Happy Christmas!

I just wanted to write a quick note to my lovely ladies, wishing you all a very merry christmas, and a happy new year! (even though i'll hopefully be seeing you before then) :)

I love you all very very muchly! :D

<3 Michele

The Eve!

Hello ladies (and friends and random viewers),

We have been the first Google result for “trouser trek” two days in a row now. I’m taking this as a sign that if we keep writing things it will stay this way. That’s kind of a nice Christmas present. Thank you Google!

It is the eve of Christmas! I’m so excited! The reason I say “the eve of Christmas” instead of “Christmas Eve” is because yesterday I was trying to say “Christmas Eve” but instead said “New Year’s Eve” at least 10 times. I figure saying the eve of Christmas is a lot easier on me than embarrassing myself.

So excited!

What I’m not excited about is the after Christmas business. My Christmas that is essentially spent with family consists of the early (as early as any two of us are awake) morning and the dinner. The whole rest of the day is a big “What now?” moment. It always feels a tiny bit confining.

My ideal Christmas would involve the early morning family time, followed by an afternoon spent with you ladies and ending with some big Christmas dinner. The problem is that you just don’t call people to hang out on Christmas Day because they’ve got their own family things and whatnot all day.

I wouldn’t want to disturb anyone’s actually family stuff that happens during Christmas Day but my Christmas afternoon consists of all four of my main family members finding different TVs or monitors to watch various DVDs that they got for Christmas. We all have such different interests when it comes to that stuff that hardly ever does it happen that we all want to watch the same thing. My dad usually has a nap actually so there’s no socializing there whatsoever.

This year it promises to be even quieter because our Christmas dinner tomorrow is only going to be the four of us. I can’t remember the last time we had a huge meal without inviting at least one person over to share it with us. It’s just going to be like another family dinner except with turkey instead of whatever we usually have.

You know what? I still think it’s going to be a good day, at least today, because as I look down at my typing hands I see the mystic topaz ring that my parents gave me for my 18th birthday and I realize that it looks exceptionally clear and multicoloured today. I take that as a sign of good things to come. If it’s a good colour day for my ring it’s generally a good day for me.

In other news, I have resisted the temptation these past few days to wear the “Property of Princeton Plainsboro” t-shirt so I am really going to be wearing it tomorrow as I open my x-max presents! There will be many pictures taken of it! This is exciting to me!

I mentioned this to Michele already but my mom is in love with my singamajig. She loves squeezing it and making it sing. I think it’s going to drive my dad nuts soon. Fun times!

Another way that I think my Christmas is different from a lot of other people’s Christmases is that from a very early age I’ve been aware that the Santa that comes to my house doesn’t drink milk with his cookies… he drinks Baileys.

Happy Christmas everyone! Enjoy the holidays!

Dina

Tonight we're going to have ourselves a real good time

First there was one.

One became two.

Then there were four,

and then there was awesome!

~*~*~

The above four lines were going to make up my entire blog post but now I would also like to add that my considerable love for snail mail has just been exponentially increased by the timely arrival of a Christmas present at the last possibly instant. Fantastic!

Tonight is the first Core Four gathering of what will hopefully be many stupendous get-togethers and the simultaneous celebration of our now collective legality! Huzzah!

SOOOO EXCITED!

See y'all in 30mins!

Dina

We are all legal!

It's december 19th and you know what that means?
It's a champagne birthday for a very lucky lady
She's got style
She's got class
it's crazy 19 years have gone past!

To the baby of the bunch,
A damn fine lady
we hope you have
A super awesome B-day

I remember once a party
That was Pirates themed
and we had virgin pina coladas
out of real coconuts

now we know that coconuts are great
and that this lady makes us smile
so let's go grab some pina coladas
and celebrate in style!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELE!!!

(hope you like my random impromptu poem thinger!!!)

and THIS is cause... well... these kinds of things have a habit of showing up for her b-days :P 

What is this feeling?

(I left out the dialogue stuff at the beginning but I trust you to figure out where this starts.)

What is this feeling, so sudden and new?
It’s such a pleasure, so hard to construe!
My pulse is rushing. My head is reeling. My face is flushing.
What is this feeling?
Fervid as a flame, does it have a name?
YES!

Freedom!
No more books for me. It’s freedom!
Home for good and, yes, for Christmas!
Let’s just say—sucks to be you!

Every last exam, however tough,
Is a memory that I can slough
And yet you still just sit there
With nothing to do but study,
While I, your friend, your pal, your buddy,
Am home having fun!

Though I will admit you all work hard,
You’d still rather read Beedle the Bard,
And I will be bragging
Bragging ‘til
We all meet up!

My dear ladies, you are just too good!
How do you stand it? I don’t think I could!
It is snowing! It is merry,
Though exams are quite contrary,
And dear ladies, it is scary
That we’ll all be of age soon!

Poor old towns folk, forced to reside,
With ladies so exquisite in stride.
When we all meet up,
A good time is implied!
We share our—

(Friendship, five years counting but still the tip.)
What is this feeling, so sudden and new?
(Even if knights want us to strip)
The very reason I can torment you!
(Let’s just say—we’re classy gals!)
My pulse is rushing. My head is reeling.
Oh, what is this feeling?
(Every little trip, however small,)
(Is absolutely certain to enthral!)
Does it have a name?
YES!
AHHH!

Freedom!
(Friendship!)
There’s a strange exhilaration,
(Friendship!)
And let’s just say that when you’re done
(Friendship!)
You’ll be tackled by hugs!
(By hugs!)

Though I do admit it won’t be long
Still I felt I had to write this song
And I will be
(Waiting…)
Waiting
Quite impatient
(Waiting…)
Waiting
So excited, waiting here
‘Til you get home!

(Waiting)
(I can’t wait to see you ladies!)

To listen to the original song, “What Is This Feeling?” from Wicked, click here.

Much love,

Dina

Linguistics

Soo I wrote a linguistics exam today and it was ridiculously easy!! Took about 20 minutes. what a joke!! 

anyways I would like to share

this humourous bit of linguisticy goodness 

with y'all!

enjoy and yes it is mostly complete nonsense!!

My family owns a Santa Suit

seriously! did you know you can buy them at Walmart?

The reason for such is that my dad is one of Santa's helpers and plays him at events the big man can't make it too himself :P this includes the Christmas party for the kids of people mom works with and my great-grandmother's Christmas party which was this weekend.

my fam jam came to see my rez and brought us delicious baked goods! They picked me up and took me to Perth where I stayed at my grandma's for a night and wrapped lots and lots of Christmas presents for her cause she's old and I was bored.

Then on sunday we got dressed all fancy and went to my great grandma's christmas party which was pretty boring except that we sat with the best old guy ever. he has so many entertaining stories and asks us all kinds of questions - including if I'm folding many pants at University!! mildly awkward.

anyways we also got to see his house and it's old and GORGEOUS, full of colour and culture. It made me a) drool and b) want to sit down and write poetry. TS Eliot and Ezra Pound would have loved it.

as for exams, well my brain is about the same place as everyone else's. I wrote one today that was only 20 minutes though which was AWESOME!! now if only anthro could be as nice... ha ha ha sooo not happening.

also they want me to work like a bazillion hours this week. I'm taking some cause money is nice but have to turn down some in order to sleep and study.

my podmate goes home tomorrow and i'm jealous but I'll be home in one week.

lots of randomness and love from me!

Dear Friends...

....... Hi.

:)

I hate school. :P not really, but just the amount of work that has to go into it. :P As you all know, i am a lazy person, and dislike any amount of work no matter how important it is to my future. That includes end of year assignments and studying for exams.

So as i'm sure you can probably tell, i'm feeling a little bitter at the amount of work i had to do last week/will be coming up, but i think i'm going to survive. :P

i should also apologize for my lack of postage. I did not forget about this, but rather every time i thought about it, i was either in the middle of doing something else and forgot about it later when i was free, or i was just far too brain dead to think straight/ want to type anything at all, including a witty comment. :P

Anyways, i'm here to warn you that my posting will be rather sporadic for the next week and a half or so, until my exams/placements are done. I have exams every other day next week, starting on monday plus saturday and the monday following that one, AND i still have to fit in 3 more days of placement somewhere. FML.

so i am going to go and comment on all of your lovely posts right now, and then get back to my beloved chemistry. and by beloved i mean hated. Just fyi.

I love you all very very very much!!! :D

Michele

p.s.
on a brighter note, we got a huuuuuuge dumping of snow last night (like, 4 or 5 inches already) and its still going! :D yayyyy!!! i was going to post a picture if all the snow, but i can't find my camera... :P Maybe i'll add one in later if i can find it. :D

Bits of fluff and stuff

There has got to be a better way to make information go into my brain. There really has to be because I’m about to go around the bend and it’s hardly even started! Gah!

Given that I’m usually further along the bend than most people I consider this a bit of a problem.

O heyz laydees, Iz writin’ on ur blogz adn ‘voidin’ ma studyin’!

My room is a disaster. I’ve got pile of notes on the floor, pens and pencils making colonies in the carpet, textbooks forming stalagmites in various places in the room and pants and sweaters trying to make a getaway by the looks of how they’ve been migrating. I’ve also cause more tsunamis than I care to think about (my stress ball is a miniature globe).

Glee made me squee!

The roommates’ parents are coming over this weekend which means that sometime today preferably or tomorrow I have to go out to the school and beg them to let me park there for the weekend. I will be stuck in this house with the family over the weekend during exams is what I’m trying to say and I’m not best pleased. Sure, I don’t understand Spanish so it’s a tiny bit easier to block out but really? And I can’t just hop in my car and go study at the library, know why? Cause my Lyra will already be at school and probably buried in snow knowing my luck. Joy. Just joy.

I don’t want to be serious right now. I feel more like laughing so hard I cry or fall off of whatever piece of furniture I’m sitting on at the time. Can I just do that and call it studying? I think it would be much better for my health than what I’m currently doing.

It’s Wednesday which means its laundry day but it’s the first laundry day when I’ve just been sitting at home the entire day. I have this dilemma now about WHEN to do my laundry today. I could do it now or I could wait and do it later so all the stuff is nice and warm when we talk tonight which I love. My dad’s a bit fan of saying that you should always do as much as you can as soon as you can on a project but now I’m having this debate as to studying vs. laundry even though it’s really a matter of DO BOTH RIGHT NOW YOU GREAT LAZY MESS!!!

I don’t like having partially dry/wet hair but I hate using blow dryers (such a strange name). I also don’t like putting my hair up when it’s wet so when I’m studying when my hair is wet all my bangs are up in my face going “You can see us! You can see us! You can see us!” and I really don’t appreciate it.

Can I just say that the song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is exactly my kind of old school? It’s classy, jazzy, let-me-chase-you cheese and I love it. It was perfect for the weather yesterday, too. It was the perfect wind and snow to watch from the inside of a warm house next to the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and someone to snuggle with. *sigh*

“Gosh, your lips look delicious!” Damn Darren, you’re delicious!

He probably knows it by now.

You know what else is delicious? It’s not intracellular parasites, let me tell you, but that’s what I’ve got to get back to.

Much love,

Dina

Nerdiness and other random thoughts

Today the Vlogbrothers posted a video about TONGUE TWISTERS which I enjoyed IMMENSELY. For many reasons

 some of which being 

a) the Vlogbrothers are awesome

b) Hank uses linguistic-y terms like "fricative" and "plosive" and I actually know what those mean

c) I LOVE tongue twisters and aren't too bad at them if I do say so myself! 

also on the topic of linguistics I have this great study schedule going for myself and I was like
" Hey it's time to read chapter 8 of psych!" So I was reading along and it's about language and stuff. At which point I realized - I KNEW ALL THIS STUFF ALREADY! soooo I took a study break:P

which reminds me of something ELSE! I went on webCT to find the practice tests for Psych and saw an ANNOUNCEMENT from the prof. I was like " hmmm what could this be?" so I read it and it said

Need a study break? CLICK HERE!    (yes this is actually the same link he posted) 

I was very impressed with that study break :) 

IN other news it is now December 7th which is 13 days until I go home, 2 days until my first exam (psychology),  and 2 days after Decemeber 5th.

For those of you who don't know December 5th is a traditional Dutch holiday whereupon they celebrate the birthday of St. Nicholas  - known to the Dutch at Sinter Klaas. 

Celebrations include the nomming of such deliciousness as oranges, chocolate and gingersnaps all of which I provided for my pod. I would share a photo but they take FOREVER to upload so I apologize.

For now I guess it is back to studying for all of us, I hope you enjoyed today's really random update! 

( somewhat Michele-esque isn't it? ) 

Our Weekend

So. apparently my weekend is something to be blogged about. :P

Well it was lots of fun and I really enjoyed myself.

The End.

















Bahaha, fooled ya. :P I wouldn't leave you with just that much! :D

So as you know, before i left, Andre told me he had a surprise for me. I spent the whoooollllleeee week trying to guess what it may possibly be, until the night before I left when he gave me tons of hints, and basically spelled it out for me: he was going to meet me at the Oshawa train station and ride the train down with me. :D it was such a sweet thing to do, and definitely made the train ride more interesting. :) He was very good company for conversation. :)

So when we got there (later than I'd planned because i kind of messed up the train times :P ) we dropped off my bag in his room and then proceeded to attempt to find this park that he found that was apparently really nice. And got a little lost doing so. :P at that point, we decided to meet up with brenda, cory, and maz for dinner at the pub. After a not-so eventful dinner full of hockey terms that i didn't fully understand, we went back to rez so that i wouldn't get locked out. there is apparently a no-guest policy during exam week. laaaame. :P So i had to be a little sneaky. :P

So we played theeeee stupidest game ever. Ever played the game Sorry? yeah don't its dumb. :P Except for that i totally won the game. :D

We then played a few games of president, which i surprisingly enough did not lose every single game. And i was theeee winner of the very last game of the night. booo yeah. :P

After that, Andre and I went back to his room to watch the Notebook, which is like theeee best movie ever. I can't believe i haven't seen it until now. :D although, i don't remember a lot of the details, But it was a good kind of distraction. i feel like i really should have cried at the end, but i didn't. Probably due to something (read: someone ;P ) couldn't keep their hands to themselves. After that, we watched Just Wright, a movie about a basketball player and stuff. Yeah, i don't really remember much about that one either. :P I very nearly fell asleep during that one too... When i headed back to Brenda's room, i had a bird's nest on top of my head, which i never actually got to see. I was too afraid to. :P We did not get around to folding any pants. ;)

Of course, after i got back to Brenda's room, she wanted to talk, so even though i got back to her room at like 2:30, i didn't actually get to sleep till like, 3am. hence the whole being super tired right now thing, and yeah. :P

Next morning i was up by 9, and had nutella for breakfast, yummy, haven't had that in foooorrrrrever. :P we (andre and I) meant to leave to try and find that park again by 10:30, but we got a little (read: a lot) side-tracked. Annnnd then, that turned into leaving at 11:00-ish. Andre discovered that the park was actually a lot easier to find than we thought, and we actually managed to find it this time. :P We spent like, half an hour there, just watching the ducks and an airplane nearly crashing, til Andre realized that there was actually an airport nearby that it was landing at. :P

All too soon, it was time to head back to rez to get my stuff, and then over to union station. The train ride home was mildly uneventful. I kind of fell asleep. :P Andre happens to have an extremely comfortable shoulder. And i just learned that while i was sleeping, Andre got a little better acquainted with my face. ;)

Our goodbye was like something straight out of those movies that i love. :P First he cleaned the snow off my car for me, and nearly broke the windshield wiper in the process, and then after.....

we said goodbye.

So all in all, it was a wonderful weekend, that i very much enjoyed. The only downside to it, is that i probably won't be able to go back for a visit till after exams/holidays. :( But for the time being, we still have skype/msn/texting. :P

which will do for now. :)

loves you alllllll!!! :P

Michele <3 <3

Yesterday discussed today

Hey ladies!

Yesterday when looking at my calendar I realized that I had exactly one week of time until my first exam and only two days after that until my next exam and then only two days after that until my last exam.

So I have less than a week to study for all of that plus my test on Monday. Joy.

There are also a number of things that I’m supposed to be doing between now and when I leave Waterloo for Christmas that I definitely have not done and have no idea when I’m going to do like Christmas shopping and having tea with my Aunt Sparky.

When I was looking at my calendar I also realized that today was still in December and that means I still get to eat chocolate whenever I wake up. Fantastic!

When I was reading over this first few paragraphs of blog I realized I use “also” WAY too much.

So what’s been happening with me? That’s a good question. I can’t really remember anything until I really think about it. That right there shows how much my brain is usually functioning.

Yesterday I broke out my hot chocolate for the first time. It was a good decision. I tried to make it like my friend Tamina (haha, I blame my desire to watch Prince of Persia) makes it which is the most fantastically awesome way to make hot chocolate from generic powder that I’ve ever tasted but I failed quite inexcusably. I mean seriously, growing up my whole life in Canada like I have and going through many Canadian winters with the comfort of powder-from-the-tin hot chocolate I should know that it does, if fact, take half of the entire tin of powder to make a decent cup of hot chocolate. Alas, I have apparently not learned yet. Next time I will do better.

When I arrived at school yesterday I was super excited because I only had one class to attend and, other than attending that one class, all I had to do was drop off my last geophysics assignment which I was super excited to be done with. I got halfway into campus before I realized…

I HAD FORGOTTEN MY ASSIGNMENT! GAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

After mumbling a stream of semi coherent profanities I turned on my heal and walked in a very dignified but speedy manner back to my car and booked it back to my room, picked up my assignment which was RIGHT THERE JUST WAITING TO LEAVE OMG HOW DID I NOT SEE IT THE FIRST TIME?!?!?!, booked it back to school and then proceeded to dignifiedly speed walk to the TAs’ office where I handed it in on time. Phew!

I feel the need to say that I have been listening to Lyra sing me classical music (from soundtracks and from old school composers) on the way to school and must express my appreciation for her beautiful voice. There’s nothing quite like people checking out you and your girlfriend while she belts out The White Tree by Howard Shore and thinking “If they only knew…”

That’s all from me for now as I have a chapter in my psychology textbook about altruism to read. All I can think about while reading it is a certain altruistic bowler with dark hair, green eyes, a liking of chocolate ice cream and a habit for turning up in Core Four photographs… Soo distracting!

I’m going to make some more hot chocolate and then read away.

Much love,

Dina

Stereotypes, seriousness and the Day

Hello ladies, how are you doing today?

When I was in line at Tim Horton’s on campus this morning the two people in line in front of me, either boyfriend and girlfriend or close friends, were both wearing head to toe black. The guy was wearing a huge trench coat, music, somewhere along the lines of System of a Down, playing from some hidden headphones and died black hair. The girl had her bleach blonde with black highlights in two pigtails and a tiny backpack with a picture of skull and crossbones safety pinned to it. They were a pair.

As I was standing behind them, judging in my own quiet way, their similarity and suitability as a pair I suddenly thought “Hang on now! We’re getting ahead of ourselves here!” (I use plural because there is more than one voice in my head).

General thoughts on people who look goth, for me, go back to this girl named Quartz who was in my class back in middle school. She had a reputation for being a slut, cutting herself and doing drugs—a real sophisticated lady, you might say. The general consensus among my classmates that she was going to drop out of high school as soon as physically possible because she was either a) pregnant or b) dead by overdose. Do I know what really happened to her? Did I know anything else about her life other than what I heard through rumours? The answer to both is no.

I got to thinking a bit more about this couple in front of me. While my first reaction had been to scoff and think “They’re not going anywhere in life” the truth is that, just like me, they were at my university. They went to my university.

These two people had already come just as far as I had when I have doubted at times that I would get to this point. They certainly didn’t deserve my criticism with what I knew of them. It also occurred to me that, while they looked quite striking together, it could have been just as likely to see them with other friends they might have that didn’t look like they’d been spray painted from head to toe.

Later today, just before my psychology lecture was about to begin, a guy with big blonde dreadlocks, big jacket, tighter black jeans and big black boots came and sat one seat away from me exclaiming to me “Woah! Is it cold out of what?” to which I replied “It’s not so bad; it’s only going to get colder.” He came right back with “No! Don’t even say that! If I don’t think it’s gonna get colder then it won’t!” I laughed quietly.

My automatic thoughts on seeing dreadlocks: he must not bathe very often, he votes for the NDP, he’s a hardcore vegetarian, he wouldn’t approve of my gas guzzling car, he needs a better grip on reality if he thinks he can change the weather with his thoughts.

There are times when I mentally smack myself in the face. This was one of those times.

Hadn’t I just “had this discussion” aka “had an internal monologue about this”? He was obviously joking about the weather thought control, his big jacket was in fact a school leather jacket and so he’s probably not a hardcore vegetarian if he is one at all, and I have no idea about the rest of it!

I actually ended up talking to dreadlocks after class and we walked all the way to the parking lot still talking. He’s a CS major and was amusingly frustrated when I asked him to give examples of careers in his field that were not spent in front of a computer (he had been rather insistent before that about my confusing what he did with programming which is apparently where my stereotype should lie). About halfway through our walk he introduced himself as Mr. Sparks.

Mr. Sparks made me laugh and was a genuinely nice guy.

Trying to get over stereotypes is something I’m constantly working on. While I’d like to think that I’m doing a fair job most of the time, I know that invariable effort is still required and it is always a work in progress.

Today, aside from being December 1st, the day you begin eating your advent calendar, the day when Christmas is just that much closer and another day of me being really serious, is also World AIDS Day. And just like I was mistaken today, many people believe that gay men are the ones that really have to worry about this disease but that’s not at all the truth. Actually, over half of the people currently infected with HIV/AIDS are women (click me for reference).

I know I don’t have to tell you ladies this but it’s always so much better to be safe; to get educated, to use protection and to get tested.

My seriousness isn’t the most enjoyable but I felt like I had to say it all.

I hope you all enjoyed you first chocolate today! I know I did.

Much love,

Dina