EPIC ADVENTURE WEEKEND PART THREE!!!!

Part three basically consists of Valerie and I being total fangirls, meeting nerdfighters, seeing more camp friends, cooking delicious food and THIS

I think I've got it!

Hey ladies!

What I think I've got is the reason I haven't been posting that often this semester! It was a revelation to me so I'm going to share it with you! Are you ready?

I haven't been procrastinating!

*le gasp*

Weird right? Procrastination is supposed to be a regular part of student life and the antithesis to all of our midterms and things but, because I've been working, I've been being incredibly diligent and only procrastinating when I actually needed breaks (which is not really procrastinating at all but just sanity saving).

It wasn't until today, as I was walking to the library where I currently sit and thinking about how much I absolutely did not want to study for my statistics midterm that I went "I should write a blog post" and then realized just how many of my past posts have been created for very similar reasons.

Why now? You may ask. What caused the productivity to grind to a halt? Well friends, my mind has been in the gutter since I woke up and it hasn't left. Now you're probably thinking "Really? There are times when that isn't the case?" To which I will reply "Shut your face cause this is my blog post! Also, if you can't keep yourself quiet I can think of a few other ways for you to keep your mouth occupied." ;)

Gah! It's so bad!

(Also, I really want to tell the group of people sitting at the group table in front of me that talking in another language does not make them any less loud! ...and now I'm thinking about my previous comment and what the image of that table would look like if they took that advice...)

I think there are a few things and/or people to blame for the current state of my mind. The first and foremost is definitely myself for 1) staying up entirely too late last night to watch Glee and therefore distorting any higher brain function that could have been possible today and 2) not buying groceries and so buying breakfast on campus therefore leaving time to read fanfiction before heading to school. The second person I blame (when I tried to write "blame" just now it autocorrected to "Blane", you're welcome Valerie) is... *mumbles about hands and knees and the cake not being a lie* The third person I blame is Dawn because she reblogged a video about sexy nerds on Tumblr, the song for which I have not been about to get out of my head the entire day. I also blame the fact that I already own a lovely home in the gutter and why would I not visit it when it's so nice?

Have any of you seen Glee yet this week? I think this is the best episode so far this season. No spoilers but jsdidjdbskkdjdbah! It was good.

In my molecular biology class we were talking about attenuation which can also be called "premature termination" of transcription. I died of inappropriate giggles.

Also, Rae brought me Bailey's cheesecake this morning which I ate during STATs and that kind of sugar that early in the morning definitely does nothing good for my concentration. Nothing at all. Nothing whatsoever. Nothing in a handbasket (is just a handbasket).

Did you guys know that Rae is a Hufflepuff? You do now! She seems to FIND wherever I am hanging out on campus fairly easily... At the movie last night I think I convinced the moderator to show The Producers on the last week of this term! Excited! Yesterday we also had a discussion about The Sorting Hat and The Scarf of Sexual Preference which was pretty hilarious.

Soo... long story short: I'm in a good but extremely distractable mood.

I love you all and I shall talk to you later!

Dina

(*sings* We can read some science fiction while we make some science friction.)

My weekend and some thanks

Hey ladies,

I have to say that I had a fairly awesome weekend just now. It wasn't all fabulous but a lot of it was so let's hear about it!

Friday wasn't very exceptional except (bah, two of the same word) for when we found out that our new Statistics prof (the old one's last day being that Friday) was the same guy that we'd questioned the sanity of for the last couple of classes because of his habit of whistling entirely too happily for a time so early in the morning. I'm still a bit mad about our other prof abandoning us at all, let alone on the week of our second midterm, but at least it seems like this guy might keep it interesting.

On Saturday I attended a pyjama (they were manditory) party/birthday breakfast for one of Rae's friends at the house they call The Dark Side (it does, in fact, have lots of cookies and it is house protocol that anyone who has not yet been to The Dark Side is offered a selection of them upon entry). We watched Saturday morning cartoons via Netflix (X-Men and Pokemon, neither of which I had ever truly watched before but we started at the beginning so I actually understood a little of what was going on) and ate pancakes/waffles and bacon. Mmmm bacon... I love bacon...

After that we went shopping and that trip consisted of 1) a gothic dress store, 2) a dress store catering to classy ladies (aka from my university) and 3) a dress store catering to not-so-classy ladies and those people who very much like sequins (aka that other school in my town). Rae was pounced on as soon as we entered the stores as she had a dress to find for the upcoming Science Ball. I was pretty good about staying away from it all until we got to store #3 when my "I should show some solidarity" thing kicked in.

Did I mention that this shop was run by a hilariously great Scottish lady? Every time we tried on a new dress she would say (in her epic Scottish accent, mind you) "Oh! That there is sizzle sizzle that is! That's hot I tell you!"

(I told my band friends about this today and the one girl went "OMG I remember her!!! I've totally been there!")

So anyway, for the sake of giving everyone someone else to gawk at I agreed to try on some dresses and Mrs. Sizzle (not to be confused with Ms. Frizzle) picked two dresses and I grabbed one that I'd been eyeing before and hopped into a change room. I want to mention here what you ladies already know, I am a professional shopper and have tried on my fair share of dresses but these ones took quite a lot of my considerable skill to get in and out of unassisted because they were so freakin' tight! Anywho, I want it documented that it was the dress I picked out that made everyone give a collective gasp and Rae stop talking about v-necks (which is apparently a miracle :P).

After the shopping we picked up some Chinese food and brought it back to the Dark Side where it was demonstrated to me that there are many different ways to eat chicken balls as well as various different ways to hold/use chopsticks. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the legendary Bailey's cheesecake was served but I've been told there is still a piece with my name on it that has yet to be nommed.

After leaving the Dark Side I went straight to the school gym to join the band in cheering on our volleyball team and being a general annoyance to the other school's fans who were sitting right next to us. One of those annoying things we do is count (be it in straight forward English, German, Japanese or to the digits of Pi) ever time the other team's server bounces the ball before yelling out something random when they do actually serve. Thus far our counting has been rather coordinated but our yelling has been sporadic at best. At this week's executive band meeting I suggested that we coordinate and that one of the things we yell be "THE CAKE IS A LIE!!"

So basically, Saturday was pretty awesome.

Sunday I had to open at work which means getting up far to early for what should be allowed on a Sunday morning. Not the best but it got better. My boss has this thing about morning shifts where he's all "I'm going to get you to talk eventually! I will attempt all kinds of inquiries until you answer with a flood of information!" He, like most people who have just met me, thinks I'm far too quiet. So this time we had a dialogue that went something like this:

Boss: So, are you getting excited?
Me: Not really... It's too early to be excited on a Sunday.
Boss: No, about your birthday.
Me: Ugh, my half birthday is coming up but it's not something I really celebrate.
Boss: Huh? I could have sworn I saw that your birthday was coming up in your file
*goes into office and comes back*
Oh, nevermind, it's just your evaluation that's coming up.
Me: O_0 Oh, really?
Boss: Yeah, how do you think you're doing?
Me: Well, you haven't fired me yet! That has to mean I'm doing something right *big smile*
Boss: *laughs* Yup! That's usually a good sign *smiles*
Me: *proceeds to have the best day of her career thus far* WIN!

So Sunday morning was pretty good, too.

As for the rest of Sunday, all I have to say is this:

I appreciate you Dawn Ackhart!

You are a phenomenal friend and I love you to bits. I'm so incredibly lucky to know someone who can be so strong for me even when she's hurting. *hugs*

Lots of love ladies,

Dina

Dina's Letter (with my responses)

Hey Dawn,

I seem to remember a time while you were at camp and you sent me a letter that said something along the lines of "I'm writing this on my journal paper and you should know how special you are to be getting it". Well now I"m returning the favour so you'd better appreciate it too.

I haven't actually written as much in this journal as I wanted to, kind of like my lack of blog posting. It used to be such a relief to get everything written down so it isn't bouncing around in my head anymore but all those things that are bouncing around keep saying thing like "Me first! I'm important!" and the writing always gets pushed back.

Now I have a perfect excuse to write a whole bunch of stuff down because "pants letters are mandatory" so a bit of priority is given. Get ready because there's a lot of stuff bouncing around.

First off I'll say that I was rather disappointed that I wasn't grilled about my date on Tuesday. (The reason for this is that I didn't know about it until much later when VALERIE told me. Otherwise you can bet your bottom that I would've bugged the HECK out of you) I suppose it has been my habit in the past to keep things very close until I'm ready to talk about them and maybe it's because of that you didn't ask. If so, I'd say a bit more persistence might get you some interesting details in the future. Now you don't have to ask becaues I want, and have a perfect medium, to tell you all about it.


First off, the only thing we'd really agreed upon before hand was that we were going to get together to get some coffee in order to "celebrate Rae (Dina's lady-friend) doing well on her midterm" (in quotations because this was a REALLY transparent excuse of a reason) About an hour before I sent her a text saying something along the lines of "I know we agreed to get hot beverages but there are several places around that sell said beverages so where shall we meet? " I've only included this text in the letter because she commented later about enjoying how nerdily I'd phrased it which makes me quite happy.


She suggested we go to Williams which I readily agreed on because they make fantastic London Fogs (not quite as good as Second Cup but nom nom nom...) This was also a choice that took the ambiguous coffee meeting another step into date territory as Williams has actual nice places to sti instead of questionable Tim Horton's chairs in our student center. For the few days since we'd agreed to get together I'd been going back and forth in my head about whether this was to be an actual date or not and generally leaning towards the not, mostly because, having previously never been on a mutually consensual date, I was a tad bit terrified at the prospect, if I'm honest.


(Also, I was, of course, wearing your pants while all of this was going on.)


Gosh, I think this next bit makes me sound like I"m in seventh grade again (it does but it's adorable ) but from the moment I met up with her to the moment we parted way there was always a part of my brain going "You should touch her... just reach out and take her hand... or at least walk closer to her so maybe you'll brush against her and it'll be totally natural" and another part going "Am I the one that's supposed to do that? Does it matter? What if I made it awkward? I don't want to be awkward because I don't like being awkward.... how "out" are we supposed to be? Should I be acting like it's more of a date? How does one act date-ish?" *sigh* Needless to say it was rather loud in my head but then, after we'd order and were sitting down to talk there were louder and clearer things like "I want to make her smile like that again" and "I love it when she laughs, I should try and make it happen again"
(the inner cheese queen in me is melting right now.)


We had been at Williams for 3h when I got hungry and suggested getting some dinner so we took turns guarding our booth while the other was ordering. Both of our sandwiches came with a pickle and a tomato, I at the tomatoes, and Rae at the pickles. About halfway through the first half of her sandwich Rae dropped a bunch of turkey out of her sandwich while she was biting it and said "I'm really glad you didn't see that." I told her I had but that I could pretend that I didn't because I knew she was embarrassed. We talked a bit more before I said "I feel like I should do something equally embarassing to make up for that" which she laughed at. Further on I was almost finished eating when she pointed out that nothing embarrassing had happened to me yet. I said "You're right" and wiped the remaining bit of my sandwich across my face so that I had a huge mayo smear on my cheek and then kept eating. She said I made her day :)
(This is the perfect story to tell at your wedding. Not to be creepy :P )


We were at Williams for 4 hours and talking almost continuously. I couldn't believe it had been that long! There were only time awkward silences and lots of smiles. My final "OMG TOTALLY A DATE" moment was when we paused before we split ways and there was definitely a tangible tension. I'm interested to see how Drag me goes... ( I think it went well! you?) though I'm not terribly certain of anything.


Well, I hope that was at least slightly interesting to you considering how long I've taken to write it.

OK Dina When the HECK are you going to just ask her to be your girlfriend?? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do it! you're so freaking cute together, and it would make you and her and everyone so happy. Seriously girl, make a move! ... Is that too forward of me? I apologize...


Now for a bit of pants specific recollection.


I got the pants on the same Friday that I met Rae although I didn't have them in my possission at the time. later that night Valerie and I went to the GSA's coming out Bonfire which was basically a whole bunch of people hanging out and serendipidously making tons of Harry Potter jokes. Valerie got to meet a few of my friends including my sort-of-bestie Mr Klein who knew her face from seeing pictures of the two of us dressed up for Deathly Hallows Pt 1. You'll get to meet him, hopefully, on Friday as he is the organizer of Drag Me and so will certainly be in attendance. (was he in a dress? :P)


I guess I should also further document that the pants came to me broken and hurting and I've done my best to heal them. ( a process well documented on the blog - thanks!) If I'm honest I like them more now than I did then because they've inherited a bit more character and a bit of me during their repairs. I've stitched my way around most of the exterior patched because the iron-on bit, while working well over the bits it was most needed on, has a habit of peeling up on the corners. Hopefully you'll finish my work and maybe add a piece or two of your own.


I wrote a midterm in your pants which I just found out I got an 85.5% on! Woot!
The biggest thing that happened to me in your pants was definitely an ongoing battle to let go of "shoulds" and "woulds" and "coulds" and turn them into actions and present focus. I spend an extraordinary amout of time inside my own head when it would probably be much better spent outside and in the presence of other people. I've tried to do that while wearing them and I think I succeeded at least marginally.


Much love Dawn! Wear them well,


Dina Briant

This post is brought to you in... a lot of parts.

PART ONE - an apology


So as you know I didn't make it to our skype night last night. This kind of broke my heart a little because talking to the three of you always makes me SOOOO happy. Unfortunately, I had a difficult assignment that required every ounce of my attention. I miss you all and will talk soon! 


PART TWO - Mail 


I got mail from the lovely Dina today :) I will do a separate post about it. But I wanted to say it makes me happy. Walking up to my house I saw an envelope sticking out of the mail box, and I immediately knew who it was from. Dina always has the best envelopes :) 


PART THREE - Rage


Today is November 10th, making tomorrow Remembrance day. I have nothing but utmost respect towards the day, which I think is a reasonable expectation to have of all members of our society. Unfortunately, this appears not to be the case. As I was walking through the University Center yesterday I passed some boys who were distributing poppies. I noted that they were from a Fraternity. Now I know it's never a good idea to generalize, but many people do have set opinions about "frat boys" - that they can be loud, cocky etc. I have met some very nice Fraternity members that do not fit this stereotype. After my experience with the poppy distributors however, I can see where these ideas come from. 
These boys were trying to encourage people to wear a poppy  - an honourable act certainly, but the way which they did this APPALLED me. How would you react if someone said to you (and I quote):
" You can afford pizza so you can afford a poppy, don't be cheap" 
" Do you want soldiers to die?" 
Remembrance day is about RESPECT, and HONOUR, neither of which were being represented by these boys. I am ASHAMED to say that they are students at my school. Their disrespectful and blatantly rude, obnoxious behaviour is NOT something that should ever be tolerated. 


I have e-mailed my campus newspaper about this and I hope we can shed some light on the issue.


PART FOUR - which is actually part TWO of my EPIC ADVENTURE WEEKEND


I left us all at Friday night, when I departed from M&M's lovely company. 


I headed over to Dina's house, where Valerie had already made herself comfortable. Dina was on her way home from work and called Valerie's cell phone to let her know. I picked up and proceeded to squeee over our plans and everything else while running away from V who was trying to get her phone back :P 


The three of us piled into Lyra (damn she's sexy) and headed off to DRAG ME TO THE BOMBER. A drag show being put on at Dina's university. It was pretty much amazing.  There was a LOT of talent and good music and dancing. We got to meet Dina's lady-friend, and I very much approve. She is sweet, and nice, and fun, and slightly awkward, and caught on to my quirks pretty quickly telling me "No, Dawn, shoes don't sweat".


A hetero-normative view may have perhaps found all the couples and costumes at the show a little odd, but just to twist society around, the most offensive thing there in MY opinion (as well as the opinions of Valerie and Dina) was a straight couple in front of us who were constantly completly all over each other and groping and grinding and generally being inappropriate for a public setting.Not to mention that they were ALSO rude to Valerie. My goodness.


After the show we all crashed in Dina's room and had to get up fairly early in order for Valerie and I to catch a bus....


and THAT is for the next installment of EPIC ADVENTURE WEEKEND


I hope this Massive amount of information hasn't overwhelmed you too badly. 
Love you all! 

Adventure Weekend - PART ONE!

THURSDAY

 4pm – I left my house and headed to the train station. It was much bigger and shinier than I was expecting. I don’t know why exactly I was expecting less, but sometimes these sorts of ideas and ideals just pop into your head and there isn’t really anything you can do about them.

5:10 – The train was supposed to leave, but it was late. We ended up leaving around 5:30. Having to catch a connection in Toronto I was worried about making it. This slight delay wouldn’t have been bad, but we were delayed even further later on.

Sitting on the train they go over rules and regulations, I have a short chat with the lady beside me saying where we’re going etc. I also met a boy who was going to the same destination as me. We all settle in, movies, music, novels and naps. Then I smelled something, I looked around... The lady beside me smelled it as well... and almost everyone on our car started murmuring about it – cigarette smoke. Smoking, of course, is strictly prohibited on trains.

So we get to our next stop and they had to CALL THE COPS to come deal with the smoker. Delaying us even further. As we approached the big city, the conductor announced that they would be holding the second train for us! EPIC WIN! Transferring trains with the other boy he told me about how VIA is great for looking out for their customers that way and how the bus company had screwed him over before.  Needless to say I was very thankful for making that connection.

around 12:20 am I pulled into a much smaller train station.  I was greeting by M&M! Not the rapper, but one of my very best friends from camp. We shared a room all this summer, and started working the same year. So we kind of have a connection.

She and her roomie brought me back to their house where we stayed up chatting before realising we should PROBABLY sleep since M&M had a class the next morning.

FRIDAY

Wake up and head to campus with M&M. I’m lucky enough to have friends in a lot of places, and a good friend from high school goes to uni right up the street from M&M. So I texted the scallywag and we were able to meet up for coffee. I hadn’t seen him in quite a while, but we have the kind of friendship where we can meet up and pick up right where we left off, falling into conversation about anything.

I also realised this weekend just how many of my friends are Whovians (fans of the TV show Dr. Who). The Ginger recently got into it and became rapidly obsessed. Valerie and Alysha have been fans for quite a while. And of course the Scallywag is too. He says there are two kinds of people in the world  - Those who are Whovians, and those who have never seen it.

Valerie and the Ginger have been working on convincing me to start watching, and I finally gave in. The Scallywag was very excited about this. I’ve been instructed to text him PROMPTLY when I watch it.

After coffee M&M was done class so I went to meet her again AND we met up with another friend from camp J

My relationships with camp people are very odd to people outside of camp. When I first saw ES this weekend I greeted him with an insult. Cause that’s just what we do. I *did* hug him and tell him I was happy to see him, just after the insult :P

The three of us went out for lunch and discovered that it was “Random Acts of Kindness Day”. We were stopped in the street by a woman (and a camera crew!) who gave us hugs, buttons that said “I Love Your Smile” and clown noses. It was certainly entertaining (and ended up as a clip on the news!)

We hung out for most of the afternoon, chatting, trying on M&M’s purple snuggie, playing with the cat and what have you.  EG had to leave to catch a bus to the big city where he was going to meet up with his girlfriend, who is also from camp.

Later that evening, I packed up and left M&M, after many hugs and assertions that we would get together again.

Who I saw after that I think is a blog post for another day!!

(It was quite the weekend, it might take a few posts) 

Valerie's Letter (V for Vendetta)

"I know there’s no way I can convince you this is not one of their tricks. But I don’t care. I am me.

My name is Valerie. I don’t think I’ll live much longer, and I wanted to tell someone about my life. This is the only autobiography that I’ll ever write, and – God – I’m writing it on toilet paper.

I was born in Nottingham in 1985. I don’t remember much of those early years. But I do remember the rain. My grandmother owned a farm in Tottlebrook, and she used to tell me that God was in the rain.

I passed my eleven plus, and went to a girl’s grammar. It was at school that I met my first girlfriend. Her name was Sarah. It was her wrists – they were beautiful. I thought we would love each other forever. I remember our teacher telling us that it was an adolescent phase that people outgrew.

Sarah did.

I didn’t.

In 2002 I fell in love with a girl named Christina. That year I came out to my parents. I couldn’t have done it without Chris holding my hand.

My father wouldn’t look at me. He told me to go and never come back. My mother said nothing.

I’d only told them the truth. Was that so selfish? Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have.

It is the very last inch of us.

And within that inch, we are free.

I’d always known what I’d wanted to do with my life, and in 2015 I starred my first film: The Salt Flats.

It was the most important role of my life. Not because of my career, but because that was how I met Ruth. The first time we kissed, I knew I never wanted to kiss any other lips but hers again.

We moved to a small flat in London together. She grew scarlet carsons for me in our window box. And our place always smelt of roses.

Those were the best years of my life.

But America’s war grew worse and worse, and eventually came to London.

After that there were no roses anymore. Not for anyone.

I remember how the meaning of words began to change. How unfamiliar words like “collateral” and “rendition” became frightening. When things like norsefire and the articles of allegiance became powerful. I remember how different became dangerous.

I still don’t understand it: why they hate us so much.

They took Ruth while she was out buying food. I’ve never cried so hard in my life. It wasn’t long until they came for me.

It seems strange that my life should end in such a terrible place.

But for three years I had roses – and apologised to no-one.

I shall die here. Every inch of me shall perish. Every inch.

But one.

An inch.

It is small and it is fragile, and it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.

I hope that - whoever you are - you escape this place. I hope that the world turns, and that things get better.

But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even though I may not meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you: I love you.

With all my heart.

I love you.

-Valerie."