test. Oh, on that note, to do the test, click
here. The one I just did is the 144 question Jung test, which tells you preferences, etc. There are more basic ones there too. Post your results in the comments section below. I'm curious to see how everyone scores.

The reason that I would like to solve this INFP/INFJ dilemma is so that a) I get better self-definition and b) because each one has a different dominant/auxilliary and weakest function, and I'd like to know those. Part of the reason that I self-define as an INFJ is because their weakest function is extraverted sensing, and I definitely feel that this is true. INFP's weakest function is thinking, but I feel like I have an OK handle on logic. It's concrete, detailed, actual stuff going on around me that I have problems with. This is why it's probably good that I no longer have a car to drive. My internal world is too strong and often cuts off my access to the outside one. Which I don't usually mind, actually, because my internal world is usually more fun anyway.

If I can find it, I will post a link to another Myers-Briggs site that has "interesting" descriptions of the various types. There seems to be a definite bias against introverts and/or intuitives there. It's actually quite funny. Anyway, once I find it I will post a link.

Now go do the test!

Ontario: There's no taste like home

I flew in to Ontario last night. My travels yesterday were fairly uneventful. I was happy to have my laptop to help pass the time at the airport. I had a panic attack during my flight home because I forgot that the time goes back when you go West. My family was meeting me at 6:30pm Toronto time. I looked at my watch in the air and saw that it was 6:30 and we hadn't started landing, and got really upset. It took me a good 5-10 minutes to finally realize that my watch was still set to AST, so I had another hour before I needed to panic. I was much relieved.

My mom, my sister and my niece met me at the airport. I can say that there is nothing quite so nice as being met at the airport by your 3 year old niece who has been counting down the days until you come home. As soon as I saw her, she handed me her Christmas photo that she had taken at Sears. Apparently she had been holding it during the whole trip to Toronto and refused to put it down. In typical 3 year old fashion, Anie shows her affection by choosing who she wants to do things for her. Thus, last night it was I who got to unbutton her coat and help her with her mittens and blow on her food to cool it down. I did not object. On the way home in the backseat we had a riot playing little games. I taught her what an Eskimo kiss is (is this a politically correct term? Do we say Inuit kiss now? Or is that still problematic in that we're essentializing a population by this one action that they are reported to do? The world has become a complicated place) and what a butterfly kiss is, and we made animal faces with our hands and attacked each other with tickling. Good times. My dad told me last night that he was over at my sister's on Wednesday and he said to Anie, "Two more days until Heidi comes home," and Anie corrected him, "No, ONE more day... One more sleep!" She knew better than he did. It's so nice to feel loved.

Right now I'm at Andrew's. He had an exam to write this morning and I'm waiting for him to come home so we can eat lunch. I wasn't really looking forward to coming home, at least not for a whole month because I'm going to miss my apartment and because my assignments still need a lot of work, but I have to say that it's great to be here. Plus, people here have stuff, like couches and satellite TV and free laundry, so you can't complain about that. My family is getting the Christmas tree this weekend, which is fun. I'm totally not in the Christmas spirit, but getting the tree should help.

Anyway, Andrew is expecting me to have nachoes made for when he gets back, so I'd best move on into the kitchen. More later!

Help save a penguin for Christmas!

I just checked my e-mail and there's this site (click here) that will allow you to adopt an animal for Christmas. You can save oil-soaked penguins! Here is the pricing chart:

$25: Buys gloves and vital equipment for cleaning birds
$50: Cleans one oiled penguin
$100: Pays for 1/2 of a new wildlife rehabilitaion pool
$500: One "drying station"...absolutely critical to ensure a bird's survival

If anyone wants to donate in my name this Christmas, that would be awesome! There are other animals that you can help too: orphaned bear cubs, baby seals who get slaughtered in Canada (this is a Newfoundland tradition), or you can protect an elephant from poachers.

That's all I had to say. I just wanted to bring this to your attention. If anyone wants to split cleaning one oiled penguin, let me know.

The 6 hour update

I'm on page 7 of 12 of hammering the law essay into shape. My plan for it has changed somewhat as it is taking more hammering than I anticipated. I will finish hammering it tonight, and then do the final edit tomorrow (or else late tonight) after it's had the chance to sit. My Atlantic essay is 1 page long (a brilliant start, I think), my printer is packaged and ready to go to Ashley's, and I'm about to prepare dinner. I still want to do that laundry tonight, but not until late when the laundry room is less busy (not many people do laundry at midnight, but more people do than you think). My water bottle has not changed much since my last post, which means that I've got to start pumping the fluids. I am debating about whether or not to do my photocopying tonight, but I think that I will after dinner. I am also planning on going out for coffee on my way home, if the freezing rain they're calling for hasn't started by then. My new plan for today:

• finish hammering law essay
• 7 pages of Atlantic essay
• 2 loads laundry
• dishes
• finish water
• printer to Ashley's
• buy bus ticket
• photocopying for Atlantic essay and possibly thesis
• possible coffee date

I hope that the bullets show up this time. I've bulleted all these lists today and the bullets haven't been showing up for some reason. Oh well.

I promise that after these essays are done, my posts will be funny again.

The 3 hour update

OK. So, my productivity hasn't gone as well as I was hoping so far. I am still working on my Law essay (I have the most unfun part left - hammering my stream of consciousness thoughts into some sort of organized whole) and haven't really touched the Atlantic one yet. I have done some cleaning though, and I'm almost through my first litre of water. I changed the cartridge in my printer in preparation for taking it to Ashley's. And, I've showered and cooked lunch, and watched an episode of That's 70's Show (it was a study break). I am modifying my goals for today somewhat. I still want to:

• Do 2 loads of laundry
• Finish my Law essay
• Write 7 pages of Atlantic essay in draft form
• Do the dishes
• Photocopy sources for Atlantic essay
• Possibly take printer to Ashley's
• Possibly buy bus ticket

I don't know why I'm posting these updates. Partly to procrastinate, and partly to stay motivated. Once it's written and online for all to see, I feel more like it needs to be done.

Chantal in my program has created a new blog that, well, presents an interesting description of the sort of thing I'm going through with my Law essay. The fun part of essays is the writing. The sucky part is making them organized and good.

Anyway, I need to continue with the grind. Another update to come later - hopefully, one with more things checked off.

Why do I do this to myself?

I'm going to pull an Andrew and do an entry in the form of a list. This is crunch time for me now, so here is my list of goals for today:

• Finish and hand in my law essay
• Draft my Atlantic Canadian essay
• Do 2 loads of laundry
• Drop my printer off at Ashley's
• Photocopy sources for my Atlantic paper and my thesis
• Spend 1 hour cleaning my apartment
• Drink 2 litres of water
• Handwash some unmentionables
• Wash the dishes
• Buy a bus ticket
• Not have a nervous breakdown

This is what I get for being so distracted lately. I thought that I'd have plenty of time to get all of this done. After all, I haven't had class since Friday. However, here it is, last minute, and I'm trying to get everything tidied up for when I leave on Thursday. This plan still means that I have to write my Gothic and Law essay after I get home, probably during my first weekend back, and that I won't start my thesis until probably about 5 days before my 20-30 pages are due. Errrggg.... I should have learned by now, but I have such overconfidence in my abilities that I think that I can keep putting things off.

Well, I must now. I figure that I will probably be up for another 12-13 hours, so I must put that time to good use. I might check back later with an update on my success. Ciao!

Identity Crisis

I've noticed that every unhappy situation in my life, no matter what it is, causes me to have an identity crisis of some sort. Suddenly, I'm asking myself why I'm the type of girl to leave my assignments to the last minute, and I start psychoanalyzing myself. "It all goes back to when I was six and..." I think that this is just a subtler form of procrastination. I must say that questions of identity are much more interesting than just about any essay that I've ever had to write. If I come to any startling conclusions in my musings, I will let you know.

Since my concentration for academic pursuits is riding at nil, I've spent my night cleaning my apartment. I figure that the movement might help to get the ideas flowing, and it's more productive than my usual procrastination techniques of playing Insaniquarium and watching That 70's Show. Also, being in a neat environment makes me feel like being more productive. I feel organized and able to accomplish something. Lately my apartment looks like everything exploded, and while it hasn't improved much from tonight's exertions, I do have a clean kitchen and bathroom and less crap in my living room, and I will soon have clean clothes to wear. This makes me feel better already.

Speaking of space, I wonder if that is part of the problem. Since I've moved my study area to the living room, my productivity has gone down. I don't know if this is coincidence or the answer to my problems. Something to ponder on, anyway. And, perhaps experiment with as experiments waste even more time than mere pondering.

Well, I'm hungry and I have no quirky stories to relate, so I think that I will sign off. I am really starting to feel the lack of a social life around here, and I look forward to my return to Ontario and to people and activities. I will not write how many days left because it stresses me out. I still have so much to do.

P.S. You can help my quest for identity by finishing this sentence: Heidi is the type of girl who... (and don't say procrastinates like crazy because we all know that).

This is the end

So, today I had my last class for the term. We were actually supposed to have been finished on Wednesday, but we missed a class during the blackout so we had a make up class today (voluntarily - welcome to grad school). Now we are left with the million pages of assignments to write. It feels really strange to be done classes. Now that it's done, the term seems to have gone really fast, but it's only because it's over that I can say this. In the middle it seemed like the term would never end. Now it's less than a week until I come home, which seems so crazy. It will be a very busy less than a week.

I made chili for dinner tonight. I put these mentions of food into my blog all the time for when my Mom reads it. You know how Moms are... always worried about what you're eating and if you're nourished. My Mom is especially like this since I have a bad history with food and nourishment. Anyway, my chili turned out much better this time than last time, mostly because I had all the ingredients this time and I followed the recipe. It's a vegetarian chili that is very easy to make. The leftovers are also great on nachoes. If anyone wants the recipe, let me know and I will send it to you.

Hmmm... I have nothing else to say. I'm sorry that this entry is so boring. Oh, I think I have an ear infection. I'm hoping that it will just go away without me seeing a doctor, but so far no luck. This entry is still boring, but hopefully my mentioning my ear will garner me comments of sympathy (hint hint).

OK, enough of this. If I think of anything else, I will add more later.

Why can't I concentrate lately?

So, lately I've had the attention span of a housefly. I always have a short attention span, but usually it's the span of a honey bee, who at least has to make it back to the hive everyday, even if it is flitting from flower to another all the time. However, for the past week or so, I haven't been able to concentrate on anything long enough to finish it. I always work in pieces with my honey bee focus, but my pieces have become smaller and more various. For instance, yesterday when I got home from school I simultaneously was doing dishes and making supper (this is normal) while also talking on MSN and putting groceries away (this is too much). It has made me both more and less productive. The mass of things that I do in a night is more productive, because I'm doing three or four things at once. However, my big important projects (i.e. essays) are falling to the wayside because I can only spend 10 minutes at a time on them before I feel like I need to be on to something else.

Part of the problem is that I don't have a couch. If I had a couch, I imagine that it would be much easier to curl up on it and do my important reading and organize myself, etc. As it is, my only real comfy place for reading is my bed, and there are obvious pitfalls to doing my work there (the main one being that I don't, I sleep instead). So, if someone wants to buy me a couch and have it delivered here, that would be great.

I was up before 7am this morning. This was crazy. The sun hadn't even risen yet. I had to finish making notes for my presentation this morning, so I had to get up. The last time I saw 6-6:30am was when I stayed up all night and went to bed then (which has happened a couple of times since I've been here. Yay nighttime!). What I like about being up that early is this: nothing! It's such a waste of time for me, because I can't really work until 10pm anyway, so it just increases the amount of time that I'm awake and doing nothing before productive (or, lately, less productive) time kicks in. The only slightly good thing is that the birds eat in the morning, and they land on my balcony and it's soothing to watch them. But come on! It's only birds! I could be sleeping!!

Speaking of wasting time, here is a site with lots of personality quizzes on it: Similar Minds. I've gotten Ashley interested in the whole Myers-Briggs system lately, which is fun. We talk about the differences and pros and cons of the different types. I am an INFJ. She is an INTJ. We get along well. N's seem to run rampant in the English department, which is no real surprise. This is what makes English fun! If you don't know what any of this means, go do the quiz. You might as well. It's not like you're doing anything productive anyway, except reading about how unproductive I am. By extension, I have pulled you into my vortex of time-wasting. Muahahahaha!!!

Mental note: Tomorrow, try to regain... oooh! Shiny thing!! Gotta go!