Seismic Twitch

Fridays give a whole new meaning to the word “lazy” for me. Today I got up at 9 or so. I got about 6 hours sleep, which is pretty good considering the amount of sleep I had been getting. Last night, or rather yesterday, I napped for 3 hours. I woke when Bran phoned inquiring if I could go pick him up at school. I would have, but I was totally disoriented. It took a few hours for that to abate. Bran and Boy made a very nice supper of scambled eggs, toast and mixed vegetables. I had a very weird craving of mixed vegetables with creamy French dressing on them. I think, though, I should’ve chilled the veg under cold water rather than dressing them while they were hot. Oh well, live and learn.

I put the chicken and turkey bones that we had on to boil to stock. When I finally got around to straining it, there was only about a cup of broth left. I added some water to help me scrape off the bits that stuck to the bottom of the pot (no, they weren’t burned) but it’s still one very potent soup stock. I should be able to add a few more cups of water to make a decent soup tomorrow.

The family is watching Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life” and the skit where Mr. Creosote is on puking. This means that the every so delicate stomached me gets to listen to music on ear phones to avoid hearing the sound of puking. It’s funny. I can deal with it in real life when it’s Boy or Bran, but if the sounds emanate from television or in a theatre I’m more than delicate and respond instantly with extreme nausea and gagging.

I got several questions from Java and since I can’t think of much else to blog about, I’ll answer her questions. I’m nice that way.

The first answer is that it is over officially for me on December 6. That’s the due date of my final paper (the one on Heidegger) and my final exam (“What is religion?”). I take them in and put them in my prof’s mailbox in STM. Then I’m done for the month of December. I’m quite looking forward to having this time off from school, though I’m sure that the first week or so will have me feeling guilty that I’m not doing some homework. Funny how that works. During the term I don’t feel the least bit of guilt about it.

I have to be back in school on January 2, 2008. I think that’s a Wednesday this year. That’s when my first half class is, “Endangered Languages”. It’s an afternoon class (beginning at 2:30) so I don’t have to be up early until the next day for my Theory class.

I doubt that the break will be long enough. I actually need several months off from school to feel adequately rested from the mental challenge of having to do papers. You know, it was completely different when I was working and had to make periodic reports on what my progress on the project. I actually enjoyed putting together things like that because I could show what I was doing and where I was going with the project. Of course, it didn’t hurt that I was also paid for the work as opposed to paying over $400 (or $800 for a full class). I wonder what the difference is?

As to the weather…well, I really like winter. I love that I’m not sweating buckets every time I go outside. It’s weird, but for some reason the air smells cleaner in winter. Maybe it’s because it’s cold enough that the pollutants are forced below nose level. This year I wasn’t ready for the -20C temperatures. We’d had such a balmy November and there was no gradual change to the colder temperatures, just a sudden plunge one night with no relief since. Happily enough I’m acclimatizing nicely. I wear my lined university jacket and a sweater, my green knitted mitts and as of today, because Bran found them, my ear muffs. I’m happy with that.

As to the sunshine, well, I’m used to the shorter days. I don’t mind them, though when we get close to Yule it does get somewhat disheartening (especially when I was working) to go to work in the dark and have it be nigh on sunset when I was done work. Happily enough, that doesn’t last long and then Yule comes and the whole cycle of the year begins again. I rather like that. I’m not quite north enough to have the 24 nights, but on the shortest day we get about 8 hours of daylight.

The really nice thing about the longer nights is that when the aurora are on display they have a nice long time to show off. There are things of nature that recharge my batteries and leave me feeling content (and even managed it before I went on antidepressants) were thunder storms and the aurora borealis. I remember riding home from my biology class in my first year and stopping to look up and watch the glorious ribbons of the aurora play about in the sky. It was before the snow fell but it was quite chilly that night, but because I’d stopped and was looking up a few cars stopped and the drivers looked up too. That was the night when the aurora was seen as far south as Texas. Glorious!

Many people find the longer nights difficult to deal with, but using a light system in the morning seems to alleviate their despression. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SADs) affects many people in the northern latitudes. It’s funny though that it doesn’t seem to be very present in our Aboriginal and Inuit community.

I hope that adequately answers your questions, Java.

Please feel free to ask any questions you wish. If I don’t want to answer them I’ll let you know.

Well, I blew that exam. I think I passed, but it’s going to be touch and go.

This means that I have to do really well on my presentation, term paper and final exam. I have to do exceptionally well on them.

Gah!

I’m going to bed.

I am so freaking tired! These past couple of days have been hell on wheels. You’d think, that this being my fourth and final year that I’d learn not to do this to myself. One would think that I’d learn to do my reading on time, take notes and study them every night so as to avoid what I’ve been doing since Tuesday afternoon.

But no, I’ve not apparently learned my lesson adequately. I’ve been doing this since my very first year at school. I always start out with good intentions. I really do mean it when I say, “This time I’m going to…” Sadly, it has yet to turn out that way.

Happily enough, when I’m done school today, I’m going to come home…oh shit! I volunteer today. Dang. I’ll have to remember to take my knitting. Neither Bran nor I got much sleep last night. I wasn’t in bed until after 3 am and he was having trouble settling in himself. I would ask him to volunteer for me so that I can come home and get some shut eye, but he’s got his own issues with lack of sleep.

Tonight is murder and mayhem night. Hopefully I’ll be able to stay awake and do the recording. Of course, it’s not like the shows aren’t going to be repeated, right? Besides, what’s more important, my sleep or getting the shows on disc? Don’t answer that. I’ll probably set the timer and then go to sleep. I won’t be home until 3:30 or so anyway and that’s if I decide to leave when my shift is over. Maybe I will ask Bran to cover my shift. The worst he can say is no, right?

Anyway, I have to go and make a sandwich or two for lunch. We have no money until tomorrow and both Bran and I need something in our tummies at lunch time. I’m full now because I got up and had porridge for breakfast with Boy and Bran. However, come the lunch hour when everyone is noshing down on their sandwiches and food from STM, I’m going to need something in my tummy other than antacids.

Ta-Ra

I went hunting today for a certain person (who shall remain nameless because I don’t want to share them with other stalkers) because I wanted to know more about them. It was quite interesting and someday I hope to turn up in their life and surprise them. Of course, whether or not it would be a pleasant surprise would depend entirely upon whether or not they like me.

This, of course, was being done in lieu of actually doing something that remotely resembles studying for a mid-term exam that I’ll be writing tomorrow and that I’m extremely ill prepared for. That about figures right…right?

To be honest, even though I want to do well on the exam, I am having real trouble really caring about it much. I’m very tired of school. I’ve been doing pretty much nothing else since I finished work in 2005. There have been short breaks between terms, but they’ve not been long enough to really give me back the motivation I had in the beginning.

I guess I should get back to learning theory and theorists, their major works and other shit such as that. I need to be able to name the shit with proper terminology tomorrow.

And it’s cold outside.

Yuck!

Last night Boy shoveled the sidewalks. I don’t know how good a job he did, but I think that he probably cleared most of it away. As you can see in this photo, snow has fallen and blown in. The intrepid trekker you see at the bottom of our sidewalk is our letter carrier.

There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of snow, but the weather has required me to get toque head today and wear mittens. I had two pair on, a pair of leather over mitts and a pair that I’d knitted, but the over mitts made my hands cold. That’s an odd thing because one would think (wouldn’t one?) that having a pair of reasonably wind resistant over mitts would help to keep my hands warm. After I got onto the bus and settled into a seat, I took the over mitts off and put them in my backpack. I just wore my knitted mittens and tucked my hands inside my sleeves. That seemed to do the trick.

After class today (when I spent most of the class copying the notes that I missed last Tuesday) I went to the centre for a bit of a little social break (yeah, social and the concept of me in the same sentence). I stood outside with Chelle and Pam while they smoked. Oddly enough, today I got heavy lungs. Maybe it was the cold temperature, I’m not sure, but I had to leave them before they were done their smokes because my lungs got that logy feeling, like I’d spent last night in a smoky bar smoking unfiltered cigarettes. They still feel somewhat that way. I guess I won’t be hanging out with the cool kids again for a while.

Well, I have a shit pile of work to do today and tomorrow in preparation of my mid-term exam on Thursday (for which I’ve done no work or reading in) and for tomorrow’s discussion in Soc. of Religion class. It is possible that tomorrow I won’t be making an entry because of needing to catch up with notes, reading and digesting for the exam. I’m not joking…I really slacked off for this class. I’m glad that my methods class put back the due date for the second assignment.

Ta-Ra

You thought that the goats on your car was bad. Take a look at this:

That’s right. We’ve been unceremoniously dumped into the deep freeze. After a very balmy fall today was the true indication that I live in the Great White North. Currently it’s -23C with a -35 windchill. Doesn’t that sound fun? The toques, mitts and scarves have been hauled out and will be made good use of. The happy thing was that Bran found my walking shoes. They’re fabulous when it comes to walking on snow and ice. It’s nearly like they grow little claws to hang onto any little bit of grippy possibilities. They’re also warmer than my Adidas.

We got the research project pushed back to January 7. I’m very relieved. Tonight I’ll be reading Heidegger and starting to study for the mid-term exam on Thursday. The questions that were to be posted on the weekend were finally posted this morning and they’re going to be quite challenging. I’ve got a lot of work to do.

My apostrophe key is being a pain today. It didn’t used to be so I don’t know what’s going on with it. I haven’t spilled anything on it and there aren’t any crumbs underneath it. Dumb thing.

I keep dropping stitches of my knitting. I can’t figure out why. I’m trying to pay close attention to what I’m doing, but it appears sometimes I don’t manage to be as diligent as is necessary. I even check as I knit but that hasn’t seemed to be very useful.

That’s about it. It’s not been an enormously exciting day. We’re just waiting on the rice to finish cooking so that we can have supper.

Ta-Ra

There is actually a movie that I want to see in the theatre.

I haven’t been to the theatre to see a movie in a couple of years. Before that it was about 5 years, probably more. Those were impulse movies. Sadly, the last movie was when Bran’s ex lived with us and her whole attitude marred the evening. Happily, that’s all over with.

What is the miracle film? Sweeny Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. We used to have the Angela Lansbury stage show on tape, but the old Betavision machine died and there was nothing to show the tape on after that. We would really love to have that one again. It was a phenominal production.

For those who are fans of Johnny Depp, he’s lead in it. It looks like it has possibilities. When I saw the advertisement I announced that I wanted to see it in the theatre. That sort of stopped all activity in the house. Boy looked at me with his mouth agape and Bran was making astounded noises in the bedroom. That’s how rare this whole thing is.

I’m so looking forward to it opening here.

Tonight is the Grey Cup. For those from the USA it’s the Canadian version of the Super Bowl. At one time, before covered stadiums, it was not uncommon for the field to be covered with snow and once there was a white out in the field holding up play. Ah, those were the days! I remember one game where Quebec was the Eastern team. They used heaters at the sidelines and lost the game because their players never got aclimatized. Silly people. Those were Grey Cup games that I would actually watch because the weather added a certain je ne c’est quoi to the whole event.

The days of watching field keepers using snow blowers to clear the field are long gone. Today’s game is being played in Toronto under the roof of the Sky Dome. The weather will be incidental. The playing teams are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. Thus far Saskatchewan is ahead in the second half. I figure, considering football minutes, the game will be over sometime after midnight EST.

That’s all the excitement from here. I found my texts to study for my mid-term exam this week. That’s a start on studying, right?

There was an advertisement for shoes.com on television. I got to thinking about buying shoes on-line and came to the conclusion that I’d not be able to do that and I wonder how it’s possible that anyone can. Sure there are people who fit nicely into off the shelf shoes, but even if a person is able to do that, they do have to try different shoes because of the way different makes of shoes fit.

I think back to the last pair of shoes I got. Those would be my Adidas sneakers. I tried on at least 8 pairs of sneakers, both men’s and women’s before I found the one pair that fit. Bran and I spent nearly an hour trying to find a pair of shoes for me. While I grant that I’m not the easiest person to fit, I know that there are many other people like me.

Then I remember back to VUBOQ’s entry where he (yes, I’m going to talk about you like you’re not here…wait…you’re not…) made a small complaint that his new shoes were hurting his feet. Shoes, no matter how cute, should not hurt your feet. Shoes should fit. They should fit around your foot, enveloping it comfortably without any places where there is pressure or rubbing. If your feet get sore, then you should return them and get a pair that fit.

There, I’ve done my soapbox entry du jour.

Today we had leftover curry for supper. The curry I made on Thursday was very yummy, but unfortunately, grew hotter (as in spicy), as it sat. That meant that I wanted to have a yogurt/cuke salad to accompany the curry and tame the heat somewhat. Yesterday, being “Refuse to Buy Thursday” so we couldn’t get any then. Instead it was a “search and destroy” supper night.

Today we drove across town to pick up a web cam/camera combination that was being offered on, what used to be Free Cycle. We had to go all the way north of Sutherland. For those who aren’t from around here, Sutherland used to be a small town outside of Saskatoon. As the city grew Sutherland was absorbed into the city. Sutherland has managed to keep its separate identity. Every person who lives there, even the newest university students, soon learns that Sutherland, though part of Saskatoon, is separate. It really does have that feel to it, despite the development of housing tracts around it.

Anyway, that’s all beside the point. The point is that it’s way over on the East side of the city and after we finished there we drove all the way over to the West side of the city to get a few groceries. We picked up some ham (I was desperately craving ham sandwiches), lettuce (because that was necessary for the ham sandwiches), raspberry jam (because we’d run out), buns (because we wanted more of them), yogurt and cucumbers (for supper). We forgot to get milk though. At least I don’t think we have any. I don’t remember Bran coming home with any.

So it was sandwiches for brunch (we didn’t eat until 2 pm) and then I spent a fair bit of time cutting the other squash we’d bought earlier in the week in to small cubes to nuke up and enrich the soup with. On Thursday night I soaked a pile of chick peas and last night we cooked them up to add to the curry soup. Most of the chick peas had been eaten on the first round of eating the curry.

So tonight we had some more of the curry. I had one helping of each rice, curry and the cucumber salad, Boy had two. Bran is in bed snoozing.

I’ve spent the past two days knitting on the sweater I wrote about on Thursday. I took apart what I’d done and started over using a smaller size. I was knitting up a 3X size because I thought that it would be cosier. From what was showing up, it was just going to be over-big. So I unraveled it and started over on a the XL size. That should be a closer fit but still give me the oversize I like having.

While I was knitting on Thursday night Bran offered to make the yarn I was using into a large ball instead of the skein it was in. I declined but a couple of hours later, after he’d gone to bed, I realized that he had a very good idea. So I spent some time rolling the yarn into a ball. Last night I found a container to put the yarn ball into so that I could have it off of the couch but not have it rolling all over the floor. I’m using a large plastic bowl.

That’s been my day, really. I have a mid-term exam on Thursday that I have to study for, more reading for the Soc. of Religion class (the rest of the book) and a research project to gather data for that’s due the week after. You know what that means, right? Yeah, I’ll be knitting until I absolutely have to do school work.

Ta-Ra

Happy Annual Day of Stupid Avian Sacrifice to all my American friends. For those who are vegetarian, Happy Annual Day of Tofurky Sacrifice. Except for VUBOQ who is doing his Annual Day of Green Curry Sacrifice Day. I hope it’s a happy one VUBOQ!

To everyone else, happy Thursday.