Something fun

You are a HUFFLEPUFF!

As a Hufflepuff and as an NFJ, you are loyal,
idealistic, and responsible. You place a very
high value on authenticity and integrity in
people and relationships and have a natural
ability to understand and connect with people.
Not only are you excellent at resolving
conflicts and helping people work together more
effectively, you also have the ability to help
people feel good about themselves definitely a
talent worth having!


Hogwarts Sorting Hat: Based on Myers-Briggs Personality Typing
brought to you by Quizilla

By the by, I finished the Harry Potter book this afternoon. I quite liked it, though I find that I'm not quite as much into them as I used to be. The climax was quite exciting though. I'm sure Zenon will have something to say about my choice of words there (there's a story).

Heidi in the town of stars

Hello. Here I am in Stellarton. I arrived Wednesday night after 6 hours of being in transit. The trip down wasn't bad. I read my new Harry Potter book and looked at the scenery and dozed a bit.

Yesterday I had a mini-adventure. I decided to take Lewis the dog for a walk in the afternoon. I thought that we would be gone for about half an hour or so. However, (and this should surprise nobody) I got us lost. Lewis was probably not as lost as I was. Our 30 minute walk turned into a 2 hour and 30 minute walk. We ended up in the next town over. I did eventually get us back to Zenon's place. The dog now loves me as I spent yesterday morning curled up in bed petting him while I read Harry Potter, and then took him on that long walk. The only damage done by the long walk was that my feet now hurt when I wear my sandals, but that is not a big deal.

Last night Zenon and I went out for dinner at a nice Italian place in New Glasgow, and then for a scenic drive while we looked for a house that he will be doing work on later. The house was quite nice, well, as far as I could tell since it is still being built. The view was amazing. Zenon then took me to the beach and we dipped our feet in the ocean and watched the sun set, though not for long because there were a lot of bugs. I cannot get over how beautiful it is here. The town is lovely (and I saw a lot of it during my misadventures with Lewis yesterday) and the surrounding area is breathtaking. It blows my mind that this is where people actually live and grow up. It seems like something out of a book.

Not much else to say for now. This morning Zenon beat me at Trivial Pursuit, but I blame Lewis the dog. He came up to cuddle with me while I was playing, so my mind wasn't on the game so much as on cuddling. Zenon's older sister took me out for lunch today, so we got to know each other a bit better. I wish that I wasn't so quiet all the time with people I don't know.

I will now return to my Harry Potter. When I left it last night at 2am I was at the part just before Harry and Dumbledore go to the cave to find the horcrux. I'm sure action and adventure await just around the next page.

I caved

Today I bought the latest Harry Potter book. I thought that it would make good reading for my 6 hour bus ride to Stellarton tomorrow. Of course, I could probably pass the 6 hours very happily (and much more cheaply) by napping and gazing at the scenery and daydreaming, but this way I have an excuse for the Harry Potter book. It is probably bad timing because I will now not want to spend any time with Zenon at all. I can see it all now... he comes home from work to see me and I say, "Go away, I'm reading." That story was much more dramatic in my head. There was music and ambiance then.

Oh yes, I will be away for a couple of days. I will still be checking my e-mail though if anyone needs me, which you won't because no one ever e-mails me anyway, *sniff* *sniff*. Instead of spending my days doing nothing in Wolfville, I will be spending them doing nothing in Stellarton, which sounds like a lot more fun if only because there's a TV and a dog there. Oh, and my boyfriend too I guess. :P

What I've been up to

I guess that it's been a few days since I've updated. I will try to catch you up on my exciting Wolfville life. This won't take long. Hee hee.

Thursday, Ashley and I did errands and such. I bought some cheap trashy romances from the grocery store. One of the ones I bought is a choose-your-own romance adventure book. It was much cheaper than the one I bought back in April in Guelph. This one only cost me fifty cents. This one came out in 1984 and is about teenagers, so it's quite entertaining. Not quite as racey as my other one. So far I've had a number of successful romances with Michael, Brad, Brett and Jeff, and that is just the beginning. On Thursday evening, Ashley and I sat out on her porch for a bit chatting, and one of the neighbourhood children came to play with us. It was a little girl of about 4 named Hannah. She brought 2 balls and a bucket with her and proceeded to make up about a gazillion different games for us to play with them over the course of the forty-five minutes that I was there. I mention this because Hannah prefaced each new idea for a game with, "I've got a great idea!" I've decided that this will be my new modus operandi as well. Every time I think of something new, I will introduce it with, "I've got a great idea!" Good press doesn't hurt, is what I figure.

On Friday afternoon, Ashley and I went for tea at the Randall House Museum. This is a historical house on the Main Street that has been restored and opened to the public. Every Friday from 2-4 they offer tea. We drank tea from delicate antique teacups and ate delicious shortbread cookies and brownies while chatting in the dining room. After a couple of cups of tea, we wandered the rest of the house and looked at all the antiques. It was really neat. We are planning on going for tea there every Friday now.

Friday evening Zenon arrived with more flowers. My living room is beginning to look quite lovely with flowers in every corner of it. Friday evening we went to Ross's house and watched a Mystery Science Theater 3000 video (The Beginning of the End) and I fell asleep on the couch. Saturday was errand day and movie day. We watched Treasure Planet at home, and I quite enjoyed it, and then in the evening went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in New Minas. Charlie and the CF was better than I was expecting. I liked it a lot more than the original, although I'm not a huge fan of the original, so that might not be saying much. There is something about Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka that I miss, but Jonny Depp's version is quite entertaining. I also found out (finally) what it is like to go to the movies with someone who laughs louder and more often than I do.

Yesterday I went for tea at Andrea's house with Ashley. Andrea made some delicious cookies. We sat around and chatted for a couple of hours and then walked out to the farmer's markets outside of town. While we were at the one, the sky suddenly opened up with a huge crack of thunder and there was a torrential downpour. Luckily, it only lasted for a few minutes before the sun returned again. After that it was back home to say goodbye to Zenon and do normal Sunday evening things.

I have no big plans for today, just thesis work and chores. Wednesday I am going for a visit to Stellarton, and I'm quite excited. Being somewhere that isn't Wolfville for a few days will be fun.

Pictures from Halifax

I have posted more pictures. These ones are from this past weekend when Zenon and I went to Halifax. It was beautiful weather - sunny and warm but not stiflingly hot. I have already posted about the trip below, so I will leave you to enjoy the pictures.

This is Zenon and a random pigeon in Halifax.  

This is me in Halifax this weekend.  

This is me and Zenon in Halifax this past weekend. A random nice man took this picture. We were by the waterfront (hence the water in the background).  

I don't have superpowers

As a rather strange side effect to having so much alone time, I have begun to feel like I can do a lot of things that I think I really can't. When there's no one around to challenge you, it's easy to believe certain things about yourself. However, some of my beliefs could someday get me into trouble if I start actually trying to use these abilities. Therefore, here is a list to remind myself of the things I can't do:

• I can't actually speak Spanish. French, oui. English, yes. Spanish, no.
  
• I am not qualified to diagnose diseases
• I can't communicate with animals well enough to stop a rampaging bear if one ever attacks me
• I can't predict the future
• I am not as physically flexible as I think I am
• My charm does not work on everyone - some people are immune to the "twinkle smile"
  
• I am not telekinetic nor telepathic, no matter how much I want to be
• Caffeine does not enable me to fly, no matter how wired I get (thanks, Lone Ranger!)
• Also, apparently I can't even walk. During this morning's (Tuesday's) walk, I sprained my ankle and fell flat on my face. It is healing now, but is still sore and annoying.
  

I may add to this list as more things become evident.

Still broke

So, I didn't get the job that I interviewed for earlier. Apparently the ethics survey I did came back "not recommended", which I find both funny and troubling. Oh well. I suppose my life of leisure can continue then. Actually, I am really not enjoying the lack of structure in my life anymore. I have so much alone time that I no longer use it productively. For that reason, I have decided to create more projects for myself for my spare time for the rest of the summer. Accordingly, here are some things that I want to do:

• improve my guitar playing skills. My poor guitar only gets played when Zenon is here
• exercise almost daily, and walks with Ashley don't count
• cook better meals for myself
• finish at least one or two more squares of my quilt
• read a book that doesn't include the phrases "heaving bosom" and "throbbing manhood"
• write more angry letters to the government
  

It's a modest list, but I think it's good for a start. I just feel like I'm getting more and more bored and more and more boring everyday. I hate being boring. I wish that I had brought some of my religion and culture books with me... there are two that I'm oddly in the mood for lately. It is probably because Asian spiritual disciplines is a very different topic from what I generally spend my days thinking about, and would be fun to talk about.

Oh, I also wanted to say that being woken up before 9am by crews of guys climbing onto the roof and removing shingles is not a fun experience. I was bitter.

Awesome weekend

My weekend started with an early morning walk with Ashley on Friday. "Early morning" is a relative term - we met at 10:10am. I have written before about Ashley and I taking walks. We have decided to start doing them in the morning to get us both going at a decent time. The theory is that having to be up and dressed somewhere in the morning will help us to be more productive all day. Our experience on Friday, however, does not support this theory.

We walked and talked about horoscopes for a bit, then decided to get a snack at the coffee shop. We ended up sitting there and chatting for an hour or something. We then toured through some interesting stores that have things that we can't afford to buy. Even when you're broke, it's still fun to look around. We went to the Retro clothing store, where I found a pair of bright red corduroy pants in my size. For those who don't know, I have an obsession with the colour red and an obsession with corduroy. However, I resisted the siren call of the pants and forced myself through the practical tirade - I don't need pants, what would I wear with them, they're so impractical, etc.

Ashley and I also ran errands where we bought stuff we needed. After hitting the grocery store we headed back up the hill. We decided to split a block of tofu, since they are too large to get through in a week when you live by yourself. Splitting the tofu meant that Ashley came up to my apartment. It was very hot by this time in the afternoon, so I offered her a drink. The next time I looked at my watch it was almost 5pm. We were appalled that we had spent the day in such an unproductive fashion. It was a lot of fun, though. It also helped to kill time on a Friday. I have found that since Friday has become the day that Zenon comes to visit, I've become unable to concentrate on anything and instead bounce off the walls until he gets here. At least this past Friday I bounced in a more fun fashion than usual.

About an hour after Ashley left, Zenon arrived with flowers. I forgave him for being early (being early is bad because it throws off my schedule and leaves me not enough time to clean the apartment) because a)I was happy to see him and b) how can you stay mad at someone who brings you a gorgeous bouquet? It's almost worth not seeing him for a week at a time just for us to be so happy to see each other when we do get together. Almost worthwhile, but not really.

Saturday Zenon and I went to Halifax. He bought tools while I thumbed through gardening books. Then we went out for lunch and down to the waterfront to walk around. It was a great time. We have so much fun together. While down at the waterfront, there was a lady busking with a cello. Busking with a cello is an interesting enough thing to do, but she was really really good. We sat to listen for a while. It was just so neat to be walking around the waterfront where it's all crowded and touristy and stuff and then have this woman playing these peaceful, melancholy tunes on her cello. It was like a little haven of sound. Zenon made a video of her with his digital camera. We then went into the Maritime Museum and learned all about boats.

After the museum and some more walking around, we hit a video store on our way out of town and bought movies. I got Down with Love, which I enjoy because it's a send up of the Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies which I quite like. I have yet to watch it, but plan on doing that tonight. Saturday night was a gathering at Janice's. That was quite fun as well. I've learned that I seem to have lost what little alcohol tolerance I've built up. On Saturday it was probably just because I didn't really have supper until I was at the party, and then I should have drank more water. However, it's still annoying. I spent much of my time at the party with Ashley, who was trying to talk me into crazy schemes like getting a tattoo. Now that I'm sober, I feel much less inclined to take her advice.

Today Zenon and I watched The Mummy, which I'd never seen before. It was better than I was expecting. I liked the character of Evelyn and her intelligent bookishness. Tonight I got my mail and found out that my credit card credit limit has been doubled without my asking for it. I will take this as a sign of having a good credit rating. This increased credit is sure to come in handy for certain future endeavours which are still only theoretical but will hopefully one day exist in real life.

Anyway, that was my weekend. It left me very happy.

Happy things

I have a job interview! Maybe I won't starve this summer. It's a little late for me to be starting a new job, but I'm still hopeful. A bit of work will get me out of the apartment, which will be good for me, and any amount of money will be helpful.

I have spent my day today updating my resume and writing cover letters for neat career-type jobs for the fall. I don't want to talk about the jobs yet, but trust me, you will be hearing a lot about them if somehow I actually get hired. Cover letters and resumes are actually kind of tedious, but it's all talking about me, so that's still pretty fun. Who doesn't like to spend the afternoon describing their accomplishments and skills? It's not something that you get to do in regular conversation, at least not all at once. Hee hee... I'm imagining if you had to apply to be someone's friend. "You should befriend me because I am intelligent and entertaining. I will provide hours of stimulating conversation on a variety of subjects. As you can see on my resume, I have friends of both genders and from all different disciplines. I am a very versatile friend who is not adverse to quiet evenings watching movies, though I am also a great dance partner..." That's so neat! I may have to start asking for the qualifications of all new friends I make.

Other happy things: My parents have given me money, so it looks like I just might not get evicted this summer. I like not being evicted. Also, my balcony seems to have become a popular chickadee hangout. They entertain me. I've decided that birds are extraordinarily cute when they hop around on the ground (or in this case, floor of my balcony).

Last night I watched The Triplets of Belleville. It was OK. I was expecting better, but I still enjoyed it. Tonight I have Donnie Darko to watch. I think that's all I have for now. A good song just came on the radio (Fat Bottom Girls by Queen) so I may need to go and use my hula hoop while the good beats last.

Update

Hello. I am finished posting pictures for the time being. The only ones I have left from my Mom's visit are of Wolfville and me in Wolfville, which I think I will save for later when my blog becomes filled with words again. I hope that you enjoyed my scenery pics. I enjoyed sharing them with you.

I don't have much to report tonight, actually. Zenon visited again this weekend, though he was only able to stay for one night. We went to Ross's for a bit on Friday night. We saw the last half of Back to the Future 2. I now feel a burning desire to see the first half and to watch Back to the Future 3. It is becoming an obsession. I may need to make a trip to the video store soon.

My other video joy lately has come from watching Harvey Birdman cartoons, which I am really liking; however I do feel that they would be improved if I had someone to watch them with and to giggle along with me.

The reason that Zenon couldn't stay for the whole weekend was that he had a wedding to go to. I'm using that fact as a rare segue to mention that Diana got married on Friday. This is the wedding that I was lamenting about missing earlier. Diana is, even as I type this, e-mailing pictures. I've heard from various sources that all went well and it was very lovely. I'm still sad to have missed it, but pictures are always fun.

Oh, my Mom made it safely back to Ontario, which is good. She called me last night. Probably none of you were worried about that, but I was a bit.

Tonight Ashley and I went for a walk. We strolled through the Irving Botanical Gardens, which was lovely and not as buggy as I'd been fearing. We then wandered around a woodsy area on the way back to her place for a bit, which was similarly pretty, relaxing, and not buggy. We then, in typical Ashley and Heidi fashion, sat around chatting about random things for a few hours. I tried to leave, and we ended up standing in the parking lot for another hour doing more chatting. We have agreed that we both need to do more social activities and so are planning some together.

That is all I have to say for now. My eyes are itchy from being around Ashley's cats and my patience with staring at the computer screen is waning. I'm sorry that this entry lacked flair, but flair is hard to envision through red itchy eyes.

Today's pictures

Today's pictures come from our visit to Peggy's Cove earlier this week. I have already written about the trip below, so no need to rehash.

My laptop has been fixed. It took 2 trips to User Support and a new keyboard, but my computer is working well and not supplying what I type with extra o's and l's.

Not much else to report. My sunburn is not quite as painful today, though getting dressed to leave the apartment was a little troublesome, especially having to get re-dressed for the second trip to the USC. By tomorrow, though, I expect to be able to wear underthings without tingly pain, which will be nice.

I am in a fretting mood today, so I will sign off before my fretting becomes obvious in this post. I think that I will have a relaxing, fret-free bath to loosen me up for a night of thesis work.

A scene at Peggy's Cove. 

Lobster traps at Peggy's Cove.  

Different Peggy's Cove scenery.  

Peggy's Cove scenery. 

Mom at Peggy's Cove. 

Heidi at Peggy's Cove.  

Next Installment

Today's installment of pictures comes from Canada Day. But first, a word about our motel in St. Ann's. To get there, we had to drive up and down mountains on scary curvy roads. I wasn't driving, so I tried to sleep through most of it. When it wasn't scary, though, the drive was awesome. We were up at cloud level, where it was all foggy, with cliffs to our right and a steep drop to the water on our left. It felt like something out of a book - very otherworldly for someone from southern Ontario. We didn't mean to make such an interesting drive to get there - we just ended up in the middle of nowhere in the evening and had to push on until we found somewhere to stay. We didn't take any pictures of that part of the journey, but I wish we had.

The next two pictures are from a random lookoff on our way to Louisbourg in the morning, and then the last 2 are from the fortress. I've already written about my thoughts on the Fortress below.

I don't have much else to say. My Mom left this morning and is hopefully in her motel room in New Brunswick by now. I have had not a great day today. I think that I got too much sun yesterday and just felt kind of icky today. I'm feeling a bit better now, except that I spilled some tea on my laptop. So far, it still seems to work, knock on wood, although when typing random things happen. For example, the period key sometimes mutes my volume, and the apostrophe key also types g. I figure that I can harness this multi-functionality for my own uses.

Until tomorrow's photo installment then. Ta!

When you travel with your mother, you get pictures of you feeding animals and standing beside road signs. This is me at Louisbourg feeding grass to a sheep.  

These are the gates at the Fortress of Louisbourg that we visited. Through these gates it became 1744 - apparently a cold, rainy year.  

Heidi looking cold in the morning.  

Here is proof that we were following the Cabot Trail. This is Canada Day, and it was rainy with a high of 13. I was cold when this picture was taken.  

This is the view that we had from our motel in St. Ann's where we stayed on June 30th - right on the water with mountains in the background. Lovely! 

Mom at Green Cove. I took this picture and I like it.  

Me posing at Green Cove. 

Me on a rock at Green Cove. 

Other rocks and water at Green Cove. 

Rocks and water at Green Cove. 

Today's photo installment

Today's photo installment comes from Green Cove on Cape Breton Island.

I am sunburnt in quite a crispy fashion. My bum hurts when I sit on it. This is not as funny as it sounds. I also have really strange tan lines on my back. That part is funny.

Right now I'm packing stuff up to send back to Ontario. It's a little bit depressing. My Mom leaves tomorrow and so is taking as much stuff as we can fit in the car back with her. The upside is that I'm finding lots of neat stuff that I'd forgotten I'd had. Does anyone want a grad photo of me? I found my leftover ones in the bottom of a box that I never fully unpacked.

That is all for now. I am hurting. Enjoy the Cape Breton photos. I hope you aren't getting sick of scenery yet.

This one does not fit with the others. This is me and Zenon in New Glasgow on June 29th. Zenon is making me interrupt my chronological scheme to post it. I think it's a decent picture of us. He especially looks quite good in it.  

Another one of my Mom at the CBHP.  

This is my Mom at the Cape Breton Highland Park.  

I took this picture because it reminded me of an Island in the South Pacific with the clouds and the mountains and the blue blue water. It amused me that it was actually on Cape Breton Island.  

More mountains in the Cape Breton Highland Park. 

Even more pictures

Not much to say tonight. Today Mom and I headed out to Peggy's Cove. I think that I'll stop going there. It's pretty and everything, but we've been there 3 times now and it stays the same. I had to keep her from taking pictures of the same things that we already had pictures of. The only redeeming factor was the homemade ice cream.

Tonight we saw the movie Madagascar. It was about as good as I thought it would be. I enjoyed the penguins and all of their scheming.

Enjoy the pictures. They are still from June 30 on Cape Breton Island.

Mountains and sky in Cape Breton.