Ah, Family...

Well, it's been an exciting family Christmas in Saskatoon. The festivities began on the 23rd with a big party for my cousin Donovan's first wedding anniversary. He got married last Christmas in Mexico, and since basically nobody from our family went they decided to have a big party for us this year in Saskatoon. I had a good time goofing off on the dance floor with my siblings and cousins - especially my cousin Ian who got totally plastered. Unfortunately we were hampered by the worst DJ ever - he didn't even have Thriller!!!! What kind of DJ has no Thriller! But we made the best of the circumstances and danced like complete idiots. Awesome! Afterwards I went out with my sisters and Vashti's boyfriend Chris to the Roxy on Broadway. Vashti force-fed me vodka, which I came to regret the next morning. We didn't stay too long though, because we were all (excepting Anne who was our designated driver) plastered and it was only the first day of Christmas celebrations! The fun part was when I got home and was locked out. I'm just lucky Cayley hadn't completely passed out yet from going out with his friends, and heard me pounding on the door.

Christmas Eve was held at my uncle Mike's farm, as always. Though this year we tried something new with the gift exchange - instead of drawing names and buying for a specific person, we all just brought a sort of generic present and then drew numbers and picked from the pile in order. Cayley and I ended up with matching sets of plates - but they're really nice! My mom foolishly picked the present that I brought, which was basically a smaller version of what I had got her for Xmas. Guess she wasn't as good at snooping under the tree as in previous years. The high point however was my uncle Scott, who got totally shitfaced and made the most hilarious toast to my grandma. She had her surgery for the latest bout of cancer moved up and went under the knife 4 days before Xmas, but she was still partying it up like the rest of us - she attributed it to the painkillers she was on. But anyways, Scott made a ridiculous speech, and then went and passed out somewhere in Mike's house. It was hilarious!

Christmas day was a production, because first we had to wait for Vashti, Anne, and Chris to come over to open presents. Those poor kids had to hit 3 different houses on Xmas day to open presents with their 3 different parents. Suck much! Anyways, I got mostly shirts....but since there was nothing I desperately wanted it was all good. I like shirts, though decidedly not as much as I like pants. I also opened my B-day present from Cayley early, because he's flying to Florida on my birthday. And he kept the chicken gift tradition alive by giving me this hideous chicken hat. Well, it's pretty funny, but I just don't know where I would ever wear it! Then we had to clean like crazy because for some reason the 'rents decided to hold a dinner at our house on Xmas day. So that basically meant that we cleaned while mom freaked out. But the dinner was nice, and fairly non eventful.

Boxing day I went to Preston Crossing with Graeme and Julianne who were hitting up Future Shop for sale printers, and I hit Old Navy to spend the giftcard I got from Julianne for Xmas. Then we went to my aunt Margaret's for dinner, with my fam (minus Vashti and Anne) and my cousin Bob and his wife and two kids. I had a good time playing Yu-gi-oh with Nathan, and got in trouble for being loud and rough-housing. I like little boys better than girls - they're so quantifiable! Besides, I was a tomboy with two older brothers, which basically meant that I played with my John Deere tractor set and not lame-o Barbies. So I find girly little girls somewhat boring.

The five-day holiday extravaganza ended with dinner at my grandparents on the 27th, with the same old Thiesson crowd. By this time though Vashti, Anne, and Chris had all left for New Years @ Tofino, but they were basically the only people absent. The hilarious story from this dinner is that my grandparents planned to have a roast as the main dish, and they plunked it in the stove in the party room of their building and came back an hour later to find out that the stove didn't really work. So we ended up eating the roast last - mmm....dessert roast.... Dinner became this sort of free-for-all and people were eating dessert while some people were still on salad! It was a very Thiesson gathering though. And then I played some sort of card game with my cousins which involved a lot of slapping of people's hands. I forget what they called it....

On the 28th I was so partied out, I didn't leave the house all day. It was awesome. Yesterday I ran errands with my mom downtown, one of which involved me going with her to Lululemon to pick out yoga pants for her. We were joking that she's become sort of like Hugh Grant's character in Two Weeks Notice - she can't make a decision with out me, at least when it comes to clothes. She now just doesn't buy any clothes at all unless I'm with her. But I think this is for the best, as she tends to pick out things at are (how can I say this diplomatically....) ugly. Well, not ugly. But wrong. Things that are wrong.

Today I went to the first live HD broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera. It's this new thing the Met is doing, and we went to our local Galaxy cinemas and watched the Magic Flute live from New York. It was pretty cool - the Magic Flute totally rocks, and it was a really cool production directed by Julie Tamor who did the Lion King on Broadway. The Magic Flute was always my favourite opera as a kid, especially the duet between Papageno and Papagena at the end! It totally rocks! My cousin Alex and aunt Judy also came, and there was actually a really good turnout for Saskatoon! And my mom heard on the news that the Silvercity in Toronto was completely sold out for the opera. I think this is a fantastic new initiative, because what are the chances you'd get to see the Met for 20 bucks, and especially if you live in, say, Saskatoon. It's a shame the CBC has no money to do something like this with the COC - especially for Canadian and/or Canadianish works like the Handmaid's Tale opera. But the CBC doesn't have enough money to HD their own shows, let along broadcast live HD operas. It's a shame though. The Handmaid's Tale was fantastic, but unless you lived in Toronto there was no way you got to see it. They played it on the radio, but trust me it wasn't the same. Anyways, I'm supposed to be going to Econoline Crush at the Roxy on Broadway tomorrow night with Graeme and Julianne, but they're stuck in Regina cause Graeme got really sick, so we'll see. I won't got on my own, because the Roxy is slightly sketchy, and who wants to go see something like that on your own! Lame!

Velvety

So it's been a while I guess. Nothing extremely exciting really happened - Ingunn came to Vancouver and we took the ferry to Victoria and I hung out with her and her mom, and her niece and nephew for a day. Then I wrote my two finals, and I think they went pretty well. But at any rate I'll find that out soon enough.... Yesterday I flew to Toronto to play in Tom's orchestra - huzzah. I had this really weird ticket booked because I had already booked my ticket home, and it was non-refundable , so I was book to Toronto via Edmonton-Saskatoon. But I guess the Edmonton flight was really overbooked, so they just traded my ticket for a direct one! Score! It's so nice to be back in the T-dot, and Casa Zapf-Belanger. It really was my second home when I lived here. And also to be back with my dysfunctional Toronto family. Everybody in Vancouver thinks I'm weird, but among my brethren here - I'm positively normal!!! So to anybody who's in the Toronto area and feels like a concert, come see the Cirrus Ensemble tomorrow night at Walmer Road Baptist Church, 188 Lowther Avenue. I promise good times - especially at the big Caitlin party afterwards. She throws the best parties.

Love, Pain, and the Whole Crazy Thing

Well, since yesterday I had three somewhat exciting and/or interesting pieces of news. Some of you may (or may not) know that this year I am participating in BC's Universities Model Parliament as a member for the NDP. Never in UMP's history has the NDP risen to anything other than official opposition, but this year after a highly complex system of people who registered vs on-campus polling, the NDP has come out victorious!!! We get to be the government, baby! Prepare to have all your tax dollars SPENT!

Secondly, I went to physio today and found out the reason my back hurts is because my hips are out of alignment. My right hip is 1 1/2 inches below my left, and is turned down slightly, causing the bottom of my spine to bend and compress my sciatic nerve. So the physiotherapist did all these exercises to re-align my hips, and got them to within a 1/2 inch of each other. I felt so fantastic after physio, and in so much less pain, but unfortunately it didn't last and I am now sore again. But he gave me some exercises to do until I go back on Friday. C'mon hips, get in gear!

And lastly, I'm going to Toronto!!! It's so exciting!!! Tom and Michelle are organizing this orchestra concert with Tom conducting, and apparently every single violist in town is busy on that day (the 18th). They have Michelle's brother and another girl signed up, but they needed a section leader. And since I was flying home on the 16th anyways, I'm now just going to Toronto on the 16th to hang out at Michelle's for a couple of days and play this concert! Yay! I'm so excited, to see 2/3s of the girls (but I get to see the other 1/3 this weekend), and my whole extended Toronto family! I must admit I've been slightly homesick for Toronto - not that I haven't been having a good time here, but it's always hard to move somewhere that you don't know anybody and to start over completely. I've done it before, but it's always hard. Anyways, I must now go lie in bed and watch Scrubs on my laptop.

It's Official

Yup, it's official. I am now an old lady. My back's still bothering me, so I decided to get it checked up on. And according to the doctor, I have 'acute lumbar strain and sciatica' and she referred me to physio. This sucks man. This is the second time in 2 years that I've been in physio - first for my knees and now for my back. When will the madness end!!!!! I'm now going to lie on the couch and moan.

Out of the Dark, Into the Pain

So, big storm here. Lots of snow. Three days of snow and counting. In fact, it's snowing right now. I always used to laugh at Vancouver because it shuts down every year when it snows. But this stuff is wet, and heavy, and has taken down trees which in turn take down power lines and trolley bus lines. So that is why my power went out at 2am last night. But on the bright side, I finally get to profit from what I used to make fun of, because all classes were cancelled today. And I went out for the morning and came back to find my power back on. So hooray for that. Oh, and they FINALLY lifted the boil water advisory. Not that I was actually boiling my water, but it's always good to not have an advisory in place....

But the bad news is I pulled something in my back this morning. While stepping onto a low-rise wheelchair accessible bus. I don't know how, but I managed to do it, and am now in pain. That and I can't stand upright. I can only stand if I'm bent over, so I'm thinking of investing in a cane. Anyways, I went and saw a doctor, and he prescribed me ibuprofen and robaxacet, and said if in five days it wasn't better to get it checked up on. So we'll see. But in the meantime I plan to drug myself up, and lie on the couch moaning and watching TV. There's Star Trek and CSI on practically ALL DAY! And hey, if it's still bad tomorrow, maybe I can get out of orchestra! Score!

I'm Still Alive

So, apparently the news has been talking a lot about the big storm we had here yesterday. In fact, when I got home from orchestra today I had two worried messages on my phone from my mom. So this is just a little public service announcement to let anybody who cares know that I am in fact still alive. I have power. I was not evacuated. I (sadly) still had school. And I will try not to drink the dirty water....it's just SO TEMPTING!

Ugly Leno

So I was lying in bed, unable to fall asleep, and started thinking about an annoying segment Entertainment Tonight has been running for the last week. So I decided to get out of bed and rant about it. It's called 'Ugly Vanessa', and they dress up MTV hottie Vanessa Minillo in a fat suit, braces, and glasses, and send her out on the streets of New York doing various things and seeing how people react to her. As opposed to when they give her a blond wig, green contacts, and a Gucci wardrobe. There are a few things that piss me off about this. First of all, in making her fat they gave her this enormous prosthetic chin. She looks like an ugly, latin, female Jay Leno. Seriously, just because you're fat, it doesn't mean you have a huge chin! Secondly, they picked a girl who's gotten everywhere she is in her life because of her looks. She was Miss Teen USA, then an MTV VJ and ET correspondent, and all because she's cutesy and hot. So naturally she hates the way she looks, and while she's out as the 'fat' Vanessa she basically transmits how ugly she thinks she is to everyone around her by the way she acts. But at the same time, she tries to be all cutesy, because it works for her when she's skinny and hot. Honey, being cutesy gets you nowhere in life. Unless your skinny and hot.

My other big beef is the things they have her do to test how she's treated differently. First she had to approach people on the street to give them a survey. As the timid, big-chinned girl, New Yorkers just passed her by. As I would have. People laughed at her when she rode the subway, which is admittedly pretty mean, but she looked really ridiculous. She's not used to being that size, so she moved awkwardly like somebody who's used to being much different. And she just sort of stood around awkwardly, in people's way, waiting for them to have a negative reaction to her. If you're standing in the middle of the steps to the subway staring at everyone who passes you, I'm probably going to laugh at you too. Another test was going clubbing. They sent her one night as a hottie, and then next night as a fugly. Well, big surprise the bouncers at NYC's hottest club didn't let in the fugly girl with unwashed hair and horrific clothing. Seriously, they could have at least put some effort into her attire and made her look a lot more presentable. Today they had her go lingerie shopping on Madison Avenue. Dressed in ill-fitting, cheap clothes. And then she wondered why no salespeople would give her the time of day. Those people are trained to smell money, and fugly Vanessa just had the stench of insecurity and cheap clothes coming off her.

My roommate Lisa and I proceeded to have a big discussion about this. More than half of what people perceive you to be is in your attitude. People who are self confident (NOT cocky assholes) and secure in themselves are perceived as 'hotter' than perhaps they actually are. Lisa and I both thought about it, and with both of us the guys we've liked have not been 'hot' in the conventional sense, but we were attracted to their personality and attitude. So there you go Vanessa. If you walk around with the attitude you're awkward and ugly, you will be seen as awkward and ugly. And Entertainment Tonight, next time give that girl some clothes that actually fit! The character on Ugly Betty is a comic stereotype. Not a real phenomenon. Idiots.

It's Really Quite Easy. I Swear.

Well, another exciting installment of My Life. It's been mostly routine, with classes, rehearsals, and lessons. Last weekend was the string fest. Nothing really exciting happened.

Yesterday we had a UBC NDP social, which basically involved about five of us meeting up to eat pizza and watch The End of Suburbia. The DVD had two versions of the film - one rated G and one rated M for Mature. We of course picked the one rated M, and proceeded to discover that the decline in oil is like a clusterfuck in a shit storm. I kid you not, that's what one guy said. I guess that's why it was rated M. After the movie we got sucked into playing MarioKart in the Arts Undergrad Society office, with us all screaming obscenities (like 'clusterfuck!') whenever we screwed up. After that I was really quite tired and so went home and went to bed early. But some asshat decided to set off the fire alarm in my building at 1:30 in the morning, and we had to evacuate the building and wait for the firemen to come and turn it off. So needless to say my night was not as restful as I had hoped it would be.

Today we had our last rehearsal before the orchestra concert tomorrow, and holy shit am I getting really annoyed at this orchestra! It's like a trifecta of badness. The conductor can't conduct (it's really quite easy to count to three, but apparently out of his abilities), the players don't seem to understand dynamics (p means loud, right?!), and NOBODY CAN KEEP TEMPO! Now, it doesn't help that we have a weak conductor, but doesn't everybody realize that if you rush like a mofo, it just makes everything harder to play?! I really just feel sorry for the pianist who's playing Prokofiev 2nd Piano Concerto with us, because the second movement is just him playing straight (and fast) eighth notes, and we keep rushing him. Actually, we just rush him throughout the whole piece. And as a soloist it is the worst feeling - that the orchestra is not following you, but you are having to follow the orchestra. If I had to put money on it, I'd say that tomorrow during the concert we fall apart in the 3rd movement of the Rachmaninov Dances.

Is it bad that I miss the Con?

Tired for no reason

Well, seeing as how I'm bored and trying to waste time, I thought I'd do a little posting. Last weekend was a doozy, let me tell you. I blame Aida. Anyways, on Friday night I dressed up like post-pregnancy Britney Spears (minus the baby, because really when does she ever tote the kid around?), and went out with Vanessa and Aida. We first went over to Totem to meet up with some friends of theirs who are RAs there, and then proceeded to hang around and drink while waiting for people. I don't really know why. All I know is that it resulted in a lot of absurd drunken photos of Vanessa, Aida, me, and their friend Nathalie. After we managed to find everyone we headed over to the SUB to go to the Pit Pub, but in the mad crush of people trying to get in Vanessa and I got separated from everyone else. And then Vanessa got really claustrophobic, so we decided to leave the line and go to McDonald's in the Village instead. So we did, and then I escorted Vanessa back to Gage so she didn't get attacked by anyone, and went home.

The next morning I got up, and met some UBC NDPers at the SUB to head downtown to a peace march. So we marched around downtown, and then I had to duck out of the rally at 2:30 to head back to campus to meet Vanessa and Aida for a gig. We played a wedding reception, but the funniest part was that I was the only one who noticed it was a same-sex marriage. The other three were totally clueless, and only when both the 'best men' started giving speeches did they believe me. AHAHAHA. Anyways, I played violin, which was hilarious, but it was all good. Afterwards, Aida and I quickly changed into our Halloween costumes in Vanessa's car, and then Vanessa dropped Aida, Nathalie, and I off at the Blarney Stone. It's this pub downtown, sort of near the Lower East Side (ooh, scary) that everybody seems to love. I don't know, I wasn't so convinced. Of course, that may have had something to do with having to stand in line for and hour and a half before getting in. I never stood in line that long even in TO! So anyways, drunken debauchery ensued, and I somehow managed to catch the bus back to UBC. I vaguely remember meeting some random guy on the street, and him showing me how to get to Waterfront Station to catch the B-Line (because I had absolutely no idea where I was...).

Sunday morning was not a happy time though. It always seems like such a good idea at the time to mix liquors, but Sunday sucked. Majorly. But I managed to get through it pretty much alive, and am now back at the daily grind. There's this 'String Festival' weekend thingie on this weekend at UBC, so that means that I have two string orchestra concerts - one on Friday at noon, and one Saturday evening. Should be hilarious! I'll probably bring my computer to do some work on my Argument essay for English, seeing as my panel is on Wednesday. Anybody got any gems of wisdom on torture?

Personality? Nah.

So, the other day my roommate and I were sitting around watching TV, and they kept running these ads for eHarmony and how you can get a free personality profile. Well, we were intrigued to find out what we are like, so we decided to get our computers and do it. I'm bored now, so I thought I'd post my profile. I think it's pretty good, but the problem I had with the questions was they asked things like, pick three of these terms that your friends would use to describe you. Well, I don't really know how my friends would describe me, so I had to answer what I thought my friends thought about me. Which is weird. Anyways here it is. I just noticed that it says I'm lucky alot.

In Agreeableness you are best described as:

USUALLY TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF

Words that describe you:

* Perceptive
* Realistic
* Demanding
* Down-to-Earth
* Hardnosed
* Judgmental
* Pragmatic
* Skeptical

A General Description of How You Interact with Others

You are clearly a compassionate person; you believe that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and you know that friends help their friends. But with you compassion is just one side of the coin; the other being a side that also expects others to hold up their end of the bargain. So you help others but it is with the expectation that others don't take advantage of you or try to put one over on you. In short, you expect others to treat you as you treat them.

And for those people who do ask for help when they should have taken responsibility for themselves? This is the time when your more hard-edged side comes out. You are skeptical of people when they expect others to bail them out of trouble; if they got themselves into the bind, they should work their way out of the trouble. If it's an emergency, or if it's a friend who has been there for you when you have had hard times, you are there in a quick minute. But you are a discerning person and to you there is a big difference between an emergency and a self-inflicted wound. You just look at the facts: how the situation developed, how serious the situation, and how they can or cannot get through things on their own. The history you have with the person and with similar situations will inform you whether this is or is not a time for you to get involved.

You also have some limits when it comes to being with people. Sure some people need to be with others all the time and seem to get recharged by helping out most anyone else. But that's not you. You know that you do best if you spend a fair amount of time on your own. Not that you are a loner, just that time spent by yourself is not wasted at all with you. You've come to understand that if you don't take good care of yourself, eventually you'll be not good to anyone, including yourself or others.

So your compassion is tempered by realism. Your sympathy for people in trouble is balanced by a critical evaluation of how they got themselves to the place they are. And you've learned to take good care of yourself, so you have something to give to your friends or others truly in need.

On the Openness Dimension you are:
CONTENT

Words that describe you:

* Sensible
* Realistic
* Conventional
* Sincere
* Simple
* Firm
* Earnest

A General Description of How You Approach New Information and Experiences

You find that you are usually more comfortable with ideas and beliefs that you have held for a long time. These values, which for you are tried-and-true, provide you with practical solutions to life's problems, and with straightforward ways of engaging in intellectual discussions and debates. You've tested these positions over time, you know them well, they work for you, and you trust them. You like the way these solutions provide consistency and value to your life.

You've always been teachable as well. Whether in textbooks or classrooms, or through a wide variety of personal and interpersonal experiences, you've explored and tested the values and ideas you hold dear. Along the way you've grown to recognize ideas and beliefs that fit with your life. When this happens, you open yourself to learning what it is that this can teach you. Most of the time evaluating new information strengthens what you know and trust; the "next new thing" usually proves too shallow or too impractical to dislodge you from what has served you so well.

On Emotional Stability you are:
SOMETIMES STEADY, SOMETIMES RESPONSIVE

Words that describe you:

* Adaptable
* Engaged
* Able to Cope
* Passionate
* Perceptive
* Flexible
* Receptive
* Aware
* Avid



A General Description of Your Reactivity

In some ways, you've got the best of emotional worlds. When emotions rise up from inside you or are brought forth from a conversation by a friend, you know how to engage them. You deal with sadness, fear, joy, anger - whatever comes up - in ways that are perceptive and flexible. You can adapt to whatever level of emotion is appropriate to the moment. At other times, you are able to cope with your emotions in a more reserved manner. Because you are aware of what does and does not make emotional sense in a particular situation, you will decide when it is an appropriate time to express your emotions and when it would be best to keep them to yourself.

All of this gives you a rich emotional life. You are free to express your passions about certain subjects with appropriate people. But you are also emotionally adaptable; if the conversation needs to be more cerebral, you'll keep it "in your head" and talk calmly through whatever issue is on the table. This emotional awareness serves you well. You seldom get in over your head, either by opening up to the wrong person or by triggering in someone else's emotions they may not be able to deal with.

Your approach toward your obligations is:
FOCUSED AND FLEXIBLE

Words that describe you:

* Casual
* Informal
* Compliant
* Reliable
* Organized
* Solid
* Dependable
* Uncommitted
* Genuine



A General Description of How You Interact with Others

When you take on a task at work or at home, you are reliable; you get the job done. In an organized way, you define the goal, lay out a plan, figure how long the task will take, and get to work "solid and dependable you".

But and this is important you're not a slave to the plan. You're committed to it, but not chained to it; the connection is more casual and informal. You know that sometimes "the best laid plans" fall off the tracks; when this happens, you clean up the train wreck and start over, undeterred.

Though not happening often, when plans change, you're okay with it. In fact, sometimes you change the plan. It's too nice of a Saturday to finish organizing the garage. Let's go for a bike ride instead. True, the next rainy Saturday will likely find you back in the garage, but for now the work can wait.

What an interesting combination of qualities in you're organized, but casual; solid, but compliant; and dependable, but informal. At home and at work, people know they can rely on you. You take great satisfaction in knowing that people think of you as disciplined and responsible, but you also know that you have something of a free spirit in you, and when this spirit moves you, off you go, following the impulse of the moment. You are rightly proud of your work ethic, but you also enjoy your willingness to lay the tools down, crank up the music and play like a child.

When it comes to Extraversion you are:
SOMETIMES OUTGOING, SOMETIMES RESERVED

Words that describe you:

* Moderate
* Amiable
* Laid-back
* Temperate
* Relaxed
* Poised
* Civil
* Uncommitted
* Pleasant



A General Description of How You Interact with Others

Lucky you! You enjoy your own company as much as you enjoy the company of others. You are a great conversationalist and thrive in the wonderful kinds of connections you know how to have with your family and friends. You also equally enjoy your own company, whether sitting in a favorite chair with your book and soft music playing or meandering in the woods by yourself. You like coming home to your family or your roommate; but if no one is home, you find quiet, solitary time to be just as pleasurable. What a great combination to enjoy being outgoing and to be just as comfortable being reserved. Lucky you!!

Because you are so amiable and relaxed, you are comfortable with almost any group of family or friends. Whether they are pumped up and lively or calm and subdued, you remain at ease. If someone needs to take over the conversation, you are comfortable taking the lead; you can also lay back and let someone else be in charge. If the conversation gets rowdy, your moderate demeanor will often draw it down to a more temperate level. If someone in the group loses their cool, you will most likely maintain your poise, and if they get nasty you know how to keep a civil tongue.

You may find yourself out of balance on occasion. If you're alone too much, you may need to get in touch with someone. If you spend too much time with your family and friends, you may need to sneak off for a day by yourself, to putter and read and clear your head of the noise of too much conversation. When you're at your best, you live with a rhythm of time with others, time alone, time with others, time alone It's a satisfying, comfortable balance. Lucky you!

Fantastic!

So Fright Night got put off, due to cold and rain. But instead Vanessa and I went out to dinner at White Spot, and then did some hilarious and random grocery shopping at Safeway. Last night I noticed them setting up all these trailers for a movie or tv shoot. This morning my roommate had a midterm at 8:30, and she saw them setting everything up to shoot, so when she got home she looked up on the internet what they were filming. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, baby! Yeah! Unfortunately though, it was too cold and rainy to stalk Chris Evans or Ioan Gruffudd or Jessica Alba. So that's my story for today.

Logos, Pathos, or Ethos

So, I'm currently sitting in English, and since I'm bored I decided to write a post. Don't worry mom - the teacher's just explaining how to make an emotional appeal about baby seals. Anyhoo, my week is starting to look up. Tonight I'm hitting Fright Night down at the Pacific National Exhibition with my stand partner Vanessa and her friends. I don't really know what it involves, but I think there's scary rides and Halloween-type stuff. And on Saturday not only am I going to an anti-war march, but I'm playing a gig with Vanessa. But get this - on the violin. Ahaha! Vanessa's friend Aida is letting me use her spare violin, and I'm going to play 2nd violin. It should be hilarious. That's about it.

Bored now

So, I got some flack from my mother over the weekend for not writing anything recently. It's only because NOTHING'S GOING ON! Seriously, my life is boring. The high point of my week was when I left campus for three hours on Saturday to go down West Broadway to buy rollerblades. And that is the only time I've left campus in the past week. Also, I went to the theatre in the Student Union Building on Saturday night to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2. As you can see, Saturday was an exiting, fun-filled day. Last week I wrote my research essay for English, and this weekend I was working on my Poli Sci paper that's due tomorrow. That's really about it. I know, I'm bored just writing about it.

I Forgot

My total reasons for posting was because I discovered that TVSquad.com had hired Wil Wheaton to review old TNG episodes for them. And although he's only done two, they're really frakking hilarious! This is my favourite quote, from the review for The Last Outpost:

Troi suggests they talk with the Ferengi, and Picard is all, "Uh, we just did, stupid! They ignored us." And then Troi is all, "Hey, you're stupid! You should go try again and suck up to them a little bit." Then Picard is all "Hey, Geordi, what do you think?" And Geordi is all, "I'm just gonna shrug because I got all 'woo-eee' about that plan that didn't work." So then Picard is all, "Well, does anyone have any other ideas? Because right now going to suck up to them is about the best you guys have given me." They're all, like, dude, and they leave. So Riker comes up and is all, "Hey, what do you want to do, man?" And Picard goes, "I totally want to surrender, because I'm, like, scared. Will you hold me?" And Riker is all, "Ewww gross!" And then Picard is all, "No, seriously, dude. If the shit gets too heavy, I want you to blow it up." And Riker is all, "Damn, Gina. That is crazy!" And then Picard is all, "True dat, biotch."

Uni-suckity

Well well well.....so in every one of my classes, before they hand back our assignments, they have been giving little pep talks about how university is harder than high school, and we should expect our marks to dip accordingly. And my TA in Poli Sci said that most people in our class should visit the writing centre for help with our essays. Well, I say stick it suckahs! I got my in-class summary back in English. A. I got my midterm back in Poli Sci. 83. And my essay. 95. I sort of feel bad for other people I know who are not doing so well. Anyways, those have been the bright points in my week, seeing as how on Wednesday I caught the sickness that's going around. Today was the worst, as everything was making me sneeze, my nose is totally plugged, and even though I've gotten 9 hours of sleep the last two nights, I'm totally exhausted. But at least it's not whatever they all caught at Mount Allison University. Though, on the bright side, at least they cancelled school for everybody because of it. I have to research and write a paper this weekend, so that's fun. I'm really craving a burger right now, but I'm too tired and lazy to walk the 5 blocks to get it.

Sniff Sniff

So, I finally caught the cold that's going around town. My roommate was sick last week, and a bunch of people in the orchestra are sick too. It started with a sore throat yesterday, and today I woke up with a serious sore throat, and stuffed up sinuses. And I was tired for no reason, probably because I'm sick. But I don't have anything until 2pm tomorrow, so I can sleep in, eat, and practice all in time for class! I got my in-class test from English back today, and I got an A. I don't really know what I was expecting, but I also think that alot of people in my class suck because the teacher said the average mark was around 68, so if I got an A (85-89), that means a whole lotta people sucked big time. I have noticed in all my classes though that quality of writing is a big issue, especially since about half or more of these kids speak English as a second language. Anyways, I get both my paper and midterm back tomorrow in Poli Sci - and mom, I don't care. As long as I pass, I'm happy. Quit pressuring me to get good marks. It doesn't help my stress levels. And besides, I'm not really sure that you have to bug me, because c'mon, when have I ever failed anything? So now I'm going to take my pillow and blankie, and collapse in front of the TV for a while. sniff.

Oh Yeah, Turkey Baster!

So Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I continued my tradition of Zapf family Thanksgivings with dinner at Michelle's aunt's house. And then after dinner, we had a hilarious game of mafia, because their 84 year old neighbour tried to play, but she was so confused by the whole game it ended up forfeit....good times. Our concert on Friday went pretty OK - we managed to make it through West Side Story without totally falling apart, so that was nice. I then went to the bar and drank a pitcher by myself, on an empty stomach. Good times. So it's back to the grind on Tuesday, with my first quartet rehearsal of the year. So tomorrow I should probably look at my music...

OK

So, I've been a little negligent in terms of my blog this last week, but I swear not a lot really happened.. Jack came on Friday, and there was a really great showing of students. I sat around all weekend, and it was quite relaxing. Then on Monday, I hurt my shoulder somehow and was pissed off about that. One of those annoying things where all of a sudden you're like, 'wow. my shoulder really hurts.' But you don't know how you hurt it! Today I had my poli sci midterm, which I was a little worried about but I feel OK about now. I'm pretty sure I passed - and isn't that what matters? Soo...I have no big plans for Thanksgiving. I'll probably just sit around, and maybe if I'm feeling lonely hit up the Rez's Thanksgiving dinner on the weekend. Tomorrow is the UBC Symphony Orchestra concert - it will be interesting to see if we can make it through our pieces without stopping..... Oh dear god.

It's here, I'm on it

It's here. My precious is finally here. In fact, I'm using it right now. In the hallway outside my Poli Sci lecture room. Sweet. So that's my only news, other than we had a strategy session today with the UBC NDP for the Jack Layton event of Friday, but if I told you what we talked about, I'd have to kill you. Mwahahaha.

It's like a drug

I swear, Apple products are like a drug. My laptop's not even here, and I'm already in withdrawl! I need it! Ah! But anyhoo, not too much has happened since I last posted. I volunteered at this NDP meet and greet thing on Saturday night, where I got to meet a bunch of MLAs and tell them what I'm concerned about. It was pretty cool. And the president of the UBC NDP tried to convince me to join the BCYND exec. So that's cool. Oh, and the girls and I finally did our Skypeing. We did a conference call with the four of us - it was 9 pm in Reykjavik, 7 in Cleveland, 6 in TO, and 3 here in Vancouver. We talked for about an hour, and decided we should do this every week. It was especially funny because Catherine's wireless connection she was using sort of crapped in and out, and so for whole portions of the conversation she was about 10 seconds behind the rest of us. So we'd already be onto the next topic of conversation, and then she's say something like, "6 is good!" It was pretty hilarious. So, that's about all for now.