heading to vernon tomorrow. it's gonna be hot, and it's the long weekend, so we are leaving really late. hopefully the trip wont be too crazy. a wedding of one of scott's friends on saturday, and it the hartfield weekend at scott's so it should be plenty crazy. plus his parents are renovating, so there will be no sink or stove in the kitchen...but i get my own fridge! and sylvie and her family will be there, which is exciting because they are soooo fun, and i haven't seen them since last august--hard to believe! i can't wait to talk in french to her!
we are driving up with bliss and deb, but meeting up with them at scott's grandma's cause deb has to go pick up bliss at the ferry right before, so langley is a good point to meet, where we can leave a car too.
i have been trying to buy a new back pack. how hard can it be, right? but i finally found one i liked at coast mountain sports in coquitlam, so i got it, but when i brought it home and packed it, it hardly fit anything. it was sooo comfy, but i needed more than 15L capacity. so last night, we took it back and exchanged it for this bigger (35L) cheaper north face one, but once i packed that one, it sagged tons and was awkward to wear. blah.
stores should have phone books lying around the backpack sections so you can see how they hold weight.
anyway, so i really wanted one for the weekend, but i think i'm just going to not use it, and take it back next week. i think i'm going to either go back to mec again, or try and find somewhere that sells deuter bags, which look really good. maybe i'm being too picky, but damn, if i'm gonna spend money on a new backpack, i want it to be perfect:
-about 22-25L
-small height-wise, sits above my ass
-carries weight in at body, not sagging out
-sturdy, padded where needed straps
-a zipper opening.
is that so much to ask?
m.
hey-- as a measure to try and stop the bitch-ass spam commenting, a new feature has been enabled. when you go to make a comment, the first box has a number above it. to comment, you have to type that number into the box below it, and then proceed as usual. lets hope it works!
m.
hopefully this wont cause any hard feelings between a certain webmaster and myself....i looove you!....but i'm going to be posting my blog entries both here and on livejournal. it's easier for others who use livejournal because of their friends page feature, and it's easier for me to read theirs too. once scott gets the new blog program for buffmuthers up and running, i might discontinue the livejournal posts and just keep the account so i can post non-anonymously on other peoples' livejournals. those who use livejournal know where to find me.
m.
they are doing construction at the intersection at the end of our street. putting in drainage pipes and filling in the ditches where the water went before. (what happened--i thought daylighting was the in thing?) this crazy man who lives on the corner across the street from us has been compulsively washing the road with a garden hose. not even just the sidewalk, the actual street. we haven't decided if he's psycho, bored, or just doesn't like dirt.
doesn't he know he's wasting precious potable water?
m.
i learned to bike up curbs tonight after it cooled off tonight. it's always terrified me. i envision myself hitting the curb and launching off my bike. it still terrifies me, but now i can psych myself up to do it.
i just spent an hour inside in the death heat turning off comments on all but the most recent blog entries, and deleting over a hundred spam comments that came in in the span of about a half hour. i'd been getting the odd spam before, but never like this.
you fucking spam-hoar bitches.
m.
So I bailed on the trip to the island like 5 mins before we were supposed to leave. My stomach has been on a rampage the past couple days--it does not like this crazy hotness. **Too Much Info Warning: I've only been awake for an hour and a half, and have been in the bathroom like 5 times. What's with that??? I don't get how heat can make my stomach sick. But I guess anything can pretty much make my stomach sick. ARG!
I'm mad at the hotness and at myself, and I really wanted to go to the island, it looks so nice, and I've only been to Victoria and want to check out the Pacific Rim National Park. It looks so gorgeous. Look at these photos of Tofino. And these. I think we'll have to make new plans to go out there before the fall. There are so many cool things to do!
Before signing off, I really love this website/photo comic thing that a friend of kjerstiye's does. Check it out...A softer world.
m.
What is with this heat!? My body was not made for this.
Well I have decided that I really don't want to just stick it out with the degree, though I'm not opposed to picking it up again later on. The thing is, I don't really want to keep going until I find a job, cause that only leaves me a month to find a job before I'm stuck for another semester.
I did talk to the lady who does the TA stuff, and she said not to worry and that I should just let her know as soon as I know anything about getting a job. So I've bought myself some time in that respect.
I applied for the Ed. Assistant job (at a cool community newspaper), as well as an Admin. Assistant job (at everyone's favorite co-op). I guess they're going to be opening another store in Greater Van. so they're starting to hire. I've also got about 4 more I'm going to apply to next week. Hopefully someone will at least interview me so I feel like I'm marginably employable.
I'm really stuck on not wanting to do school in the fall. We'll see how long it lasts. I'm trying to finish up a bunch of stuff for my thesis so that I will be at a good point to stop in a couple weeks (incase I want to pick it back up). Then I have to go break the news to my supervisor. That's gonna be fun.
Anyway, we're heading out to Jules' for the weekend, cause it's 5 degrees hotter there, and we just thought we may as well torture ourselves. Actually she's having friends over for the weekend, and the house is on a lake, so hopefully I'll survive. We're taking the 9pm ferry, so it shouldn't be too hot for the travelling tonight. Just gotta make it through the afternoon.
midge.
i ate shreddies for breakfast over 3 hours ago and still feel like barfing. blech.
ok, so i need some advice. (not about the shreddies.)
i am so tired of school. i was tired of school years ago, but for some reason continue to torture myself be signing up for more and more.
i applied for a job yesterday. a real job. i don't know if there's any chance i'll even get an interview, but i actually applied for it. it took me the better part of 2 days to update and snaz up my resume and cover letter, but i did it. and for me, this is a big deal. for a long time, i have talked about wanting to ditch school and look for a job, but this is the first time i've actually done anything about it.
here's the thing...i'm only halfway through my masters. there are two camps on this issue:
1) stick it out, you're halfway through.
to which i reply that my supervisor doesn't give a shit about me or my degree and make the process really slow and painful. it would be hard to change supervisors without having to change my topic. i hate it. i don't want to be an academic. i don't care about credentials. did i mention i'm bored out of my skull? did i mention that i am living on about 10,000$ a year? did i mention this sucks?
2) quit. no shame. i still have the option of going back to finish it for at least a couple years if i change my mind.
to which i reply...exactly.
the catch is that i am supposed to decline my fall TA position by tomorrow if i don't want it, but if i am in school, i will need it. i think there's actually a little leeway, but i can't dump the job back on them too close to the start of the semester, especially since the prof is the same one i worked for in the spring, and she's wonderful and super nice.
so here's the question:
should i wait until the last minute possible or until i find out about the job to make a decision, or should i take the plunge and tell them now that i want to "take some time off", and continue to look for a job?
please help. too big of decision. can't compute.
m.
after toiling away on my resume, my elbows are killing me, my neck is killing me, my wrist is killling me. why? because i use a laptop. all the time. laptops are not meant for this.
so today, i went to london drugs and bought a keyboard and a mouse. i put my laptop on a shoebox at the back of my desk so that my neck doesn't have to bend to look down all the time. the keyboard allows me to type without my elbows, which were starting to get what i believe to be nerve damage, on the desk. and we all know what bad mousing can do.
it's like having a real computer again--a flatscreen at that (be it a small one!) i was a little aprehensive about spending that much money on things that come built into my computer, but now that i have plugged them in, let me tell you it was well worth the 100 odd dolars that it is going to save me in pain.
did i mention that i now have a real mouse that i can right click on? with a scrolly ball? well i do!
yeaaaah. that's what i'm talking about.
m.
hey- scott has posted the victoria photos in the buffmuthers album.
Scott and I went to the Island this weekend, just for a little holiday, change of scenery, and to visit Kirsti and Bliss (Deb was there too). All in all, a pretty sweet weekend. The weather was decent, and Victoria is a really nice city to hang out in. We got a really good deal on a sweet hotel room that was bigger than my last appartment and had a kitchen. The ferry ride out was so nice, we were on one of the newer "Spirit of..." boats, which are huge and so quiet we didn't realize we'd even left.
Friday we got in after suppertime, and went to have some food at Milestones on the water. Later, had a hottub at the hotel mmmm... Saturday, walked around town, then met up with Kirsti, and Bliss and Deb, and walked to Beacon Hill Park, and went to the petting zoo. Petted lots of goats and bunnies and sheeps! Exciting! Then walked over to the ocean, and on the way back stopped by to see Bliss' place, and went back to the hotel. By this point, I was super exhausted...
I layed down on the couch saying "I'm not going to sleep, I'm just going to lay down", and next thing I knew, it was 2 hours later.
Went out to the Stickey Wicket pub with Bliss and Deb. Kirsti had some biking issues and didn't make it, so the next day (Sunday) we went over to her place once we checked out of the hotel. Oh yeah, on the way we stopped by Ali Baba Pizza and Scott got pizza (reputed to be the best in town). It smelled so good I wanted to risk serious illness just to have a chomp.
Hung out at Kirsti's for a while then dropped by my relatives' place. I hadn't seen them for about 5 years, and my cousins have grown up so much!!! Neil is now 16, and Alicia is 14, so they were a lot younger when I last saw them. They've turned out to be really cool kids, so it was nice to see them.
Took the scenic route to the ferry, and had to wait a couple hours to get on a boat. Bought a really cool Fossil necklace (there were lots of artisan booths), and eventually got on the ferry. About 500m from the dock at Tsawassen, they announced "engine trouble" and "delay docking"...the boat proceeded to do a 360 and stop. We basically docked at the equivalent of impulse speed (for the Trekkies out there), coasting our way into the dock and bouncing around a bit.
We left for the ferry at 3:30, and by the time we got home, it was after 9pm. It was a looong ride back.
I feel a little tired, but refreshed...sign of a good trip. I'll try and post some photos from Scott's camera later on.
midge.
Well, to my surprise I had a really great time last night. In fact, it was probably the best time I had going out in a very long time. I can't say exactly why--it was a restaurant with really bad service, where I couldn't eat anything--but I guess having the whole crowd of friends out was nice.
Ironically enough, it was actually really nice seeing my old roomate. I forgot how much fun she is, and I guess the reason I've been mad about her being incommunicado is because I thought of her as a good friend and actually missed her.
It was fun having both of them back for a bit, I guess I'll see them again on Monday so that's nice. It's really sad when tons of friends move away after finishing their respective degrees. It's like leaving everyone after highschool, except I didn't really like most of my highschool friends by the time I left, so it wasn't very traumatic. A lot of good friends have moved away over the past few years though. Mostly to go to other schools, some to teach overseas, a couple for work. I wonder if there's a point when it finally settles down and some people actually decide to stay....I sure hope so!
midge.
Pardon my sugar buzz.
It's been a pretty crazy week. First, I officially declare myself disease free. That fucking cough would not let up, but it's deteriorated to the level of my usual allergies, so I find that acceptable.
For once I'm actually getting into a bit of a groove with doing school work. Yay! I decided that maybe I should step it up a notch, as my cousin has termed "3/4 assing it", so that I'm not working on this degree forever. If only my absentee yet fairly supportive supervisor and semi-absentee cool other committee member would keep up, maybe I could get some real shit done!
Yesterday was a nightmare. My mom left for her 3 1/2 week painting trip in France on Monday, and my dad, who had surgery a couple months ago and hasn't totally recovered yet, was freaking out big time. I was thisclose to cancelling the weekend plans to go to the Island and flying home, but after spending nearly the entire day on the phone to Saskatoon and France (hello phonebill!), we got him calmed down. Whatever happens, I've got to make sure my mom doesn't feel like she has to come back, she soooo deserves this trip. So crisis averted for the time being, weekend is still on.
I'm excited, it's nice to go away for the weekend with my boy and stay in a nice hotel (with a kitchenette and hot tub--yay!), and I get to visit my Kjerstiye!!! That is the icing on the cake! It's been since New Years already!
Tonight we are going out to visit with some friends who moved to Montreal last year, one who I've known since we were neighbours in residences second year, and the other who I lived with for a year a couple years ago. To be honest, I have mixed feelings, as much as it's nice to visit, I kind of resent my ex-roomate for being really insincere and a generally bad friend after I moved out. But hey, what can you do? Kinda sucks I have to miss yoga tonight though. I really liked it last week, and am excited to go again.
Yo-GAH! (Like Hi-Ya!) Ok, sugar buzz not gone yet.
Oh, and last but not least, I got really great jeans for 15$ on Monday! They were like a foot too long, but I hemmed them and they're great. The only flaw--I tried to put on a belt yesterday only to discover the reason they were so cheap, they're missing at least one belt loop. There are 3 total--two on the front, one on the left hip, and that's it. I'm going to try and make some more from the hem I cut off. Oh, I'm a sewing maniac!
:0) midge.
Holy cow. I was just reading news at the Tyee, and they had a little story about BEST's June is Bike Month Critical Mass ride.
I guess they got about 3-4 times more people than usual. The photos are incredible, there are so many people!!! This photo album by David Grove is really great. Check it out!
midge.