I'm beat this morning.
Last night was poker night at mine and I was up until a few minutes before we stopped. I got fucked on KK; my coach had pocket 6s and flopped a set. Bigger pre-flop re-raise, bigger pre-flop re-raise; must stop min raising. Still, I was only down $1 by the end of the night; my coach, on the other hand, despite that fucking set, wound up $9 down. But it still pisses me off that I would have won that hand if I hadn't been freaked out to push harder pre-flop. I also folded a draw when I had a big stack that would have hit had I called the piddly raise, but it was the correct fold. Guh.
On Monday night I went to the Canadians' game at Nat Bailey with Julia and Chris. Vancouver isn't doing so well this season (they're last in their division), so wasn't sure what to expect. The Eugene Emeralds were the worst team that night, dropping balls and striking out like crazy. One guy got all the runs, hitting two homeruns (the second with a walker on base). Still, it was an exciting game, with lots of hits and some sliding action. The 5th inning was pretty eventful, with the Canadians hitting in 4 runs. I love watching baseball games on a sunny summer's night: just sitting back and taking it all in, and yelling a little if you feel like it because the ump is expecting it. And it's always a special treat to see Julia because she's so rad. (Have a good trip back!)
Monday afternoon I hung out with Rachel and Augusten, and that was fantastically fun. Gusto is much more interesting now that he can communicate and does not lie around like a little lump of poo (as most infants tend to do naturally... probably the lack of muscle tone). After a buffet of fruit, we went to the park and had some good times on the swings and the slides. Rachel is full-up of baby and I can't believe it's just 3 weeks (give or take) until she's due with Baby 2! I'm excited to see them again soon; every minute pre-"Baby Girl" is precious since they'll be engaged in much more important matters than listening to my boy problems.
This is the last week of my class, so I'm scrambling to get stuff done a couple days early so I can have a few days off. I also realised I'm supposed to have a progress report written for tomorrow for the CBC thing. And I'm thinking about applying for a job at the university (for the school year) that may or may not be relevant to anything I might be employable for post-grad school, but that sounds interesting. It feels like the summer is slipping away and I haven't been able to take full advantage of it yet. Must cram all good times into these next couple of weeks before the madness starts again.
Currently listening :
Want One
By Rufus Wainwright
Release date: 23 September, 2003
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
unseasonally dull
I've been finding it hard to write lately. Stuff is going on; I've got plenty I could tell you. I just don't feel like it. This is an unfortunate development in blogdom. But I will try to amuse you. Dance, monkey!
A summary:
- Friday: went to Glinn's to watch movies and drink all his booze, which was too much for my pathetic liver to break down, leaving me a sickened mess in the morning. I drank water! I took a pain killer! After my barfing episode (just to feel better...), I ate a fatty breakfast! Hangovers are unfair to everyone, but especially me.
- Saturday: was my only day off last week. I nursed the hangover, slept for half the day (shocking, I realise), then went out to UBC (crappin' hell, why the frick am I going to that school? It's so far away) to drop off some books, and to the grocery store for supplies. I decided that I wanted to bake, so baked like a mofo: cornbread muffins, chocolate chip & walnut cookies, and lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese icing. Jill came over for decaf tea and we tried everything. It was all good, but I was pleased with the lemon icing. I cut back on the sugar and added more lemon juice, and it was the perfect amount of tartness. The cupcakes themselves, while extremely lemony, were a little drier than I would like, and a little heavy, but it could be because I refrigerated them (because of the icing).
(As an aside, I saw a recipe for marmalade and, I have to say, I'm pretty tempted to make some. Did you know the seeds have pectin?! I can make marmalade without buying that creepy stuff that regular jams need; it's all in the oranges! Well, except for the water and the sugar that is also required. Now I just have to figure out which blog had it...)
- Sunday (today): went to Floata with my sister for dim sum. It wound up being so ridiculously cheap (less than $14 between the two of us) and I was full though not uncomfortably so (thank goodness the trolley pushers ignored us, resulting in less food going into our bellies). We walked to the library so I could picket for the afternoon, which was, let's face it, a joy. I met Glinn for Japa-dogs, and we sat on the wall at the theatre across the street, me enjoying the Teri-Mayo without nori and Glinn trying the Miso-Mayo, though I just realised I forgot to ask him if it was good. On my way to the bus, a woman came out of the alley with her pants falling down, yelling her head off at a clean-cut guy who was following her, him saying she should just put the money down. She stole $250 from his restaurant and was tripping out on something. I thought that it was a trick gone bad, but realised while walking behind them (I can't help it that they were walking in my direction) that she had stolen money. She tried to get on my bus, but the bus driver had had altercations with her before and said he would call the police to deal with this, which made her run off the bus screaming. It was bizarre and terribly sad. No one wins in that sort of situation.
Tomorrow I'm excited to see some of my favourite people. Hopefully the weather is fine so I can go to the park with Rachel and Gussy in the afternoon (after another day on the line... woohoo [*I hate the city]), and I have plans to go to the Canadians game in the evening, which will include fireworks at the commencement of the baseball game. Should be fun.
*You want to know why? Because they wasted tax-payers' money for 6 (six) days by at least 25 of them eating out at restaurants three times a day and renting hotel rooms that they never bothered going to (the unions were at the negotiating table the whole time), taking at least time-and-a-half for the time (up to 16 hours a day, even though they didn't talk to any of the unions for more than 5 hours total), despite having NO intention of negotiating. Tax-payers should be outraged. It has been leaked out that, as decided at council meetings, the NPA and Sullivan have no plans to even begin to negotiate until sometime in September because they want time to poach employees from the unions in the suburbs and want to make the civic workers in Vancouver suffer as much as possible on strike pay, while all of them make huge amounts of money by working overtime. But, of course, it's the unions' fault... How can less than 10% of the people employed by the city make more than 30% of the wages?
A summary:
- Friday: went to Glinn's to watch movies and drink all his booze, which was too much for my pathetic liver to break down, leaving me a sickened mess in the morning. I drank water! I took a pain killer! After my barfing episode (just to feel better...), I ate a fatty breakfast! Hangovers are unfair to everyone, but especially me.
- Saturday: was my only day off last week. I nursed the hangover, slept for half the day (shocking, I realise), then went out to UBC (crappin' hell, why the frick am I going to that school? It's so far away) to drop off some books, and to the grocery store for supplies. I decided that I wanted to bake, so baked like a mofo: cornbread muffins, chocolate chip & walnut cookies, and lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese icing. Jill came over for decaf tea and we tried everything. It was all good, but I was pleased with the lemon icing. I cut back on the sugar and added more lemon juice, and it was the perfect amount of tartness. The cupcakes themselves, while extremely lemony, were a little drier than I would like, and a little heavy, but it could be because I refrigerated them (because of the icing).
(As an aside, I saw a recipe for marmalade and, I have to say, I'm pretty tempted to make some. Did you know the seeds have pectin?! I can make marmalade without buying that creepy stuff that regular jams need; it's all in the oranges! Well, except for the water and the sugar that is also required. Now I just have to figure out which blog had it...)
- Sunday (today): went to Floata with my sister for dim sum. It wound up being so ridiculously cheap (less than $14 between the two of us) and I was full though not uncomfortably so (thank goodness the trolley pushers ignored us, resulting in less food going into our bellies). We walked to the library so I could picket for the afternoon, which was, let's face it, a joy. I met Glinn for Japa-dogs, and we sat on the wall at the theatre across the street, me enjoying the Teri-Mayo without nori and Glinn trying the Miso-Mayo, though I just realised I forgot to ask him if it was good. On my way to the bus, a woman came out of the alley with her pants falling down, yelling her head off at a clean-cut guy who was following her, him saying she should just put the money down. She stole $250 from his restaurant and was tripping out on something. I thought that it was a trick gone bad, but realised while walking behind them (I can't help it that they were walking in my direction) that she had stolen money. She tried to get on my bus, but the bus driver had had altercations with her before and said he would call the police to deal with this, which made her run off the bus screaming. It was bizarre and terribly sad. No one wins in that sort of situation.
Tomorrow I'm excited to see some of my favourite people. Hopefully the weather is fine so I can go to the park with Rachel and Gussy in the afternoon (after another day on the line... woohoo [*I hate the city]), and I have plans to go to the Canadians game in the evening, which will include fireworks at the commencement of the baseball game. Should be fun.
*You want to know why? Because they wasted tax-payers' money for 6 (six) days by at least 25 of them eating out at restaurants three times a day and renting hotel rooms that they never bothered going to (the unions were at the negotiating table the whole time), taking at least time-and-a-half for the time (up to 16 hours a day, even though they didn't talk to any of the unions for more than 5 hours total), despite having NO intention of negotiating. Tax-payers should be outraged. It has been leaked out that, as decided at council meetings, the NPA and Sullivan have no plans to even begin to negotiate until sometime in September because they want time to poach employees from the unions in the suburbs and want to make the civic workers in Vancouver suffer as much as possible on strike pay, while all of them make huge amounts of money by working overtime. But, of course, it's the unions' fault... How can less than 10% of the people employed by the city make more than 30% of the wages?
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
fit with technology
At some point last week my cell phone stopped charging. To me, that implies it's dead.
It's not like I used it that much; I use a landline almost exclusively. And I have some fear of (contractual) commitment. But there are a few friends who don't understand why people don't want to be available by phone at all times of the day or night. The friend who gave me the thing made me take it, one of those ancient, enormous ones that probably originally came with a carrying strap that went over the shoulder. It has been satisfactory for sporadic phone calling for almost 5 years.
Admitedly, it has felt a little weird not being reachable when away from my house. I realise how much easier it is to organise at the last minute with a cell. Yesterday I was supposed to meet my friend in the mall (if you can call Kingsgate a mall), but he wasn't in either of the places we were supposed to look for each other. Had I the phone, I would have known that he figured I would just meet him at his house, since we had originally planned that anyway.
Cell phones prevent extra walking.
Today after picket duty, a few of us had to run some superfluous errands downtown, so went on a field trip. I figured I would just see if I could replace the adaptor (since that seemed to be the problem). The phone is 10 years old. What do you think they said? So the next option was, of course, to replace the phone. I am now the owner of a basic flip phone, made sometime this century. I feel so current, so now. And being reachable again is a little smothering.
Still tired from last evening. After poker class, we all played Zombies!!!, a game in which you either try to kill 25 zombies without dying or get to the heli-pad to fly away like a scaredy cat. The other three ganged up on me early and for the duration of the game; I guess I was too good at killing zombies, getting to about 18 because my strategy was to go into the crowd of them and kill them instead of waiting for the heli-pad to come up. (Is there a name for groups of zombies? A pod? A herd?) The one who hid in corners and didn't battle any zombies wound up winning in a most unimpressive way in Hour 3 (around 1am). Dissatisfied with the result, my friend asked if I wanted to stay and play another game after the other two left. So we wound up playing until the wee hours of the morning; I won by both reaching the heli-pad and killing my 25th zombie on the winning square. Victory is sweet, but it was so fricking hard to get onto the picket line by 9am. And I still hate zombies.
Currently listening :
Losing Money & Losing Friends
By Various Artists
Release date: 29 October, 1998
It's not like I used it that much; I use a landline almost exclusively. And I have some fear of (contractual) commitment. But there are a few friends who don't understand why people don't want to be available by phone at all times of the day or night. The friend who gave me the thing made me take it, one of those ancient, enormous ones that probably originally came with a carrying strap that went over the shoulder. It has been satisfactory for sporadic phone calling for almost 5 years.
Admitedly, it has felt a little weird not being reachable when away from my house. I realise how much easier it is to organise at the last minute with a cell. Yesterday I was supposed to meet my friend in the mall (if you can call Kingsgate a mall), but he wasn't in either of the places we were supposed to look for each other. Had I the phone, I would have known that he figured I would just meet him at his house, since we had originally planned that anyway.
Cell phones prevent extra walking.
Today after picket duty, a few of us had to run some superfluous errands downtown, so went on a field trip. I figured I would just see if I could replace the adaptor (since that seemed to be the problem). The phone is 10 years old. What do you think they said? So the next option was, of course, to replace the phone. I am now the owner of a basic flip phone, made sometime this century. I feel so current, so now. And being reachable again is a little smothering.
Still tired from last evening. After poker class, we all played Zombies!!!, a game in which you either try to kill 25 zombies without dying or get to the heli-pad to fly away like a scaredy cat. The other three ganged up on me early and for the duration of the game; I guess I was too good at killing zombies, getting to about 18 because my strategy was to go into the crowd of them and kill them instead of waiting for the heli-pad to come up. (Is there a name for groups of zombies? A pod? A herd?) The one who hid in corners and didn't battle any zombies wound up winning in a most unimpressive way in Hour 3 (around 1am). Dissatisfied with the result, my friend asked if I wanted to stay and play another game after the other two left. So we wound up playing until the wee hours of the morning; I won by both reaching the heli-pad and killing my 25th zombie on the winning square. Victory is sweet, but it was so fricking hard to get onto the picket line by 9am. And I still hate zombies.
Currently listening :
Losing Money & Losing Friends
By Various Artists
Release date: 29 October, 1998
Monday, August 6, 2007
le soleil est plus mal
As a pasty-skinned person who lacks melanin, I generally hate the sun. Like a vampire at dawn, I generally do everything I can to stay away from direct sunlight because the reflection of sun against my skin is blinding to bystanders, but also causes more trouble than it's worth. If I'm not white, I'm red and vice versa.
Yesterday I was at the beach for half the day, sitting in direct sunlight with, I've come to realise now, not enough sunscreen on. Usually it's my hair part or leftside neck that comes away with a burn, but yesterday it was just the tops of my arms. It isn't a painful one, but I'm still annoyed that I didn't spray down enough to prevent this kind of trouble. I've come to like my consistently white colour.
But being at the beach was kind of lovely. We ate fruit (cherries, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes) and hydrated with water, and awaited the arrival of the promised cupcakes for Tangiene's birthday party. It's surprising what some people will wear to the beach; one of the peripheral hipsters wore head-to-toe black (shoes & socks included) and looked nervously at his locked-up fixed gear as though someone was going to steal it. Amusing.
After arriving back home to a barrage of instructions from my group regarding our assignment, I set back to the homework, but only until an invitation for drinks came in. I wound up being a little late anyway, despite SoMa being so ridiculously close, because of additional last-minute changes to the assignment. (I kind of hate group assignments; no in-person group functions solely by wiki and email, leaving all sorts of weird lag time and miscommunications by those who cannot express what they want in writing.) I decided it could wait for a couple of hours.
The combination of sun all day, no dinner (I ate all afternoon!), and the low-level stress I general run on resulted in the first pint going straight to my head. The second was just for good measure. Still, I found out that C'est La Vie on Main often has fantastically cute dresses, thanks to our always lovely barmaiden Gemma's advice, and that the other barkeep whom we adore has recently started seeing someone, which is sad news, indeed. (Again, no single boys in the 'hood.) I was still home early enough to comb through citations for what seemed like hours before our midnight deadline.
Today is a short shift on strike duty, smack dab in the middle of the day. Since both sides are (finally!) back at the table, it's possible (though not likely) we may be back to work by week's end. So I guess I've got to make the most of the time away from the desk, which means visits with girlfriends I haven't seen much of lately and a trip to Commercial for some attractive and flavourful tomatoes. (I found a recipe for tomato bread pudding that I really want to try ASAP. It will also mean a trip to that little shop that you have to buzz to get in, but I adore the shopkeep owner, so it's worth the effort.)
Here comes the sun.
Currently listening :
Trailer Park Hip Hop
By Hip Club Groove
Yesterday I was at the beach for half the day, sitting in direct sunlight with, I've come to realise now, not enough sunscreen on. Usually it's my hair part or leftside neck that comes away with a burn, but yesterday it was just the tops of my arms. It isn't a painful one, but I'm still annoyed that I didn't spray down enough to prevent this kind of trouble. I've come to like my consistently white colour.
But being at the beach was kind of lovely. We ate fruit (cherries, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes) and hydrated with water, and awaited the arrival of the promised cupcakes for Tangiene's birthday party. It's surprising what some people will wear to the beach; one of the peripheral hipsters wore head-to-toe black (shoes & socks included) and looked nervously at his locked-up fixed gear as though someone was going to steal it. Amusing.
After arriving back home to a barrage of instructions from my group regarding our assignment, I set back to the homework, but only until an invitation for drinks came in. I wound up being a little late anyway, despite SoMa being so ridiculously close, because of additional last-minute changes to the assignment. (I kind of hate group assignments; no in-person group functions solely by wiki and email, leaving all sorts of weird lag time and miscommunications by those who cannot express what they want in writing.) I decided it could wait for a couple of hours.
The combination of sun all day, no dinner (I ate all afternoon!), and the low-level stress I general run on resulted in the first pint going straight to my head. The second was just for good measure. Still, I found out that C'est La Vie on Main often has fantastically cute dresses, thanks to our always lovely barmaiden Gemma's advice, and that the other barkeep whom we adore has recently started seeing someone, which is sad news, indeed. (Again, no single boys in the 'hood.) I was still home early enough to comb through citations for what seemed like hours before our midnight deadline.
Today is a short shift on strike duty, smack dab in the middle of the day. Since both sides are (finally!) back at the table, it's possible (though not likely) we may be back to work by week's end. So I guess I've got to make the most of the time away from the desk, which means visits with girlfriends I haven't seen much of lately and a trip to Commercial for some attractive and flavourful tomatoes. (I found a recipe for tomato bread pudding that I really want to try ASAP. It will also mean a trip to that little shop that you have to buzz to get in, but I adore the shopkeep owner, so it's worth the effort.)
Here comes the sun.
Currently listening :
Trailer Park Hip Hop
By Hip Club Groove
Sunday, August 5, 2007
great outdoors (or so i hear)
Geez, I wish I could have skipped town this weekend. I think I'm getting cabin fever. Is that possible when the weather is fine? I'm not sure what to call it.
"The Great Outdoors" was on TV tonight. I only watched a smidge, but it reminded me of how much I used to love Chris Young. Looking at him now, I can't remember why. The pouty lips? The gentle wavy blond hair? I'm pretty sure it wasn't his acting skills because he didn't really have any. Oh, Teen Beat, how could I let you trick me into believing he was worth a crush?
This afternoon I gave up trying to finish my homework (it's mostly done) and walked over to Cambie with Tangiene. At Jill's birthday dinner last Monday, we all of us (everyone did time in Edmonton) discussed organising a field trip to Dadeo. Tangiene couldn't wait. I'm never going to turn down a chance to have po'boys. I really hope they stay in business for the duration of the train extension construction; where else can you get blackened catfish? And I really think Dadeo is a million times better than Tomato, so I can't be sad that Dadeo took over the space. Gosh, I love that place. Please frequent it so it stays open. Anytime any of yous want to go, I'm in.
Tomorrow I'm going to the beach for Tangiene's birthday party. Picnics on the beach are all kinds of rad. It seems sort of funny that I'd spend the afternoon in the sun when I spent most of last week cursing the exact same thing. What can I say? I'm inconsistent.
Currently listening :
Howls, Raps & Roars
By Various Artists
Release date: 29 June, 1993
"The Great Outdoors" was on TV tonight. I only watched a smidge, but it reminded me of how much I used to love Chris Young. Looking at him now, I can't remember why. The pouty lips? The gentle wavy blond hair? I'm pretty sure it wasn't his acting skills because he didn't really have any. Oh, Teen Beat, how could I let you trick me into believing he was worth a crush?
This afternoon I gave up trying to finish my homework (it's mostly done) and walked over to Cambie with Tangiene. At Jill's birthday dinner last Monday, we all of us (everyone did time in Edmonton) discussed organising a field trip to Dadeo. Tangiene couldn't wait. I'm never going to turn down a chance to have po'boys. I really hope they stay in business for the duration of the train extension construction; where else can you get blackened catfish? And I really think Dadeo is a million times better than Tomato, so I can't be sad that Dadeo took over the space. Gosh, I love that place. Please frequent it so it stays open. Anytime any of yous want to go, I'm in.
Tomorrow I'm going to the beach for Tangiene's birthday party. Picnics on the beach are all kinds of rad. It seems sort of funny that I'd spend the afternoon in the sun when I spent most of last week cursing the exact same thing. What can I say? I'm inconsistent.
Currently listening :
Howls, Raps & Roars
By Various Artists
Release date: 29 June, 1993
Saturday, August 4, 2007
the calm before or during, which would make it the eye, i guess
I can do this. I can.
Yesterday I finally finished my assignment around 8pm, after working on it all morning, afternoon and evening. It was the reading that killed me; waiting until the last minute to read books isn't a good idea. And my little emotional breakdown about a/v materials was just a blip on the screen of having it together/not losing it. It's my own fault that it wasn't a very good finished product. But I'm finding it hard to care about stuff (school-related especially) that isn't really of interest; I hate jumping through hoops for the sake of jumping (welcome to grad school). And I just like to complain.
To reward myself for finishing, I wandered over to Jill & Mark's place to hang out on their deck, drinking ginger ale and lemonade to their red wine. They have a box of wine (!!!) leftover from their bookclub and now try to push it on anyone who comes through their door, which seems to mostly be me. How can literary discussers NOT drink heavily? Isn't that a requirement among the literary, being a raging alcoholic?
Boxed wine reminds me of my youth, when Mom would buy a big box of white wine over the Christmas holidays, kept in the cold room downstairs, to liquor up visitors at the drop of a hat. My sister (a certified wino) and I (still don't drink wine at dinner when I visit my parents) would position our heads under the nozzle and get a couple of gulps in when annoying people who squeezed our cheeks would visit. We never got drunk or tipsy. Mom didn't really care if we drank it, as long as there was still wine left for the visitors. She's European, so drinking was never a big deal.
We spoke about a local drug dealer who has a dog named Vegas. It was agreed that the refusal to talk to someone who deals drugs and has a dog named Vegas is a good decision. I envision said dealer also wears black button-up shirts with orange flames on the bottom hem, the shirt unbuttoned, with dirty cut-off jeans and high tops without laces nor socks.
I always have a lovely time with them. Jill rubbed my brain while Mark told me about his newfound interest in tax-related calculations and the impending coursework related to it. I'm excited for him; he said he just can't seem to stay out of school. It looks like there's a distinct likelihood we may bump into each other on campus starting in September. Fresh blood to the campus. They sent me home with a brick of vanilla ice cream and a CD of music.
Today I have to write about 600 words related to GLBTQ issues in a library setting, but have yet to get into it. It's not due until midnight tomorrow, but I'm hoping to be done before I go to Tangiene's birthday party. Since I'm in writing mode anyway, it's just a bit of time searching for "facts" and forming a coherent combination of words that will just get me through this class. I'm more afraid of my groupmates than the prof; I already know the prof isn't fond of me. This is the last class for one of my groupmates, so I think she's operating at a higher level than the rest of us. Or just me. Which is fine. (She's the reason I have to be done this a week ahead of time. It isn't due until Friday.)
Yesterday I got an email from a guy who has the same mentor from university as I, though I've never met nor seen him. While I was in Japan we emailed regularly, as he and his wife were planning to start JET and wanted some info. I haven't heard from him in about 7 years, so it was surprising to get the email, especially since the email address used is relatively new. I used to tell him weird, often funny stories and after one particularly questionable one (related to squatty potties) I never heard from him again. But that's the story he wants me to relay again because it was so funny. I just wish I could remember what I said.
Still considering going to the Odd Ball at WISE Hall tomorrow night. Guess it will depend on my abilities to slack off. Anyone interested in coming with?
Currently listening :
Forever
By Gus Gus
Release date: 05 March, 2007
Yesterday I finally finished my assignment around 8pm, after working on it all morning, afternoon and evening. It was the reading that killed me; waiting until the last minute to read books isn't a good idea. And my little emotional breakdown about a/v materials was just a blip on the screen of having it together/not losing it. It's my own fault that it wasn't a very good finished product. But I'm finding it hard to care about stuff (school-related especially) that isn't really of interest; I hate jumping through hoops for the sake of jumping (welcome to grad school). And I just like to complain.
To reward myself for finishing, I wandered over to Jill & Mark's place to hang out on their deck, drinking ginger ale and lemonade to their red wine. They have a box of wine (!!!) leftover from their bookclub and now try to push it on anyone who comes through their door, which seems to mostly be me. How can literary discussers NOT drink heavily? Isn't that a requirement among the literary, being a raging alcoholic?
Boxed wine reminds me of my youth, when Mom would buy a big box of white wine over the Christmas holidays, kept in the cold room downstairs, to liquor up visitors at the drop of a hat. My sister (a certified wino) and I (still don't drink wine at dinner when I visit my parents) would position our heads under the nozzle and get a couple of gulps in when annoying people who squeezed our cheeks would visit. We never got drunk or tipsy. Mom didn't really care if we drank it, as long as there was still wine left for the visitors. She's European, so drinking was never a big deal.
We spoke about a local drug dealer who has a dog named Vegas. It was agreed that the refusal to talk to someone who deals drugs and has a dog named Vegas is a good decision. I envision said dealer also wears black button-up shirts with orange flames on the bottom hem, the shirt unbuttoned, with dirty cut-off jeans and high tops without laces nor socks.
I always have a lovely time with them. Jill rubbed my brain while Mark told me about his newfound interest in tax-related calculations and the impending coursework related to it. I'm excited for him; he said he just can't seem to stay out of school. It looks like there's a distinct likelihood we may bump into each other on campus starting in September. Fresh blood to the campus. They sent me home with a brick of vanilla ice cream and a CD of music.
Today I have to write about 600 words related to GLBTQ issues in a library setting, but have yet to get into it. It's not due until midnight tomorrow, but I'm hoping to be done before I go to Tangiene's birthday party. Since I'm in writing mode anyway, it's just a bit of time searching for "facts" and forming a coherent combination of words that will just get me through this class. I'm more afraid of my groupmates than the prof; I already know the prof isn't fond of me. This is the last class for one of my groupmates, so I think she's operating at a higher level than the rest of us. Or just me. Which is fine. (She's the reason I have to be done this a week ahead of time. It isn't due until Friday.)
Yesterday I got an email from a guy who has the same mentor from university as I, though I've never met nor seen him. While I was in Japan we emailed regularly, as he and his wife were planning to start JET and wanted some info. I haven't heard from him in about 7 years, so it was surprising to get the email, especially since the email address used is relatively new. I used to tell him weird, often funny stories and after one particularly questionable one (related to squatty potties) I never heard from him again. But that's the story he wants me to relay again because it was so funny. I just wish I could remember what I said.
Still considering going to the Odd Ball at WISE Hall tomorrow night. Guess it will depend on my abilities to slack off. Anyone interested in coming with?
Currently listening :
Forever
By Gus Gus
Release date: 05 March, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
last minute worries
At the start of this degree, I did a really good job of not procrastinating nor leaving things until the last minute. It just meant organising my time a little bit, working 12-14 hour days (between work work and school work) though no later than 9pm, and regularly drinking moderately heavy with a boy who distracted me for most of the semester. All assignments were handed in or completed no later than a day ahead of their due dates.
How did I get to this point, then?
Tomorrow I have an assignment due that is worth 35% of my mark and I haven't really even started writing it. It's pretty dull: I have to read books and explain why they should be added to a library's collection, find some websites and review them for content with a pro/con listing, and somehow find A/V materials to review and recommend. I can blame this on the strike, since I had to hunt down materials outside of Vancouver or at UBC (which feels like outside of Vancouver) instead of picking stuff out on a break or after work. Really, the assignment is pretty vague and leaves a lot of room to really fuck up. And I'm just not as keen or excited about homework as those studying to be children's librarians.
So I'm pulling an all-nighter for the first time in.... a long time. I will get this done, because I have to and because the hardest part is reading entire books in a few hours, but with enough time to go out for drinks with Jill and Mark tomorrow night. I will. I will. I will.
My group project is also due this weekend, but only because one of the people is super A type and decided she wants to make a website, so we have to have our content in 5 days before the thing is due. Yea. But it's only a little bit of research and two 250-word submissions, plus a couple of annotations for non-fiction materials (which I have and should be pretty easy). I should be able to get it done in a couple of hours, once I finish this one due tomorrow.
What frustrates me about this whole thing is this class isn't even hard. It's just time consuming. And apparently I've forgotten how to motivate myself to get stuff done.
But I'm still going to do stuff this weekend. Powell Street Festival is on and I'm hoping to meet up with someone awesome for that. And Tangiene's birthday picnic on the beach is on for Sunday afternoon, so that should be a blast. And then I think I should probably picket for a few hours on Monday, even though it's a holiday. Need to show my support.
(Uh oh, here comes the soapbox.)
Seriously, if you live in Vancouver, you should be calling the Mayor's office to tell him what a fucking prat he is. His negotiators have stalled negotiations AGAIN for more than a week (apparently unhappy citizens of this city aren't much of an incentive to settle civic worker unrest) after my union gave them a revised proposal, mainly (I suspect) to try to break the spirits and bank accounts of the workers for as long as he can and to try to make the media forget that there are no city services (there's a media blackout in effect as long as there are negotiations planned). This jackass should never work in this city again.
It shouldn't take a week to make a counter-offer; they've had at least two solid weeks to come up with ANYTHING to start negotiating from, but have been too busy trying to meddle in other cities' negotiations (have you heard one of the Vancouver negotiators called up and asked Richmond to slow down so they wouldn't make Vancouver look bad? Nice) and to spin the media. You know why almost all other municipalities have tentative agreements? Because they actually negotiated. On consecutive days. Until an agreement was met. But not in Vancouver. No, they've got other things to do. Like... stuff.
I'm off to read books about amputations and car accidents. Fitting, n'est pas?
Currently reading :
Peeling the Onion
By Wendy Orr
Release date: 09 February, 1999
How did I get to this point, then?
Tomorrow I have an assignment due that is worth 35% of my mark and I haven't really even started writing it. It's pretty dull: I have to read books and explain why they should be added to a library's collection, find some websites and review them for content with a pro/con listing, and somehow find A/V materials to review and recommend. I can blame this on the strike, since I had to hunt down materials outside of Vancouver or at UBC (which feels like outside of Vancouver) instead of picking stuff out on a break or after work. Really, the assignment is pretty vague and leaves a lot of room to really fuck up. And I'm just not as keen or excited about homework as those studying to be children's librarians.
So I'm pulling an all-nighter for the first time in.... a long time. I will get this done, because I have to and because the hardest part is reading entire books in a few hours, but with enough time to go out for drinks with Jill and Mark tomorrow night. I will. I will. I will.
My group project is also due this weekend, but only because one of the people is super A type and decided she wants to make a website, so we have to have our content in 5 days before the thing is due. Yea. But it's only a little bit of research and two 250-word submissions, plus a couple of annotations for non-fiction materials (which I have and should be pretty easy). I should be able to get it done in a couple of hours, once I finish this one due tomorrow.
What frustrates me about this whole thing is this class isn't even hard. It's just time consuming. And apparently I've forgotten how to motivate myself to get stuff done.
But I'm still going to do stuff this weekend. Powell Street Festival is on and I'm hoping to meet up with someone awesome for that. And Tangiene's birthday picnic on the beach is on for Sunday afternoon, so that should be a blast. And then I think I should probably picket for a few hours on Monday, even though it's a holiday. Need to show my support.
(Uh oh, here comes the soapbox.)
Seriously, if you live in Vancouver, you should be calling the Mayor's office to tell him what a fucking prat he is. His negotiators have stalled negotiations AGAIN for more than a week (apparently unhappy citizens of this city aren't much of an incentive to settle civic worker unrest) after my union gave them a revised proposal, mainly (I suspect) to try to break the spirits and bank accounts of the workers for as long as he can and to try to make the media forget that there are no city services (there's a media blackout in effect as long as there are negotiations planned). This jackass should never work in this city again.
It shouldn't take a week to make a counter-offer; they've had at least two solid weeks to come up with ANYTHING to start negotiating from, but have been too busy trying to meddle in other cities' negotiations (have you heard one of the Vancouver negotiators called up and asked Richmond to slow down so they wouldn't make Vancouver look bad? Nice) and to spin the media. You know why almost all other municipalities have tentative agreements? Because they actually negotiated. On consecutive days. Until an agreement was met. But not in Vancouver. No, they've got other things to do. Like... stuff.
I'm off to read books about amputations and car accidents. Fitting, n'est pas?
Currently reading :
Peeling the Onion
By Wendy Orr
Release date: 09 February, 1999
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